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its-a-lark-blog · 6 years

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Autism and Nugenics

Alright. Now for a topic that means a lot to me. I didn't edit this, nor did I proofread it, because I want it to be as honest a stream of thought as I can muster. I want it to be as-is. I know it'll be an effort to get through but... please, don't knee jerk. I implore you to just walk away and come back to it, where I inevitably take this may not be where you expect.

The warnings of Elon Musk of AI ring hollow to me when I consider that it wasn't so long ago that white men were obsessed with eugenics; That hasn't changed. The target has, not the thinking.

Eugenics was all about breeding out undesirable traits and ensuring that the traits of 'lesser ethnicities' wouldn't impair the purity of the bloodline, it's what the Third Reich built upon for the atrocities it committed in the holocaust, it was thinking that allowed Hitler to justify his heinous misdeeds, and even to think of himself as the greater good.

Conversely, of late I've bore witness to Internet denizens making a good, college try at humanising Hitler. They remind us to not forget that this 'supposed monster' was a man.

This is a very Alt-Right perspective, of course. I think that any reasonable person would understand why it's necessary that we absolutely don't humanise Hitler. Hands up if you know. Anyone? Anyone? Alright, humanising a monster enables the creation of more monsters.

I mean, consider that if you're telling people that you eventually won't be remembered as a soulless monster centuries after your death? It creates this comfort zone, it normalises the behaviours and actions of monsters past -- monsters like Hitler, Stalin, and the company they kept. And contemporary monsters who're so similar to them in thought -- if not action -- that it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

And that's why we must always remember them as monsters. It's important to remember that something can occupy a human shape, have white skin, and be one of the most cancerous, evil, destructive creatures to have ever walked this planet. All too often humans -- neurotypicals especially -- compartmentalise 'evil' as 'not like us.' This can go as far as the ludicrous, such as using fantasy creatures to embody evil, but it manifests also in much more dangerous ways.

Such as believing only black people can be evil, because they're black.

Okay, I'm going to take the train down a different rail for now into Segue Valley, I promise it'll all make sense in the end. In The Elder Scrolls Online, a video game, I was intrigued by how the factions actually handled the 'evil' they were dealing with. And oh my, it was fascinating. I could write an entire dissertation on this because everything about the creation of this sometimes wonderful, sometimes typical game is telling.

There are three factions: The Pact, the Covenant, and the Dominion.

The Pact and the Covenant are equally as guilty of demonising 'that which isn't like us' as the only existant source of evil; I feel that this writing is very appealing to neurotypicals who tend to filter everything through us vs. them thinking, as confounding, vexing, and utterly disappointing as that invariably is. It's wearisome, really. I'm tired of it, I'll say that!

The Pact and the Covenant are reminiscent of how groups like the Alt-Right see the world -- Groups who're clearly less actualised people, less independent thinkers who want sociopaths to handle all of that for them. They'd rather have an icon tell them how to think or feel; It's the same reason people buy Apple phones. They want someone to tell them what to think, how to feel; All it takes is for a charismatic sociopath to step boldly into that void.

Do note the drop in Apple's popularity since the loss of Steve Jobs, yes?

Anyway, you'll notice there's a third faction I haven't spoken of: The Dominion. They're an interesting bunch, they are. They barely take notice of the other factions because that's just war, and war has never been the most compelling narrative concept. Falling back on such a staid concept which has so much baggage and weight to it feels creatively bankrupt.

So the Dominion doesn't do that because they don't want to engage in this us vs. them problem. Instead, the Dominion focuses on 'us' with the pertinent, erudite realisation that there are problems amongst 'us' and that we're not a homogeneous hivemind, that even within the perceived melange of 'us' there are many different opinions and ideologies. If I had to put it bluntly, the plot of the Dominion is about a fantasy Alt-Right.

And it's so cathartic to punch Nazi elves in the face.

I can't even... I mean, it's just really cathartic. Usually I'm witness to fantasy compartmentalising 'evil' as 'not like us,' which I mentioned prior, which often means having dragons to slay. Couldn't have a wise and kind draig instead of dragons, nooo, that simply isn't done. One has to compartmentalise 'evil' as 'them,' don't you know, because neurotypicals are the only audience. Well, the Dominion plotline isn't that. And it's bloody cathartic.

There's even a fantasy concentration camp where the Nazi elves are trying to break and brainwash their enemies into seeing themselves as innately inferior. You get to punch THOSE Nazi elves in the face, too.

Quoth Savage Dragon: Always punch a Nazi.

Always. ALWAYS.

