Quote:
Originally Posted by August
WW2 was the most significant event in living history. Not until all those who lived through it die off will it even begin to fade into human memory. Skybird might pine for a change of subject but I'd say that Germany has at least another 20 years before that happens.
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I hope it never does. One doesn't have to have a personal connection to an event to recognize it's significance in shaping the world we live in. We study history because it's a study of us - of human nature, of human motivations, of the triumphs and failings of us as a race. It's a mirror. We may not always like what we see in the mirror, but things like the Holocaust memorials and the bins full of personal effects that were taken from prisoners, videos like the one I linked to...those sort of things paint a very clear picture of the historical event and bring it home in a tangible way.
Skybird can call it fetishization or a ritualized relic, but that's awful close to dismissing history and sweeping it under the rug to be forgotten. And you know what they say about people who forget history.