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After WWII, the international community was ready for a global peacekeeper to come in and fix everything. Now, that's obviously me overstating things, but it is important to note that the formation of the UN looks a lot like the world taking a second swing at the League of Nations.

As part of this new United Nations, respect for self-determination was heavily underscored. Buuuuuuut, as colonial powers disembarked, Cold War heavyweights jumped in the ring and wrestled for spheres of political and economic influence.



It's almost like the Cold War was a new new imperialsim. 



Show notes:

In the episode's image, you see then vice-president Richard Nixon on a visit to the Kremlin in 1959. He is speaking with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. It has been alleged that they are having a quiet disagreement over whose tie is more fashionable. Who did that alleging, I don't know. Maybe me.

I used imgflp to make the episode cover art.

I recorded the outro using Groovepad.

I record the audio using a Fifine K669B microphone.

I edit the audio using OcenAudio.

I drew the Rich Birds logo using a pencil.

Themes can be pretty complicated, and a complicated war like WWII is filled with them. Conflicts like Human v. Human... Human v. Society... Human v. Technology... and so many more animate the art inspired by this most terrible war. What does that art say? Well, it depends. Today I'm going to look at a few themes in some lesser-known WWII films: 2018's Overlord, 2008's Flame and Citron, and 2004's Downfall. 

WWI had been billed as the war to end war...the war to make the world safe for democracy. Those hopes were dashed as the world sunk into financial depression, fascists rose to power, and millions more people died. 

Here is a brief reason you should read more...and watch more tv.

The New Imperialism as it is sometimes called was motivated by power politics and money. I think those motives were thinly masked by the call to "moralize" and Christianize.

The term socialism is so often misused that it feels almost meaningless. Socialism is not communism, but communism is a form of socialism. Socialism can be revolutionary, but it can also be evolutionary. How about some utopian socialism? What about social democracy? Is anarchism socialism? Is Social Security socialist? Is public education? The fire department? Universal healthcare? Where do we draw the line?
A few years after WWII, the United States was gripped by the "Red Scare." Senator Joseph McCarthy made lists of alleged Communists hiding in plain sight. Of course, we know those lists were fictional. Senator McCarthy fell from grace. 
But why were we so scared in the first place?
And why is Communism conflated with Socialism?
And why is Socialism a pejorative in many households?

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/10/07/in-their-own-words-behind-americans-views-of-socialism-and-capitalism/pp_2019-10-07_socialism-capitalism_0-01/