1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,000 Hello, thank you for listening to Reversing Climate Change. 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:05,840 I really appreciate that. My name is Ross Kenyon, I'm the 3 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:09,600 host of Reversing Climate Change and I have been for about 8 1/2 4 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:12,720 years now. I've been working in climate for 5 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:14,680 that same amount of time as well. 6 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:18,560 This podcast is a repository of learnings, observations, 7 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:22,520 thoughts, feelings, the gathering of so much content 8 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:27,680 about so many different topics. This is a little bonus episodes, 9 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:33,440 the topic so broad I couldn't hope to do justice to it, but my 10 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:36,480 goal is to say something that might make you think as a little 11 00:00:36,480 --> 00:00:38,960 bite sized episode before you go about your day. 12 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,240 Normally I run a little segment at the beginning of the show 13 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:44,680 talking about our sponsors. I'll just tell you about them 14 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:47,000 now very quickly. Absolute climate. 15 00:00:47,480 --> 00:00:50,560 Peter Miner, one of their Co founders, was on the show a few 16 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:54,240 months ago talking about how they are actually supporting 17 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:58,720 registries within carbon removal and carbon offsetting so that 18 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:01,160 registries do not need to develop their own methodologies. 19 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:05,400 They actually think it's a better system if that function 20 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,320 is not affiliated with the registries themselves. 21 00:01:08,320 --> 00:01:09,880 And that's typically how it's been done. 22 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:13,760 So Absolute is proposing a new way of doing things through 23 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,040 which registries are not the main actors in methodological 24 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:18,840 development. They have a very interesting 25 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:20,880 business model and that episode's great. 26 00:01:20,960 --> 00:01:22,880 I highly recommend it. The link is in the show notes. 27 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:26,000 The other sponsor of this show is Philip Lee LLP. 28 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:28,520 Once you've been in carbon removal or climate tech long 29 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:30,720 enough, it probably doesn't even take that long before you 30 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:34,120 realize that you need competent legal advice. 31 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:36,720 The big deals that happen in business, the big deals that 32 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:40,240 happen in the carbon removal or climate business, they need 33 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:42,640 representation. Philip Lee LLP has received 34 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:46,240 accolades for their work supporting VCM actors. 35 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:48,960 So if you're working in the voluntary carbon market space, 36 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:52,440 working on a big deal, you need legal advice, consider Philip 37 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:54,640 Lee LLP. Guess what? 38 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:56,720 I'm also just going to skip telling you about why you should 39 00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:59,960 give the show 5 stars rate and review it, blah blah blah and 40 00:01:59,960 --> 00:02:01,680 become a paid subscriber. I'm going to skip that today. 41 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:02,720 You know, I just don't feel like doing it. 42 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:06,040 I don't. I don't always love the begging. 43 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:08,080 So hey, I'm just going to give this one to you. 44 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:10,680 Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. 45 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:12,320 Who said that? I think Jesus said that. 46 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:14,800 He did not say that. Actually, I think that was 47 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:16,440 Aleister Crowley or someone like that. 48 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:19,520 OK, whatever. Weird start weird start to this 49 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,240 show. OK, so actually today I'm going 50 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:28,080 to talk about Veteran's Day. I have long appreciated this 51 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:30,960 holiday. Many of the big holidays, 52 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:33,680 they're treated as a day off. There's not much of A 53 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:38,120 remembrance, There's not much of A federation that takes place on 54 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:39,440 them. But I actually think veteran's 55 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:43,520 day is one that can be really beautiful. 56 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:48,040 I like thinking of it in its original method of celebration. 57 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:51,880 It's Veteran's Day, but I actually like referring to it 58 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:55,640 and thinking of it and casting my mind backwards into when it 59 00:02:55,640 --> 00:03:00,760 was called Armistice Day. after World War One, on the 11th hour 60 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:06,240 of the 11th day of the 11th month, World War 1 ended. 61 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:14,160 World War One is not a very well understood war. 62 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:22,400 As an American, we very much, we very much look to World War 2 as 63 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:26,320 our sort of defining war. I think for the most part it's 64 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:29,120 the most easily understood of them. 65 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,440 In actuality, it's much more complicated than it looks, but 66 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:37,360 the story is seductive. The bad guys very obvious. 