Since Nazi isn't a person, or a place, it's a CONCEPT. This is something that I'll see neurotypicals trip over time and time again; It's why we have neo-Nazis and the Alt-Right to contend with, now. Nazism ins't indicative of Germany, or any place, or any point in history; It's where the ideology was born, yes, but note what it is -- an ideology. It could exist at any point or time, and it still does exist in the minds of every Alt-Right person.

A Nazi doesn't have to be white, or male, or anything you might assume is baggage to the ideology -- a Nazi is simply a person who took 'us vs. them' too far and became a monster, either through acts of atrocity or the desire to commit them.

In the case of the Alt-Right? The desire is crossing over into reality, I'd recommend a little light reading via Google as to how murder and terror crimes committed by the Alt-Right and other, similar, far-right groups are rising all the time.

Charlottesville was the tip of a nasty ice berg.

Some people saw it coming; I mean, white supremacists have always been around and The Elder Scrolls Online was already in development before the rise of the Alt-Right. Except the Dominion has an Alt-Right story -- because both the Veiled Heritance in The Elder Scrolls Online and the Alt-Right in this reality we call home are based on Nazi ideology.

And you should always punch a Nazi.

Throughout history we have had names for people who've embraced being a monster by taking 'us vs. them' too far, and that's coalesced into Nazi as the quintessence of these very unfortunate people, people who've sold their humanity to follow the most petty of ideals.

It's why people have started taking to calling the Alt-Right Nazis, that's just what they are. See a Nazi, say Nazi! Because it's a bloody Nazi. Nazi notions, though, can be found in all walks of life and can often be used to identify the sorts of people who should be avoided, who shouldn't ever have any power at all. I'm actually glad that The Elder Scrolls Online recognises that, I just wish reality would follow suit.

In reality we should be punching more Nazis, both figuratively and literally. As it's not okay to be a monster.

Neurotypicals have gotten so good at compartmentalising the concepts of evil that when asked to 'visualise evil' most of them would think of dragons or devils rather than a creature like Hitler, and that's tremendously troubling. There was this fridge horror element to it for me, at least, where the realisation compounded itself, more and more, that these woefully deluded people occupy the same reality that I do.

I don't see dragons or devils in my reality; I do see Hitler, the Alt-Right, and people who take 'us vs. them' thinking far too far. They're the monsters I see, they don't have scaly hides, they're humans, just like the one I imagine is reading this. If anyone does.

It's this compartmentalising of evil that allows for the most bizarre constructs to be built, too. I mean, fantasy racism is one of hte most fascinating topics for me because it's so illustrative of this problem that neurotypicals have -- that they can't escape from. I'm going to cite another game, now, before we leave Segue Valley.

Guild Wars.

In the original Guild Wars, the players were propagandised by the perspective of a group of humans called the Ascalonians to see the charr as evil. Whereas in reality the Ascalonians were more like Nazi Germany, just depicted as idyllic and good from the perspective of the player within the game.

It was an unintentional social expeirment, I think, but one of the most truly, genuinely profound and important ones I've witnessed in a long time.

I wholeheartedly invite psych researchers to look into this. Please do! It's enlightening and terrifying.

Anyway -- It was revealed that Ascalon was literally Nazi Germany, committing genocide against a race that couldn't really fight back (since the humans had superior firepower in the form of their gods, as an abstract of contemporary nations with more advanced technology than others). It's an accepted truth that the Ascalonians were slaughtering the women, children, and innocents of this race simply because their ruling body believed these 'creatures' to be nothing more than animals.

Animals who could be cleared out to make space for the humans.

The 'animals,' the charr, were sent into disarray and due to this chaos a very negative faction within the charr who'd been a joke up until this point took power. Sound familiar?

They enslaved the rest of the charr with the power of yet another god they'd allied with and used that god's power to nuke the Ascalonian peoples. This was depicted from the Ascalonian perspective as 'evil monsters who rained devastation down upon us and stole our home.'

Actually, the charr were just reclaiming their ancestral homes and burial grounds; Where they roamed for billions of years before the Ascalonians even turned up on the scene.

The charr eventually freed themselves from the enslavement of the aforementioned malevolent faction and cast them out; They did what they could to make reparations with the Ascalonians, being the first of the two to reach out and try to make peace -- according to the lore.

So, let's recap...

Ascalonians -- Genocidal Maniacs:

Slaughtered most of an indigineous species;

Stole lands from an indigineous species using whatever underhanded tactics they could;

Propagandised their people into believing that the creatures they were slaughtering were naturally evil despite plenty of evidence to the contrary;

Used the retaliation of the charr to further propagandise them and play the victim.

Charr -- Unfortunate Natives:

They were culled almost to the point of extinction;

They had their lands stolen;

They were enslaved by a faction of their own kind;

They rose up against their enslavers and cast them out;

They tried to make peace with the Ascalonians.

