Today I learned...

[Catrin Lewis]

I've heard it said that Shakespeare's works were written by fellows called de Vere or Marlowe, or Bacon ... which stems out of a biased point of view, viz. Shakespeare's humble birth. The argument is that someone who didn't go to university couldn't write such beautiful poetry and plays, or know so much about "foreign" places.
What this viewpoint ignores is the fact that London in Shakespeare's time -- and for centuries before, and after -- was and is a major port, and Shakespeare would've heard stories of "foreign places" from sailors, merchants, and (eventually, when his star rose) courtiers. All this would've stirred his already-fertile imagination -- not to mention that some of his plays (especially the histories, and some of the tragedies -- e.g. Macbeth) centre on the British Isles, so he wouldn't have had to leave England to hear the original stories.

So sorry, Shakespeare authorship questioners, but your question is bollocks.

Years ago I got into an argument with my younger sister about Shakespeare. She argued he didn't exist because his name was spelled in more than one way; ergo, he was made up. Like she'd never been taught how recently spelling has been standardized.

If I'd known then what I know now, I'd retort that in that case, she--- and I--- don't exist either, because our RL surname (her maiden name at the time) gets misspelled and bollixed up in all sorts of ways.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

Imagine all the people one could rid oneself of simply by misspelling their names.

Of course, the drawback is waking up some morning to find one has vanished because of a typographical error somewhere.

 

[Luxuria]

German Propaganda went to a completely new level in WWII:

"In June 1944, the German Security Police permitted an International Red Cross team to inspect the Theresienstadt camp-ghetto, located in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (today: Czech Republic). The SS and police had established Theresienstadt in November 1941 as an instrument of propaganda for domestic consumption in the German Reich. The camp-ghetto was used as an explanation for Germans who were puzzled by the deportation of German and Austrian Jews who were elderly, disabled war veterans, or locally known artists and musicians “to the East” for “labor.” In preparation for the 1944 visit, the ghetto underwent a “beautification” program. In the wake of the inspection, SS officials in the Protectorate produced a film using ghetto residents as a demonstration of the benevolent treatment the Jewish “residents” of Theresienstadt supposedly enjoyed. When the film was completed, SS officials deported most of the "cast" to the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center."
- The United States Holocaust Memorial and Museum.

Source: Nazi Propaganda | Holocaust Encyclopedia

___

This is a whole new level of insanity, I never knew about. I feel really bad for the Jewish People involved in this and it's insane that the Nazis were like, "WE GOTTA MAKE THIS Ghetto NOT look like a Ghetto! And fast!" It's like the bad guys decide to make it look like everything's great over at Evil HQ and there are 'no hostages'. The worst part is, it might have worked. The article doesn't say. @Homer Potvin, do you know anything about this event?

P.s. Sorry for the sad information dump. I just learned about it today and had to tell someone. My history class is currently on WWII. I am also shocked Mel Brooks didn't make a movie about this. Because it feels like something he could have totally wacky and had everyone escape and live happily ever after, in fiction of course.

 

[Catrin Lewis]

Today--- okay, it was two days ago--- I learned that Europe has its own native species of bison, adapted to forest living instead of grazing on the prairies. Apparently, the last wild one died in 1927, and all that was left was a handful born in zoos throughout Europe. Recently, however, they've been re-introducing them to European forests, including one in Kent, where they've done remarkably well.

That is, unless the YT video I saw on this was all inspirational bison-shit.

(Just looked it up. It's true. The creature is Bison bonasus, also called the wisent.)

 

[Catrin Lewis]

German Propaganda went to a completely new level in WWII:

"In June 1944, the German Security Police permitted an International Red Cross team to inspect the Theresienstadt camp-ghetto, located in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (today: Czech Republic). The SS and police had established Theresienstadt in November 1941 as an instrument of propaganda for domestic consumption in the German Reich. The camp-ghetto was used as an explanation for Germans who were puzzled by the deportation of German and Austrian Jews who were elderly, disabled war veterans, or locally known artists and musicians “to the East” for “labor.” In preparation for the 1944 visit, the ghetto underwent a “beautification” program. In the wake of the inspection, SS officials in the Protectorate produced a film using ghetto residents as a demonstration of the benevolent treatment the Jewish “residents” of Theresienstadt supposedly enjoyed. When the film was completed, SS officials deported most of the "cast" to the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center."
- The United States Holocaust Memorial and Museum.

Source: Nazi Propaganda | Holocaust Encyclopedia

___

This is a whole new level of insanity, I never knew about. I feel really bad for the Jewish People involved in this and it's insane that the Nazis were like, "WE GOTTA MAKE THIS Ghetto NOT look like a Ghetto! And fast!" It's like the bad guys decide to make it look like everything's great over at Evil HQ and there are 'no hostages'. The worst part is, it might have worked. The article doesn't say. @Homer Potvin, do you know anything about this event?