67 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:42,440 The Nazis are the bad guys. And obviously this is 68 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:45,880 complicated though, because the US was allied or did Lend Lease 69 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:48,480 and then was allied with the Soviet Union. 70 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:53,840 And this created a whole bunch of storytelling difficulties 71 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:57,600 here that I don't necessarily need to go into right now. 72 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:03,720 But suffice it to say, Allies good, Nazis bad is like a 73 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:06,680 suitable stand in story. For the most part. 74 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:10,040 World War One does not have that. 75 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:15,000 If you ask people what World War 1 is about, I think in many 76 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,279 cases they probably couldn't tell you. 77 00:04:19,519 --> 00:04:23,080 I think if you do get an answer, the answer is something like 78 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:25,360 treaties. And it was about why you 79 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:27,520 shouldn't be allied to so many countries. 80 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:32,000 Because once the diplomatic deal start triggering, 1 is forced 81 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:33,640 into war. And therefore we should be very 82 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:38,040 careful about which kinds of alliances we should actually see 83 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:40,800 with other nations. Which is a fine point. 84 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:43,680 And there are books that explain this and document this very 85 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:47,080 well, books like The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman. 86 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:49,680 This book has come up on a number of shows. 87 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:52,640 It's a great book. She's an amazing writer, amazing 88 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:55,640 popular historian. Highly recommend reading any and 89 00:04:55,640 --> 00:05:00,320 all Barbara Tuckman books, even ones that maybe haven't aged as 90 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:02,160 well as others. Like I think her her book on 91 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:05,360 Vinegar Joe's Stillwell in China. 92 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:08,600 I read a book recently that really challenged some of her 93 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:10,520 scholarship about China. But whatever. 94 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:13,320 Like Barbara Tuckman is an amazing author, great 95 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:16,560 storyteller, and she documents how the Western powers 96 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:20,000 essentially sleepwalked their way into World War 11. 97 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,280 Of the common things that gets said about it is that it was an 98 00:05:22,280 --> 00:05:26,520 alliance system built by Otto von and Bismarck, Prussian 99 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:30,480 unifier of the modern German state, who is such a skilled 100 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:34,040 statesman that only he could have unwound the sort of 101 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:41,480 doomsday machine of August 1914 when Archduke Franz Ferdinand 102 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:44,560 was assassinated. He was the only one who maybe 103 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:48,880 could have kept the alliance system from clanking onward into 104 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:53,320 large scale protracted war. And when one thinks about World 105 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:56,360 War One, they're pretty much always thinking about trench 106 00:05:56,360 --> 00:06:01,480 warfare and how brutal and slow moving and how pointless it all 107 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:06,040 felt. I recently watched the new All 108 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:10,880 Quiet on the Western Front, The new 1 from 2022 on Netflix. 109 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:16,200 I thought it was a brilliant film, had a lot of humanity in 110 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:23,120 it and a lot of the big WTF of World War One. 111 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:28,840 You have the death of idealism. You have kids who were brought 112 00:06:28,840 --> 00:06:34,400 up with the Latin is dulce at the quartermask pro patria Mori. 113 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:37,920 How sweet it is to die for one's country, essentially. 114 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:41,480 And the war is going to be over by Christmas. 115 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:45,160 And of course it ends with most of your friends, or nearly all 116 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:48,800 of your friends dying in gruesome ways, being put in a 117 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:52,440 position where you have to enact intensely brutal violence 118 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:57,600 against others. Witness suffering, and the 119 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:01,320 suffering is for goals that hardly seem worth the sacrifice. 120 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:04,760 And people think of the Western Front is going over the top, as 121 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:07,320 it was called, going out of the trenches and running across no 122 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:10,440 man's land. And even if you took the first 123 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:14,800 system of trenches of the enemy, there is defense in depth where 124 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:18,320 there's lots and lots of trenches behind that on both 125 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:21,080 sides. And there's troops kept in 126 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:24,000 reserve so that when that does happen and there is a 127 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:27,120 breakthrough, the troops in reserve can rush back in and 128 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:28,960 push the enemy back out. Static. 