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In this series of commentaries I am highlighting the pitfalls of rational thinking in our world today as it pertains to belief systems, historical perspectives, politics, and markets. This article focuses on history and what if anything we can learn from history.
There are a number of ways to think about history. However, albeit unwittingly, most of us tend to internalize a storyline version of history. This is a natural and intuitive way to view history. History becomes a storyline of cause and effect. We try to explain events using logic and reason. In fact, this is generally our best way of understanding history – as a story.
I will argue in a later commentary against the ‘over-narration’ of history. But for this commentary, I will attempt to highlight how one story of history tends to dominate all others. Through a process of osmosis, our society will take a certain view on history that will in turn influence our perception of current affairs. Arguably, the big historical event of recent history is the Second World War. Its conclusion and its aftermath plays an important role in today’s geo-political conflicts.
The western or first world are sometimes referred to as the Golden Billion. Broadly speaking, USA, Canada, Europe (excluding Russia), Australia, New Zealand all fall under this term. The other 7 billion people on the planet (central/southern America, Africa and much of Asia) live outside of the Golden Billion's cultural world view. The Golden Billion see themselves as the ‘Good Guys’. Much of this ‘Good Guys’ vibe originated in the immediate aftermath of World War II. I will offer a brief summary of their historical recollection of World War II and then offer an alternative story.
World War II - Hollywood History – Good Guys v Bad Guys
The storyline is simple. It consists of the start, the middle and the end. When most of us in the west think of World War II, a series of images spring to mind.
The Hollywood Start
The war was started by a heavily militarized Germany led by a psychopathic deranged racist – Hitler. The Nazis aimed to conquer all of Europe.
The Hollywood Middle
A terrible war ensued, engulfing most of Europe. America could not stand idly by and joined in the good fight against the Nazis and Japanese. The D-Day landings signified the beginning of the end.
The Hollywood End
The victorious allies demonstrated to the world their fealty and dedication to justice by ensuring that Nazi war criminals received fair trials. This is what Good Guys do.
This Hollywood history of World War II is the dominant historical narrative. This is not an evil Hollywood conspiracy designed to mislead us. It is human nature to tell stories that flatter one side at the expense of another. This dominant storyline is pretty much what we think and how we think about World War II. It is important. It feeds into how we think about ourselves in the west. Historical narratives can be very distortionary. The truth, whatever it may be, doesn’t matter. A single historical narrative will dominate and it will endure. It will reach deep into a nations subconscious. I call this dominant narrative – The Good Guys.
An Alternative Historical Narrative
The reader may have already surmised that the Great O’Neill views an historical narrative as a truth for some. But it is not the truth. The following alternative storyline is just another truth for another audience. This alternative story is not the truth either.
The Non-Hollywood Start.
Hitler was mad and bad. He was always headed for war, although he may have preferred a smaller war to the one he finally found himself in. In spite of overwhelming opposition at home, Roosevelt wanted to expand the war by joining in. He finally succeeded. The USA declared war on Germany and Japan over two years after it started. Some will argue that his reasons for expending American lives were honourable. But nobody can argue that it was necessary. Germany and Japan were not planning to conquer the USA.
Britain’s favourite drunkard and infamous war monger Churchill loved the war. He was widely regarded as a war monger in Britain before and after the war. He craved for war against Germany. He used the usual ‘peace seeking’ language to disguise his real desire for war. He advocated for the right to self-determination for Czechoslovakia after Hitler annexed a portion of that country in 1938. However, his heartfelt defence of Czechoslovakia was absent when Hungary and Poland annexed chunks of its territory in concert with Hitler. Obviously his love of self-determination did not extend to Britain’s colonies. The Poles were disappointed when Britain informed them that they would not come to the defence of Poland against the Soviets. But they would defend Poland against Germany!
The Nazis were evil homicidal maniacs bent on war, there is little doubt about that. This alternative historical narrative offers zero deviation from that viewpoint.
Roosevelt and Churchill were regarded as war hawks by many of their own contemporaries. Both countries had a well-established history of genocide and racism (Indians, Blacks, Colonies). They did not come to the fight with clean hands and they didn't fight clean.
The British and Americans declared war on Germany. Clearly, for them, it was a war of choice.
The Non-Hollywood Middle
D-Day was a big deal to the Americans and British. However, the Nazis were already in retreat. The Russians had boots on the ground and had been facing off against the Nazis for 3 long hard years before the D-Day landings. Russia played a bigger role in the defeat of the Nazis. Russia itself was invaded. It had to push the Nazis back twice as far as the Americans and British. Not only that, but the Eastern front was three times the width of the Western front. Over 80% of the German army was destroyed by Stalin’s troops.
The Russians paid a terrible price defeating the Nazis, losing 12.7% of their population. Neither Britain or the US was invaded and their losses (0.9% and 0.3% respectively) were little different to Norway and New Zealand (0.7% and 0.3%).
In this alternative movie, the Americans and British would not be given very much credit for defeating the Nazis. Top billing would go to the Russians.
The Non-Hollywood End
If you want to know how effectively entrenched the Good Guys narrative is, consider how you feel after reading the following lines (in italic) below:
Winston Churchill, and Presidents Roosevelt & Truman instigated a considered and deliberate policy of bombing, fire bombing, and (in Truman’s case) atomic bombing of civilians in World War II. Millions of Japanese and German civilians were killed. In the aftermath of World War II many leaders in Japan and Germany were prosecuted for war crimes and atrocities. For justice to be truly served, Churchill, Roosevelt and Truman should have been prosecuted for war crimes and atrocities.
Many of us in the west would disagree with the above statement. We might think something along the lines of……….in times of war, sometimes the good guys have to do bad things. In other words, if you can’t beat them on the battle field, kill their women and children in their homes. There is countless written and empirical historical evidence that demonstrates that deliberately killing civilians is standard colonial military doctrine. World War II was just a continuation of an existing reprisal policy.
The Good Guys narrative is already in the DNA of the general public. If you are unsure of just how strong the Good Guys narrative is, try suggesting to an American or British citizen their World War II heroes were mass murderers.
Civilians are not military targets no matter which side you are on. This alternative movie sees the post war Nuremberg / Tokyo trials as propaganda stunts designed to seed and nurture the Good Guys narrative.
CONCLUSION
This commentary is not a history lesson. There is no single truth in history. What we have are competing narratives. Trying to discover truth from history will not greatly serve the rational thinker. Undoubtedly it is interesting to know the truth, but it doesn’t help us understand the present. Our best lesson from history is that our understanding of it will evolve into a dominant historical narrative that will shape our understanding of the present and drive us into the future.
In the West, the Good Guys narrative is dominant and it feeds into western viewpoints on recent and current affairs. It is a shared belief that acts as a fuel or lubricant for American / NATO military adventurism abroad. The Good Guys are always trying to do the right thing. They may make mistakes from time to time. Nevertheless, mistakes can be forgiven if you are on the side of truth, justice, and equality etc. Even deliberately bad actions can be forgiven. After all, the Good Guys from the Golden Billion are fighting the bad guys from the other 7 Billion.
The rational thinker might enjoy parsing out the truth from history. But the ‘real truth’ has no purchase in the cut and thrust of international or geo-political affairs. The ‘real truth’ whatever it may be does not matter. Roosevelt, Truman and Churchill understood this. Today's leaders understand this as well. The public is moved by simple storylines of heroes and villains, good guys and bad guys- rational thinking be damned!
Rational Thinking < Dominant Historical Narrative
