18 August 2008

The Fall of Nazism

Everybody needs an interest. My Dad has many, including mathematics and tennis. He also likes watching documentaries on ABC or SBS late at night regarding the rise and fall of movements like Communism, Stalinism and the Nazi movement. He really enjoys delving into the reasons behind these movements, how they gained momentum and events that led to their downfall.

The documentaries are always on very late and night. They are invariably full of scratchy black and white footage backed by desperate-sounding music and interspersed with long monologues from subtitled interviews with people discussing dark periods of their nations' histories.

The content is really quite riveting. But the general tone always brings me down and sends me to bed with feelings of unease long before Dad himself shuffles to bed having had enough of the sepulchral voice of the narrator.

I could have saved him interminable hours of watching these documentaries if I had come across this vital piece of information much earlier. One of my good friends emailed me the following, and it settles once and for all the reason behind the fall of Nazism.

9 comments:

Lynda said...

I love the graphic - perfect!

Jen said...

That is great. I love it.

musingwoman said...

Wow, once you point it out it's so obvious.

Aunt Julie said...

College Girl is a history major, and shares the same interests as your Dad. I take it one step farther--I love to read historical fiction!

Allegro ma non troppo said...

Crazy Sister's husband here,

If only all wars were fought in this manner. All the world's problems would be solved so much easier if playground tactics were involved.

Crazy sister wants me to leave now.

tinsenpup said...

Thanks for clearing that up. I'll incorporate that into DK's next history lesson!

Tracy P. said...

Oh my gosh! My husband likes to watch the History Channel, a.k.a. (at our house) "The War Channel". I will show him!

MaricrisG said...

rock, paper and scissor! totally funny! I guess some people like your dad are just so enamored with how all these came about. I knew some people who has the same affinity to it. Anyway, I'm curious, how did you come up with your blog title?

Givinya De Elba said...

So I get this email from my Dad that says, "I understood that Churchill was modelling scissors, but how is Adolf modelling paper?"

So I sent him the Wikipedia link to "Paper Rock Scissors."

Turns out one can be a mathematical genius but still need a social 'leg-up'.