129 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:34,920 Now we associate World War 2 and German generals like Heinz 130 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:38,760 Buderian with the Blitzkrie lightning warfare. 131 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:42,280 This is a reaction to getting bogged down in World War One. 132 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:46,120 How do you create in a system of very long trenches like there 133 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:48,760 were in World War One? The blitzkrieg in World War 2 134 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:53,920 was using air power and armor and mechanized and motorized 135 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:56,000 troops. How do you create a very small 136 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:00,120 breakthrough in the line and rush a lot of troops through 137 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:02,520 there and get into the backfield essentially? 138 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:07,280 And that was done to amazing effect in World War 2. 139 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:12,440 Once the the German invasion of France in 1940. 140 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:15,480 Here I'm like, I'm looking at and right now how long it took. 141 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:20,840 It took about six weeks to conquer France in World War 2 142 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:26,360 just because of the focus on mobility, speed, concentrating 143 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:30,160 power at very narrow points, breaking through, and new types 144 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:34,400 of weapons for which trenches were not successful at stopping. 145 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:36,919 The classic thing that people point to here, as well as the 146 00:08:36,919 --> 00:08:40,080 Maginot line in old yarn, is that generals are always 147 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:44,200 fighting the previous war. And one of the lessons learned 148 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:48,640 from World War One in France was that they need to better prepare 149 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:52,440 static defenses to make sure that when Germany invades again, 150 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:55,120 they will be able to hold them at the French borders and not 151 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:58,400 give any ground. This is the wrong lesson, the 152 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:01,000 wrong conclusion to draw from World War One. 153 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:03,920 It was much more fluid on the Eastern Front. 154 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:08,320 Battles like Missouri and lakes are famous for German mobility. 155 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:12,560 It was not uniformly static trench warfare like it was on 156 00:09:12,560 --> 00:09:14,640 the Western Front. And there are even places that 157 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:16,960 are very important to Australians and New Zealanders 158 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:20,800 like Gallipoli that started off as being a zany Winston 159 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:23,960 Churchill based out flanking maneuver. 160 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:28,120 How can we break the Western Front and open up another front 161 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:31,360 and knock Turkey out of the Central Powers? 162 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:35,280 And it didn't work. It just led to massive amounts 163 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:39,960 of death and bogging down in another system of static 164 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:42,920 fighting in Turkey. Though I suppose I should really 165 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:46,040 be saying the Ottoman Empire. It's confusing sometimes because 166 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:48,960 Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who was the founder of the modern 167 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:51,960 Turkish state after the Ottoman Empire collapse at the end of 168 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:54,800 World War One, commanded Acolipoli, which is one of those 169 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:57,920 funny parts of history there. So whatever it was in Turkey 170 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:02,160 slash the late Ottoman Empire, you can watch All Quiet on the 171 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:05,200 Western Front to get a sense of what it was like 1917. 172 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:10,720 I think he's a brilliant film to There is so much good writing. 173 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:14,000 There's so many good memoirs. And one brief side note is that 174 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:16,560 if you haven't seen All Quiet on the Western Front, it's worth 175 00:10:16,560 --> 00:10:20,000 reading for another reason, which is that it is the book 176 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:22,760 that Donald Trump has seen him say several times that his 177 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:24,880 favorite book of all time is All Quiet on the Western Front. 178 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:30,040 Which is a really interesting book to name because it does not 179 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:34,880 have that dulce at the core of mass Propatria Mori vibe to it. 180 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:38,120 You would expect. It has a sense of the futility 181 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:42,560 of war, of generals commanding troops to do things that are 182 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:45,560 there to preserve the troops honor that actually don't make 183 00:10:45,560 --> 00:10:48,120 any sense that might lead to them losing their lives for a 184 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:51,200 very small amount of ground. It doesn't even matter and it's 185 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:56,640 sort of disregard of human life. It's really interesting sort of 186 00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:59,800 pacifistic books to appreciate, like it has sophisticated 187 00:10:59,880 --> 00:11:02,920 themes. It's such a mournful book. 188 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:06,720 It's hard for me to to watch or to read anything about World War 189 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:09,600 One and not think about the Lost Generation, what came after in 190 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:13,720 terms of art with modernism. Read someone like minus 191 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:18,960 Hemingway or look at the art of Pablo Picasso and it's hard not 192 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:23,240 to just see that the assumptions of the old world being 193 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:26,120 obliterated. In fact, the quality of life 194 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:29,840 globally after World War One was much lower than it was during 195 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:34,040 the turn of the century period. It was a hard time to exist. 