Essentially, the charr are a fantasy allegory of some of the troubles Native Americans were faced with when their lands were invaded by European colonists. The charr had more agency, obviously, but there are still a number of rather obvious parallels there.

Now, a sane person would realise that the Ascalonians had a spotty history that they daren't repeat, that the charr were the victims of all that the Ascalonians set in motion. Right? Weeeell...

A sane person would.

However, there were plenty of people who were angry to have their conditioning questioned. They talked about the charr in the same way that Alt-Right people talk about black people; They mocked, derided, and depicted those who played charr as lesser human beings. It even went far enough that some well known charr players received death threats.

And this is fascinating to me.

What is intriguing to me is that where The Elder Scrolls Online makes it clear that the concept of supremacy is the enemy rather than the people who hold those beliefs, and thus that position is adopted by the players? With Guild Wars, those who played as Ascalonians actively hate the charr; There were so many unironic rants about why the charr should all die it frankly made my head spin.

I don't want to say this but it keeps coming up that neurotypicals always appear to be bad at abstracts -- they blame the person rather than the concept. The irony that I am blaming neurotypicals rather than concepts isn't lost on me, yet the truth is is that I can't ignore the science. The patterns of neurotypical behaviour depict overly literal thinking.

It's why it's so easy to convince neurotypicals to hate a 'them.'

I've mentioned before that humanity should see itself as having three enemies:

Supremacy – Where any person believes themselves to be better than another; Enforced Suffering – Where any person is forced to experience torture and anguish against their will; Institutionalised Uselessness – Where the world is designed in such a way that some people are never allowed to offer their worth.

And this should be all of humanity, regardless of one's gender, ethnicity, minority, or any other factor. We should all be united against these three particularly cancerous, surreptitiously creeping evils.

Which finally brings me to my point. The train is now entering a tunnel out of Segue Valley.

Eugenics hasn't gone away -- the target has changed. For whatever reason, neurotypicals love eugenics because they can't separate themselves from the overly literal position of 'us vs. them.' Again, I realise the irony of this. It's painfully obvious, I promise you, but it's akin to Karl Popper's Paradox of Tolerance.

You see, the Paradox of Tolerance says that the nature of tolerance is that we should be tolerant of all people, all ideas, and all concepts; This is the very definition of tolerance. And yet, if we were to enact this, we would then be tolerant of intolerance as well.

In this scenario, intolerance would quickly overwhelm tolerance; As tolerance tolerates intolerance, but intolerance doesn't tolerate tolerance. I know... I know, try to stay with me, here. It makes my head spin too, even though it's completely logical and it makes a good amount of sense.

So you can't be tolerant of intolerance. You specifically have to be intolerant of intolerance for tolerance to survive. Therefore, being intolerant specifically of intolerance is necessary for the survival of tolerance.

I hated having to type that. I'm sorry. I hope you understand.

The same is true of neurotypicals, however; I see that there appears to be a genetic basis that compels a neurotypical mind into 'us vs. them' thinking. I want there to be a study about this as I'm 99 per cent certain I'm correct. I'm not 100 per cent certain as there are no facts, only probabilities backed up by evidence and proof.

Though through my life experiences I'm as sure as I can be; Every neurotypical I've met has this problem. Does this mean that autistic people don't. No, oh dear me, no. We absolutely do. The difference is, though, that we have total awareness of this factor as a problematic element of our own minds. Whereas despite my best efforts, no matter how hard I've genuinely tried, I cannot share this awareness with neurotypicals. I can't. I've tried.

I've tried to explain it in the simplest terms; I've tried to explain it in the most complex terms; I've tried to have an autistic person with better social skills than my own explain it to neurotypicals...

They can't grasp it. I don't know why. Honestly, I'd even go so far as to say that if you're able to grasp this as a problem, to see it within yourself as others as an issue that needs to be dealt with? You're probably not neurotypical.

And that's the thing. I see it in myself. They can't accept that this is a part of their own minds; They believe themselves to be immune to this 'us vs. them' thinking, especially in its more extreme form. They'll then turn around and say something so racist it makes me feel ill.

Eugenics can't go away because of the way neurotypicals are wired. And here's where it gets...

Okay, here's where you might want to stop reading, really. I mean, this terrifies me. It's interesting, yet at the same time it reads like the plot of a dystopian horror novel. It's the world we live in but there is that dissonance there. How can it be so bad? Eugeniscs is here, and the target is now people who aren't neurodiverse.

Cure autism, they say. And cure other forms of neurodiversity which aren't harmful to the person or those around them; In fact, to the contrary, autism seems to create a degree of affective empathy for other people that the neurotypical mind lacks. We know that to be scientifically true, so why would we want to elminate empathy? Isn't empathy a good thing?

