I was watching City of Life and Death recently, a rather grim movie about the Nanjing Massacre. It’s a powerful piece, shot entirely in black and white, like an old set of photos come to life. One particularly disturbing scene has one of the protagonists, a Japanese soldier, march a group of Chinese POWs to their deaths, and as they trudge along the man watches in increasingly numbed horror as his comrades unleash absolute evil on civilians in the streets: firing squads, severed heads hanging from trees, young girls tied up and frogmarched by rough soldiers, a dead young woman sprawled on the ground, naked and bruised, with a noose around her neck. Continue reading “on honouring the dead”
on comparing the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution
[Click here for an introduction on how cultural and revolutionary the Cultural Revolution was]
How would you compare the effects of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution in hindering China’s modernisation?
While both hindered China’s modernisation, it was paradoxically the Great Leap Forward that did the greater damage, though it occurred before the Cultural Revolution. The Great Leap Forward did more damage to China’s modernisation since two very damaging factors – zeal for Maoism and the belief in mass movements – remained intact, while this was no longer the case after the Cultural Revolution. Continue reading “on comparing the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution”
on us and them
When I was about 12 an older relative of mine said something to me I’ll never forget. We were watching the news, and the story switched to a high-profile couple undergoing a divorce, because the husband had cheated.
My relative said: ‘Don’t judge people who do that. The only thing that separates us from them is grace.’
In other words, self righteousness makes us forget who we are. Continue reading “on us and them”
sacrifice pt 3: the freedom of Verginia
Old Father Tiber has one more story to tell.
After the heady days of struggle against the tyrants, Rome grew fat. Our people had loved truth and freedom, now we lusted for coin, power and prestige. And so the ten decemvirs took power in our city. They were once good men who loved justice, but the taste of power poisoned the lot of them. The best and worst of them was the decemvir Appius Claudius. Continue reading “sacrifice pt 3: the freedom of Verginia”
law pt 2: the sorrow of Lucretia
Have you sat by the banks of Old Father Tiber before? On quiet days you may hear it murmur. Sometimes it grumbles as old men do, sometimes it sings, and sometimes it tells stories. I have heard a few stories in my lifetime, but none are so sorrowful as that of the woman Lucretia. Continue reading “law pt 2: the sorrow of Lucretia”
fate pt 6: the ruin of Samos
When Polycrates, ruler of Samos died, a victim of his own greed, his power and riches passed to his steward Maeandrius.
Now Maeandrius was a good man, who wanted nothing more than justice for the Samians. He assembled them and said to them, “People of Samos, you know that all the authority held by Polycrates has passed on to me. If I wanted to, I could rule all of you as he has done. But I do not wish to, for I refuse to lord it over people equal to myself. I will proclaim everyone equal before the law. All I ask in return is a share in Polycrates’ riches, and the right for my family and I to serve as priests.” Continue reading “fate pt 6: the ruin of Samos”
on the nazi occult and evil
I’ve always had a morbid interest in the Nazi occult. Something about the inherent evil of the regime coupled with the possibility that it tapped supernatural forces to further its goals. Add to that the kookiness of the whole thing, the weird personalities involved, the freaky science, the esoteric history and mysticism behind the runes and artifacts, and the terrible majesty of the Nazi war machine, and you have something darkly fascinating.
Now one idea related to the Nazi occult is the Fourth Reich – the possibility that some remnant of the Nazi regime survived 1945 and went into hiding, possibly in South America, Antarctica, the centre of the earth, on the Moon (the possibilities get sillier each time), and has been secretly plotting revenge. So of course this idea is rich fodder for all sorts of fiction. Now my interest led me to two particular comic book series: M Mignola’s Hellboy, and K Hirano’s Hellsing. Both involve some kind of Fourth Reich (in the former, an occult-obsessed fifth column guided by evil gods, and in the latter, genetically-engineered, vampiric panzergrenadiers), and oddly enough both shed some useful light on evil. Continue reading “on the nazi occult and evil”
Remember, My Lord 