196 00:11:34,680 --> 00:11:38,400 It just seems such a rupture. Much of the world order was 197 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:43,040 based upon how much more civilized we were than the rest 198 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:46,800 of the world and how there was a sort of presumed right to rule 199 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:50,240 that had this sort of Rudyard Kipling, white Man Burden kind 200 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:54,600 of feel that Western civilization, Western Europe, 201 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:59,600 America deserved to dominate the world because they were so much 202 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:01,640 more civilized and elevated than everyone else. 203 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:05,120 And World War One was one of these great fracturing moments 204 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:08,680 when I think it became clear to everyone, especially those from 205 00:12:08,680 --> 00:12:12,680 the countries that fought in World War One, how big of a 206 00:12:12,680 --> 00:12:17,640 fraud that was. It's hard to make a claim of 207 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:23,480 being the most civilized people on Earth, only then to to see 208 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:27,080 what happened at the Psalm or Passindale and still with a 209 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:29,840 straight face claim to have world leadership. 210 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:33,600 And so you see art that is so disillusioned, so much breaking 211 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:36,520 can't even represent reality in a straightforward way at this 212 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:38,080 point. Like it doesn't even make sense 213 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:41,960 to do so anymore. Of humanity losing its way in 214 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:48,520 such a desperately tremendously horrific way is the legacy of 215 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:52,360 World War One. It isn't even like it ended and 216 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:54,920 the bad guys lost. It's actually really hard to 217 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:57,560 just say the bad guys in World War One for several reasons. 218 00:12:57,560 --> 00:13:00,640 But my understanding of it, this is one of those topics that 219 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:02,080 people will always be fighting about. 220 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:04,280 So please don't think that I have the final word on any of 221 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:06,080 this. Me summing up World War One in 222 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:09,120 like half an hour is not enough time to understand World War 223 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:10,800 One. Please understand that. 224 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:13,920 But one way to understand what happened in World War One was 225 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:17,200 that it was a Ducydides trap. Essentially, Germany was a 226 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:20,200 rising power. It was industrializing, becoming 227 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:24,000 more and more powerful, but it's also surrounded on all sides. 228 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,360 There's no natural barriers really with Germany. 229 00:13:26,560 --> 00:13:29,160 It's not a great place to be. You have Russia to the east, you 230 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:32,720 have France to the West, and then you have the UK right above 231 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:34,840 you. And then they'll do things like, 232 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:37,680 and this is maybe where the the ally system comes in that is 233 00:13:37,680 --> 00:13:40,640 really touchy. But the Triple Entente alliance 234 00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:44,040 between France, the UK, which by the way are historical enemies, 235 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:47,520 France and England, I should say, and Russia, I mean, that 236 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:50,160 is, that doesn't feel good at all. 237 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:55,400 Functionally surrounded. And so for various reasons that 238 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:58,240 were set off by the assassination of Archduke Franz 239 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:03,320 Ferdinand of the Habsburg state that governed the Austro 240 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:07,200 Hungarian Empire, Germany essentially tried to win A2 241 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:09,400 front war as fast as possible doing something called 242 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:12,720 Schlieffen Plan blah blah blah. I'm trying not to get bogged 243 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:16,200 down in details. It's too much in any case 244 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:19,840 though. Why do I love Armistice Day? 245 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:26,520 These battles were so destructive, so disgusting. 246 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:29,520 Truly hell on earth. I think if you were trying to 247 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:34,560 find which of the historical moments were truly the worst on 248 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:39,440 earth at any given point, I think being on the Western Front 249 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:42,200 in World War 1 is a top contender. 