Why would you want to remove the people who're aware that 'us vs. them' are a problem, as a concept, rather than seeing a literal 'them' as the problem?

Ask that question.

I ask that question, and I feel scared. I feel scared for autistic children with bad neurotypical parents who blame their kids for their problems rather than recognising their own ineptitude and applying for training on raising an autistic kid, or giving up their kid to a foster home who could raise them better.

I feel scared for vulnerable autistic people who're stuck in institutions like the Judge Rotenberg Centre (which still hasn't been shut down, and I would very much like for you to Google that). I feel scared for autistic people who're bullied by those without autism into wanting their autism cured.

I'm scared of neurotypicals who want to 'cure' us; Because we're not 'us,' are we? We're 'them.' And that's a real problem for neurotypicals, isn't it? We're just a homogeneous mass of 'them' that needs to be cured. A compartmentalised evil.

I think the last, great war will be between people who don't want to be 'cured' and the people who want to 'cure' them, the people who'd have access to CRISPR-cas9 bombs to rewrite their enemies on the fly, who'd be able to holographically edit memories.

And yes, we can do both of those things, now. Hop on over to Google and research them. It's why I'm so scared of neurotypicals.

In the end, the only ones left standing will be those who don't want to be 'cured,' or those who want to 'cure.' I hate that this is the only future available to us, frankly. I can't believe there's another path because neurotypicals won't ever speak up for autistic people, they just see us as 'them' and it's better if all neurodiverse people are 'cured' (killed or reformatted to be exactly like neurotypicals) because that removes the 'them.'

Welcome to the era of nugenics, its clarion call is 'cure autism.'

A little melodramatic, but the point had to be made, yes. Has this helped anyone? Have I finally managed to explain to neurotypicals why 'us vs. them' is the problem, not 'them?' Is this the explanation that finally works? That I don't want to believe this Universality of neurotypicals is why I keep trying, yet I'm scared that this is precisely why we'll 'lose.'

We want to try and see neurotypicals as 'us,' neurotypicals don't extend that kindness our way. Ever. I'd like to be wrong.

Also, I'm going to call it: The Aldmeri Dominion lead writer at Zenimax Online Studios is as neurodiverse AF.

Wrapping this up? Perhaps I'm wrong, there might be another reason for the divide between people who believe the problem is 'them,' and people who believe the problem is 'us vs. them' other than the neurodiverse and neurotypicals. There might be another brain issue responsible for it. From where I sit, though, after all of my life experiences and now dealing with this new torrent of 'cure autism?' I think I'm right.

I don't want to be. I fight the idea of being right about this but neurotypicals seem intent to cram it down my throat.

So, indeed, welcome to the era of nugenics where neurotypicals cry 'cure autism.'

I wish it were different. I want it to be different.

I want it to be different because I don't think anyone has to be evil. I'd rather get to a point where we don't need the icons of those who adopted evil ideologies to remind us of what a monster looks like. And again, it's not the person -- I do fully understand that and I've written paragraphs explaining that, but we have to recognise that adopting an evil ideology invariably results in a monster.

What evil is shouldn't be compartmentalised into 'them.' Evil can be anyone of us, them, or anyone else who adopts a truly sick ideology, one that adopts any of the three sources of pain. I'll recount those here as I can't stress them enough.

Supremacy – Where any person believes themselves to be better than another;

Enforced Suffering – Where any person is forced to experience torture and anguish against their will;

Institutionalised Uselessness – Where the world is designed in such a way that some people are never allowed to offer their worth.

This is what we have to fight. It's not a person, with a face. it's bad ideas. Bad ideas that can make those who have them remarkably evil.

Curing autism trips over all three of those.

Supremacy -- The belief that neurotypicals are the default state, innately superior to neurodiverse people in every way, so curing autism is the correct response;

Enforced Suffering -- Eradicating a person's identity via a 'cure,' which we've seen before with 'treatments' like ECT and ICT, which had no result other than to destroy lives;

Institutionalised Uselessness -- The belief that because a neurodiverse person thinks differently and has impaired social skills, they have nothing to offer to the world, to any venture or business, and thus should be 'cured' for their own good.

Why do you not understand this, no matter how much we try to explain? We're not 'them,' we're 'you.' We're all humans, we're all made of star stuff. Yes, certainly, we're all individuals but if we're all sapient, feeling creatures who mean no harm to any other, shoudln't we be equal?

Don't 'help' autistic people by 'curing' them. Help autistic people by trying to understand how they're different. I know it isn't comfortable, or easy, but that leads to the best end result for all of us. Sadly, I don't see that one being the future of humanity as i don't have that much faith...

