History on Fire
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Episode 115: Us Vs. Them
🕑 Added 2025-11-17 06:50:09 +0000 UTC“I love people as I meet them one by one. People are just wonderful as individuals. You see the whole universe in their eyes if you look carefully. But as soon as they begin to group, as soon as they begin to clot, when there are five of them or ten or even groups of smallest two, they begin to change, they sacrifice the beauty of the individual for the sake of the group… Cause pretty soon they have little hats, ya know? And armbands. And fight songs. And a list of people they’re going to visit at 3 am.” George Carlin
“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster" Friedrich Nietzsche
Why so much of history reads like an account of human beings doing horrible things to other human beings? How can some individuals who seem loving and perfectly decent in one context turn into monsters in a different context? How can a sense of identity be weaponized to justify the most atrocious actions one can imagine? How can ideologies turn into tools for scapegoating? This episode will try to answer these questions, and go to the roots of the reasons behind all the horrific things that human beings have done and continue to do to one another.
JAPAN TOUR! Let’s head out to Japan in Oct 2026. All the details at https://geeknationtours.com/tours/signature-battlefield-series-feudal-japan-and-the-battlefields-of-sekigahara/
Comments
Torsten Arndt
Thank you Daniele! This must be one of my favorite episodes.
History on Fire
thank you so much!
Bill Brandt
Well done. I think this is one of your finest episodes in terms of using history to bring into focus the problems of today. I'm proud to support you.