250 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:44,560 Real close. Like there's something that I 251 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:48,240 can think of that I can give it a run for its money, but I think 252 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:51,600 that's pretty close. And when Armistice Day happened, 253 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:54,920 it wasn't like when you think about World War 2 ending, World 254 00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:59,920 War Two had BE Day and BJ Day, victory in Europe and victory 255 00:14:59,920 --> 00:15:04,280 over the Japanese days. And those have a really clear 256 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:07,080 story. The US1, the other side 257 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:13,680 surrendered and it was a total capitulation and no negotiated 258 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:16,600 settlement. World War One ends with a 259 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:21,080 negotiated settlement and it's a really intensely difficult deal 260 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:24,400 for Germany. They had to give up a lot of 261 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:27,160 their industrial capacity. They couldn't really have a 262 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:30,560 military they owed in a ridiculously huge indemnity that 263 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:34,080 they had to pay back. It was such a bad deal that it's 264 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:38,480 so delegitimize the system that far right and far left parties 265 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:43,040 after the Versailles Treaty we're basically guaranteed. 266 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:45,520 How could there not be? You know, soldiers are going 267 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:48,880 home, workers are hungry. What's going to happen? 268 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:51,960 The mainstream has so let us down. 269 00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:53,640 Can we trust mainstream institutions? 270 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:58,080 And this is also a period where, as you probably know, a Lenin 271 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:03,960 has been was sent in a in a sealed boxcar to Russia 272 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:07,680 basically to knock Russia out of the war. 273 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:12,840 And the Soviet Union is now also simultaneously happening here at 274 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:15,760 October Revolution 1917. Stuff's going on. 275 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:17,240 Lennon Lennon's at work in Russia. 276 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:22,000 This is a really difficult time to enforce a strict peace deal 277 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:24,560 here. And what I liked about it is 278 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:29,360 that even though the US came in and helped tip the scale on the 279 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:33,120 sides of the Entente against the Central Powers, the day was 280 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:36,520 declared Armistice Day because it was more of a a day of 281 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:39,960 mourning. It wasn't about victory, it was 282 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:44,280 about the lives that were lost and about the tragedy of the 283 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:47,960 conflict overall. And I think that's a really 284 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:53,920 humane way to understand war and to understand forgiveness and to 285 00:16:53,920 --> 00:17:00,200 understand just how do we bring people home in a way that helps 286 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:04,800 them heal and acknowledges it's not just thank you for your 287 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:08,599 service. It's not just did you kill 288 00:17:08,599 --> 00:17:12,079 anybody over there. I think there's something that's 289 00:17:12,079 --> 00:17:17,760 much more important about having a day of asking what was it 290 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:21,240 ultimately for? I think this is a really common 291 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:25,000 feeling for people who fought in America's wars in the Middle 292 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:26,839 East. It certainly is a thought for 293 00:17:26,839 --> 00:17:32,720 people who fought in Vietnam. There's a sense of what was this 294 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:37,000 thing that happened to us, that we were both actors within, but 295 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:41,960 also history acting upon us. I suspect a fair amount of those 296 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:46,840 feelings are puzzlement. It's like trying to make sense 297 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:51,560 of what even happen. It's so bad in hindsight that 298 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:54,760 how do we go in there thinking that we are going to be able to 299 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:58,440 do this and it would be quick and easy and not ruin so many 300 00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:02,160 lives? I think Armistice Day does such 301 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:07,400 a beautiful job of it's a pause to conflict. 302 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:11,400 It's a moment where even if it's temporary, as Armistice is often 303 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:16,280 are, it's a moment of turning swords into plowshares, the 304 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:20,280 symbol of Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, veteran's day. 305 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:26,880 It's less common in the US but in Commonwealth and UK and other 306 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:29,760 allied powers as far as I know. I think it's mostly like UK and 307 00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:32,720 UK derived people's kind of celebration. 308 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:36,520 It's very much focused around the poppy, and the poppy is the 309 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:43,520 symbol of remembrance, of hope, of mercy, of sadness, of just 310 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:47,840 what the hell happened to us. Essentially, it's a day to 311 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:50,520 remember the dead. It's a day to remember what can 312 00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:54,800 happen to all of us when things truly get out of hand. 313 00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:59,000 I think it's really important that the default option should 314 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:03,880 be towards peace and to remember that even when one's cause is 315 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:07,840 just, war is not a simple matter. 