Fool that I am, though, I want to hope.

The reality is likely going to eventually be autistic people being rounded up into 'care hospitals' to be 'cured' by force, sure to be eventually remembered as the new holocaust. Not soon enough to stop it from actually happening, though... And I'm terrified of that.

#autism #neurodiversity #neurotypicals #autism cure #bad parenting #my kids are behaving exactly as i see on tv and as i expect them to -- aw bless #my kids are behaving different to kids on tv and i don't like it -- clearly i should mutilate their brains

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praximeter · 7 years

Note

I personally love fake history style fics and the level of detail you use in night war (along with amazing well thought out description of Bucky's inner monologue) really pulls me in and enhances the raw feelings Bucky has. I really want to get across that I love your style of writing as it gives a better understanding of all the stakes at play in buckys situation from major incidents to little asides about social expectations etc. 1/2

So what I’m trying to get at is that I admire the amount of research you do for this series and was wondering if you had any favourite resources (documentaries, books, forums, sites) or anecdotes about ww2 era that you found useful/ interesting or enjoyed most? Any recommendations at all to check out for this era/subject thankyou. 2/2

Hey anon! Thanks for writing in, and thanks for your kind comments! 💕 I’m so happy you’re enjoying the story.

Let me apologize in advance for the absurd and hilarious length of this answer. I’ve been meaning to do a “research, sources, and methods” post for a while for meta reasons, and, well, here it is.

My primary source of research material is definitely books, but there are a lot of amazing resources online including material published by the U.S. Government (reports, publications, etc.) that helps me be as accurate as possible when it comes to troop movements, etc. There are about a thousand documentaries out there about the war, but you can’t go wrong with Ken Burns’ The War or World War II in Color.

My favorite single-volume history of WWII is probably Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945 by Max Hastings. It covers all theaters and it draws very heavily on primary source material–journals and messages and even letters taken from the bodies of soldiers. Its focus is on the human experience of the war rather than on a detailed military history (X brigade of Y Corps marched Z kilometers to fight a pitched battle…etc.). One of my favorite bits from that book (of which some parts made it into The Night War) is this:

“The ground for fifty yards outside is MUD—six inches deep, glistening, sticky, holding pools of water,” gunner office John Guest wrote home. “Great excavations in the mud, leaving miniature alps of mud, show where other tents have been pitched in the mud, and moved on account of the mud to other places in the mud. The cumulative psychological experience of mud… cannot be described.” [p.447]

As much as I wanted to just plagiarize this entire letter, I tried to evoke the horrible exhaustion of the mud in a few places in The Night War, such as:

I want is quiet, just some quiet and rest and to be warm with no fucking rain and no mud and no mortars but most of all I want this to be over. [September 27, 1943)

Freak accident with mortar tube in Harry’s squad and we have two dead because of I think a malfunction with mud or something I don’t know. [October 11, 1943]

Short on rations as it has been impossible conditions—this fucking mud—and we did not get resupplied before this assault so me, Glenn and Castellano have been going to each foxhole to take stock of what we have and split the difference as needed. Which means my own foxhole is a mud pit, these little shits better be grateful. [October 13, 1943]

Another great resource for writing about Bucky’s Sicily/Italy campaign was The Liberator: One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau by Alex Kershaw, who is really more of a pop historian than an academic like Hastings. Nonetheless, he writes on a lot of different WWII-era subjects that are all focused on individual stories, and his works are great gateway books into more rigorous nonfiction about the war.

I’m including below a list that is not comprehensive but rather represents some of the works I’ve either found most helpful in writing The Night War or I just plain enjoyed. I’m so sorry anon, this is not what you were probably looking for!

[holy hell is there a lot under this cut]

Military History

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer

A definitive history by a guy who was the CBS reporter stationed in Berlin in the late 30s.

Inferno: The World At War, 1939-1945 by Max Hastings

My personal favorite single-volume history, and one that inspired a number of the Commandos’ experiences, such as their encounter with the Czechoslovakian family (Jan and Alžběta) near Kozmice (Operation Umbrella). The focus on Alžběta’s fear for her daughters and the risk of violence she perceived to them came directly from some of the stores in Inferno about Italian civilians who were brutalized and raped by “liberators.”

The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Kesselring by Albert Kesselring

Interesting to read the German perspective, though I admit I mostly skimmed this. Kesselring is one of those guys who got bizarrely recast as a “Good German” after the war, like Rommel, but he committed war crimes in Italy. And he was a Nazi, so.

The Few: The American “Knights of the Air” Who Risked Everything to Fight in the Battle of Britain by Alex Kershaw

Again, more pop history, but there was some good stuff in this one about the day-to-day experiences of RAF pilots, though almost none of that made it into The Night War.