P.s. Sorry for the sad information dump. I just learned about it today and had to tell someone. My history class is currently on WWII. I am also shocked Mel Brooks didn't make a movie about this. Because it feels like something he could have totally wacky and had everyone escape and live happily ever after, in fiction of course.

It never ceases to sicken me what was done by the Third Reich in World War II.

What's sickening now is how many people now, young people, especially, believe it either didn't happen, or, worse, that it was all justified.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

Decades ago, my husband, a friend of his, and I went to see Sophie's Choice, one of the most devastating films ever made. On the way home, we were all quiet, but later when discussing the film, the friend said flatly, "It never happened." What? "All that Holocaust stuff. It never happened. It's all made up." This was an intelligent, educated person who was about 33 at the time. He was the first person I ever met who truly refused to believe the available evidence. About the same time, another educated acquaintance expressed contempt for people who "just walked into the concentration camps and let themselves be killed." This woman was a mental health professional.

I dunno. Maybe the horror is so overwhelming to these people that they don't dare believe it ever happened, but it still seems like willful ignorance on a morally reprehensible level.

 

[Stuart Dren]

Decades ago, my husband, a friend of his, and I went to see Sophie's Choice, one of the most devastating films ever made. On the way home, we were all quiet, but later when discussing the film, the friend said flatly, "It never happened." What? "All that Holocaust stuff. It never happened. It's all made up." This was an intelligent, educated person who was about 33 at the time. He was the first person I ever met who truly refused to believe the available evidence. About the same time, another educated acquaintance expressed contempt for people who "just walked into the concentration camps and let themselves be killed." This woman was a mental health professional.

I dunno. Maybe the horror is so overwhelming to these people that they don't dare believe it ever happened, but it still seems like willful ignorance on a morally reprehensible level.

People have tried to present conspiracy-style arguments to me in the past.

"The earth in that area was not substantial enough for mass graves." Really? All possible terrain in the region?

"There was not enough gas for that many people" Weirdly implying that gas was the only form of execution. I guess that might sneak past some people?

Of course it also doesn't hurt to remember that Jewish people weren't the only group persecuted, just the largest portion.

 

[Homer Potvin]

German Propaganda went to a completely new level in WWII:

"In June 1944, the German Security Police permitted an International Red Cross team to inspect the Theresienstadt camp-ghetto, located in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (today: Czech Republic). The SS and police had established Theresienstadt in November 1941 as an instrument of propaganda for domestic consumption in the German Reich. The camp-ghetto was used as an explanation for Germans who were puzzled by the deportation of German and Austrian Jews who were elderly, disabled war veterans, or locally known artists and musicians “to the East” for “labor.” In preparation for the 1944 visit, the ghetto underwent a “beautification” program. In the wake of the inspection, SS officials in the Protectorate produced a film using ghetto residents as a demonstration of the benevolent treatment the Jewish “residents” of Theresienstadt supposedly enjoyed. When the film was completed, SS officials deported most of the "cast" to the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center."
- The United States Holocaust Memorial and Museum.

Source: Nazi Propaganda | Holocaust Encyclopedia

___

This is a whole new level of insanity, I never knew about. I feel really bad for the Jewish People involved in this and it's insane that the Nazis were like, "WE GOTTA MAKE THIS Ghetto NOT look like a Ghetto! And fast!" It's like the bad guys decide to make it look like everything's great over at Evil HQ and there are 'no hostages'. The worst part is, it might have worked. The article doesn't say. @Homer Potvin, do you know anything about this event?

P.s. Sorry for the sad information dump. I just learned about it today and had to tell someone. My history class is currently on WWII. I am also shocked Mel Brooks didn't make a movie about this. Because it feels like something he could have totally wacky and had everyone escape and live happily ever after, in fiction of course.

Yeah, it was known as the "model ghetto" and for a time after the Wannsee conference was used to house the Jewish WWI veterans who skated the extermination line, probably up until 1944 or so IIRC. It was all propaganda bullshit but the conditions might have been 3% better. The thing to remember about inspections and the Red Cross subterfuge is that every country in Europe and US had refused the entry of Jewish emigres during the Holocaust and were looking for any evidence to exculpate their own guilt in condemning them to death. The second thing to remember, particularly with Holocaust deniers, is that humans are indescribably stupid creatures who will believe anything. Literally anything. Sheep have better deductive reasoning skills, so I won't insult the sheep by comparing them to us.