316 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:10,880 I like reminders of our humanity. 317 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:14,760 The Poppy, Armistice Day, Remembrance Day. 318 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:19,360 Those make me feel mercy for the soldiers who fought and died, 319 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:23,320 who did brutal things to one another and places they've never 320 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:26,720 been. It makes me hope that there's an 321 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:29,120 afterlife where they can be reconciled to one another. 322 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:37,720 I think anything that stresses the mistakes that we've made as 323 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:40,760 a species, where we've picked up arms against one another, 324 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:47,280 asphyxiated each other with mustard gas, stabbed each other 325 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:52,400 with triangular bayonets, buried men alive under artillery 326 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:55,880 shells, collapsing dugouts that we should remember are the 327 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:59,880 people who are put into that position through naivety, 328 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:06,080 through bloodlust, through earnest patriotism, and remember 329 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:08,920 how easily it can be us in our lives too. 330 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:15,720 We aren't above the people who were put into these positions. 331 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:18,920 Thinking about it in this way is one of the ways that I think 332 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:25,160 equality and universality can be so important, because in your 333 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:27,920 life you may have caused to interact. 334 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:33,320 With War with Soldiers and Armistice Day asked this 335 00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:37,320 question of was it worth it? Can we honor these men? 336 00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:42,200 Can we honor these people who died by not putting people in 337 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:46,360 this position unnecessarily? Can we avoid this in the future? 338 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:50,760 The poppy, it's hard for me to even know. 339 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:52,880 Why is that such a beautiful symbol? 340 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:57,280 Flowers are such a wonderful symbol, or seemingly universal, 341 00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:01,520 or very nearly so. The transient nature of beauty, 342 00:21:02,120 --> 00:21:07,440 the flowering of youth, the awareness of 1's mortality and 343 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:10,360 of how brief and how fragile life is. 344 00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:13,840 I'm actually going to read the poem that the poppy tradition 345 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:20,840 drives from by Canadian doctor from the Western Front named 346 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:23,960 John Mccrae. The poem is called In Flanders 347 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:27,480 Fields. Here it is in Flanders fields. 348 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:32,720 In Flanders fields the poppies blow between the crosses, row on 349 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:36,480 row that marker place. And in the sky the lark still 350 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:40,160 bravely singing fly scarce heard amid the guns below. 351 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:44,520 We are the dead. Short days ago we lived, felt 352 00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:48,080 dawn, saw sunset glow, loved and we're loved. 353 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:54,120 And now we lie in Flanders fields Take up our quarrel with 354 00:21:54,120 --> 00:21:58,240 the foe to you from failing hands we throw the torch Be 355 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:01,360 yours to hold it high. If you break faith with us who 356 00:22:01,360 --> 00:22:05,040 die, we shall not sleep. Though poppies grow in Flanders 357 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:09,400 fields one thing I like about this poem is that poppies as a 358 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:12,960 narcotic. There's also a sense that the 359 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:16,040 dead are not merely dead, they're sleeping. 360 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:20,440 There's a Christian resurrection of the dead. 361 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:22,680 There will come a time when they might live again. 362 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:25,520 Don't mourn for us. We're merely sleeping. 363 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:29,080 But I find to be a really beautiful, comforting thought. 364 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:39,280 Happy Armistice Day. I hope you enjoyed my I can't 365 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:44,040 believe I'm going to say this blitzkrieg through copies of 366 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:48,160 Pacifism of Armistice Day of all of World War One. 367 00:22:48,360 --> 00:22:50,280 It's really too much. Sorry, I try not to get 368 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:52,200 distracted. There's too many interesting 369 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:54,520 stories, too many things that happened. 370 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:57,120 I think a lot more attention needs to be paid to World War 371 00:22:57,120 --> 00:23:00,960 One for so many reasons. It's great, great place to look 372 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:04,600 where empires are collapsing, nations are coming about, the 373 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:06,840 modern world is being born at this time. 374 00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:09,800 It's it's worth your time to study World War One. 375 00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:12,240 I'd say I love World War 2 as well. 376 00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:15,400 World War One is extremely impactful. 377 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:18,920 Thanks for listening. Happy Armistice Day. 378 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:22,200 Happy Remembrance Day. Happy Veteran's Day.