With Wings Like Eagles: A History of the Battle of Britain by Michael Korda

A pretty good, quick primer on the Battle of Britain. Some details from this book made it into The Night War but only in terms of things that Bucky observes (like signs being missing at railway stations).

Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy by Max Hastings

Hastings is a really superb writer. I didn’t read this cover to cover but I did take some inspiration from it for the Commandos’ Normandy campaign (June 1944 to July 1944).

The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan

Another classic about D-Day.

The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 by Rick Atkinson

Another great history - this is the third in his three-volume history of the war.

Soldiers’ Experiences

Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest by Stephen A. Ambrose

A classic for a reason. This is the basis for the wonderful HBO series Band of Brothers, which is highly recommended and probably kickstarted my love of the era way back when I saw it at 11 years old.

Citizen Soldiers: the U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Surrender of Germany by Stephen A. Ambrose

Another classic. A great look at the individual experiences of the actual men who fought the war.

Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day’s Black Heroes, At Home and at War by Linda Hervieux

This is a primer on the institutionalized racism of the segregated U.S. armed forces and the experiences of black soldiers, though it is by no means comprehensive as it focuses on a single unit. Still, I took some inspiration from this book about what Gabe may have witnessed or experienced himself during his training.

The Liberator: One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau by Alex Kershaw

Focuses on a specific commander in the 45th Infantry Division (The “Thunderbirds”) who had a remarkable journey through the war that in some ways mirrored Bucky’s. Kershaw writes pop history but there were some amazing details in this book I used to help flesh out the campaigns in Sicily and Italy especially.

The Road to Victory: The Untold Story of Race and World war II’s Red Ball Express by David P. Colley

Understanding the convoy system was helpful for logistical reasons but also, it gave some flavor to Gabe’s experiences as well. There is one mention of the Red Ball Express in The Night War, after Bucky is injured during Operation Goodwood and is back in England (July 29, 1944):

Thank god for the best friend anybody ever had. Steve busted me out of the clink (this makes the second time)—the sappy bastard tried to carry me like I was his fainting dame. I said no dice pal and hopped along as best I could until we made it outside and there was Gabe with a truck waiting like he was my own personal red ball express.

Politics

Never Surrender: Winston Churchill and Britain’s Decision to Fight Nazi Germany in the Fateful Summer of 1940 by John Kelly

Honestly, had nothing to do with The Night War but I read it because Summer 1940 is one of my favorite stretches of the war and this was a really interesting way to imagine the “what if?” had Britain not held fast against the Nazis.

Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour by Lynne Olson

One of my favorite WWII historical books ever. It does a stunning job at “setting the stage” of London during the early days of the war.

Resistance Efforts

A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France by Caroline Moorehead

Probably my favorite book written on the French resistance, full stop. The character of Geneviève Marcel was strongly inspired from some of the incredible women featured in this book.

Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France by Caroline Moorehead

Did not like this as much as Moorehead’s other work, but it did inspire a really fun Commandos mission that never made it to the final story - basically, the Commandos found themselves in a remote French village in the fall of 1944 and had to organize an ad hoc defense of the village along with several French maquis, who were mostly just boys aged 15-20. Naturally, the Commandos kicked ass and there were some great scenes with Bucky teaching the boys to box and to shoot a rifle. Sadly, it had to get cut for logistics reasons.

Avenue of Spies: A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family’s Heroic Resistance in Nazi-Occupied France by Alex Kershaw

This book was a little weak on its sources (in my opinion) but it did a good job of evoking what it was like to live and operate in Occupied Paris, which obviously became important in March 1944 for the Commandos.

Sabotage, Espionage, Code-Breaking, & Special Operations

The Women Who Lived for Danger: The Women Agents of SOE in The Second World War by Marcus Binney

This book isn’t that well-written, but it gave me some great ideas for Howling Commandos missions. Sadly, several of those ideas – sabotaging a submarine, for example – never made the final cut. I read this book because I was fleshing out my headcanon for Peggy, whom I imagined to have been part of the SOE prior to joining the SSR. In my headcanon, she’s the one who extracted Dr. Erskine from the Continent, and she got a lot of her training from the various SOE training stations.

Church of Spies: The Pope’s Secret War Against Hitler by Mark Riebling

Honestly, this book was just fun. I liked the little window into German operations and resistance efforts and it also gave me some great insight into the backstabbing, lack of trust, and unhealthy rivalries inside the Reich, which I used in determining how the Hydra organization might function had it been real.

Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain’s Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War by Ben McIntyre

Some good stuff on how small special operations units actually operated during the war.

The Secret Lives of Codebreakers: the Men and Women Who Cracked the Enigma Code at Bletchley Park by Sinclair McKay

The inspiration for Peggy’s sister Gwendolyn came from this book. Plus, it’s a very easy, readable primer on codebreaking and Bletchley Park as compared to some of the other tomes that are out there.

Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker’s War, 1941-1945 by Leo Marks

The Cost of Courage by Charles Kaiser

This was the inspiration for Geneviève Marcel’s family’s story.

The Holocaust

So, I studied the Holocaust a little in college and so I don’t have a list of all my sources for it (though the Holocaust doesn’t really play a role in The Night War until February 1945), but here are a few good ones:

Art from the Ashes, edited by Lawrence L. Langer

An amazing collection of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry written about the Holocaust and by Holocaust survivors.

Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi

One of the best memoirs on the subject.

The Night Trilogy by Elie Wiesel

This had an enormous impact on my understanding of survivor’s guilt and the exploration of one’s psyche following traumatic experiences.

War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust by Doris L. Bergen

Kapò, an Italian film about a young Jewish woman in a concentration camp.

Conspiracy, a film about the Wannsee conference.

Miscellaneous

When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning

Learned from this book that the single most-read book by American GIs was A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which, fittingly, I had Bucky read in September ‘43 and send a letter to his mother asking her to buy it for Curly for her birthday.

The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America At War by A.J. Baime

There’s a pithy saying about the war that goes like this: “The war was won because of Russian blood, British Intelligence, and American Industry.” Something like 40% of all American industrial output went to arming the other Allies. It’s CRAZY. And the story of how that industry ramped up from 1940 through the end of the war is really interesting, and this one in particular I really enjoyed. Anyway, the only thing from this book that really ended up in The Night War was this:

I remember Castellano in my face yelling “whatever fucking happened to a goddamn bomber an hour?” right after another stuka strafed us not even twenty yards away and Harry yelling “bombers are expensive Frank, you aren’t!”

Fiction

Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky

Amazing contemporaneous fiction written about the French experience in the early years of the war and occupation. The author was a Russian Jew immigrant and was ultimately deported and killed in Auschwitz. Her daughter discovered this unfinished manuscript and published it in the early 2000s.

Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada

A fictional account of a German married couple plotting and executing their own small resistance.

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko

One of my favorite books of all time, and one that does an incredible job at imagining the effect of warfare on the human psyche.

Redeployment by Phil Klay

Short stories set in the modern OIF/OEF era.

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

One of the most important books ever written about war (WWI).

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Another of the most important books ever written about war (Vietnam).

#asks #world war ii - research #the night war meta #the night war research and sources #book recommendations #the night war

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rose-savestheday · 7 years

Photo

So... Remember like a month ago I promised I would write all the prompts? It’s been a month, but I promised, didn’t I? So... here it is for @starcrossedcherik. I’m so sorry, I’m a terrible procrastinator, there is no excuse for that. This prompt to me, personally, is really hard to write, but I hope I can make it up for you, with this or not.

----------------

When they first met at the Bibliothek, Charles was busy cramping a cartful of newly arrived hardcovers into the confined spaces of the top shelves. Much to his dismay, there really is nothing Charles can do about his rather humble frame. Raven outgrew him by a head when he was 16, and never skipped a chance of teasing him mercilessly about this negligible juxtaposition with his peers. After all, it'd been a long day, and Charles had been weary, and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany really shouldn't be that hefty.

He actually could have counted on his grip quivering a tad and the petrifying monstrosity of a book dropping onto someone's feet, in retrospect.

But not a 6 feet stranger who carried skinny jeans and turtleneck like they were destined to fit perfectly to the exsquisite line of his muscle (no one should look that good in turtleneck), with a husky German accent that was all but obscene pairing with the small pained sound at the immediate impact with the edge of the spine (is that what pain supposed to sound like?).

And certainly he couldn't have counted on that same stranger with an oddly attractive name (an r rolled out at the tip of his tongue, a hard k calloused down his throat) asking him out on a date after 3 and a half months of glaring flirting (Moira's words, not his) and his grinning to himself like some feather-brained teenager at a disturbing frequency (again, courtesy of Moira).

Today is their 6 month anniversary. Charles doesn't really keep track, but he was bid goodnight with a text that coloured his dream with infinite warmth and a tether of giddiness (May I be permitted to bring you a surprise tomorrow evening, in celebration of this day 6 months ago, an angel descended and forever altered the scheme of my humble existence?).

He spends the day wondering what the surprise can be. Erik's pretty amazing with surprises. He once showed up at the library out of the blue, with a dog-eared copy of The Light Between Oceans with a bona fide autography of (the M. L. Stedman himself!) that got Charles squeaked shamelessly like a hawk and raised several eyebrows.

("Oh my God Erik! How do you even get this???"

"Patience, also many thanks to my lucky star," a toothy grin graced his ridiculously handsome face, and Charles wanted to kiss him so badly.)

He has been fidgeting in front of his wardrobe for a good one hour. Should he dress up, or is it better to keep it casual? It's been 6 months, for many people that can't even be qualified for a milestone. Yet, Erik is special.

Charles isn't good with relationships, he has had enough experience to come to terms with the harsh truth. No one will ever be loving enough to listen to his rattling on genetics when looking as if it were the most compelling thing he has ever heard, or be engaging enough to actually debate with him with conspicuous zest on the grounds of their different perspectives on the society (Charles is a fool with too many ideals for his own good, Erik once said, not without fond).

Erik is special, and Charles thinks he might be the one for him. He wants nothing more than to be as much for Erik.

He heaves a sigh, and grabs the navy tux in the shadow, the one he sets aside for those special occasions that hardly ever come.

Charles is on the verge of nodding off on his book when the doorbell rings. He raises abruptly, smooths out the small creases on the surface and round the edge of his suit and quickly runs a hand through the thick hair that has now grown slightly long around his neck. He should get a haircut soon, though Erik makes it knee-weakling clear how much joy he derives from playing with the (soft) strands that fall over Charles’ ear and eyes disobediently all the time.

The bell rings again, uncharacteristically impatient.

“I’m coming, just a sec.”

He opens the door, and is greeted with a rough-looking man that is certainly not Erik. The man himself is of relatively short stature, yet it doesn’t make him any less intimidating. The muscles practically ripple underneath the threadbare leather jacket that looks too small on those beefy arms, which can easily snap Charles’ neck like a stick. He has a hairstyle that Charles would describe as wild, with two side of his mane peaking that gives the impression of some kind of animal. Clamped between his teeth a burn-out cigarette and an unintelligible grunt. Charles stands dumbfounded for a moment.

“Charles Xavier?” the man speaks.

“Yes? I’m sorry, have I got into any trouble because I’ve already had Moira cover my shift-“

“What’re you babbling on ‘bout kid? Get in the car. I’m behind schedule.”

“Pardon? Sir, I don’t think-”

The man glares at Charles with what can only be boredom, like he’s making up his mind whether or not to just hoist him up and be done with it, “Erik Lehnsherr? 6 months?”

Charles looks at him incredulously, and decides - rather foolishly after sparing himself roundly 3 seconds to sort his rationality out - to follow the stranger into the sleek black limousine that looks entirely out of place in front of his dainty apartment.

Charles climbs inside the limo, and is momentarily taken aback by the opulence within. Unlike the conventional cars, this limo has long, handsome lounges attached to one side of the cabin. On the other side, a glass tank of sorts, contained within bottles of vintage of some couture brands Charles didn’t even know exist. Stainless windows on all sides afford all points of view on the streets, mirroring the myriads of lights that illuminate the interior with light just little more than feeble. He has once or twice briefly envisaged the luxury. Los Angeles is inevitably no stranger to splendour; even though Charles is not one for this sort of lifestyle, his curiosity, still, is involuntarily piqued.

Spacious as the limo is (why would anyone spend that much money on a kidnapping? More importantly, why would anyone want to kidnap him?), Erik is nowhere to be seen and Charles begins to regret his impulse the moment he feels the slender piece of art start rolling. He sits self-effacingly at the far end of the lounge, trying to enjoy the view while making sense of the situation. Not owning a cellphone can come off as a hassle at times, he has to admit.

What is Erik doing this time? A limousine doesn’t seem his fashion. As far as Charles knows, Erik, isn’t keen on attention. He avoids crowded venues, and almost always wears sunglasses in public and rarely takes them off unless at Charles’ insistence. Even so, it makes him so tangibly uncomfortable that Charles has had to learn to comply with concealing those gorgeous blue-green-grey eyes (“It’s unfair to the world, Erik.”).

The road becomes more packed with every street they pass. At intervals, Charles catches sights of men and women in French coats and bulky cameras. It is after the limo turns right into E 4th Street that Charles realises their destination. The Long Beach Art Theatre, as far as his limited scope of knowledge on the media goes, this is one of the city’s red carpet venues. There is one taking place right now, what does Erik want here?

“Sir,” Charles tentatively addresses the grumpy man, who hasn’t uttered a word throughout the entire drive, “Is Erik waiting for me here?”

He raises one eyebrow and glances at Charles’ reflection in the mirror with the kind of look that makes him feel like a bug tainting the purity of his backseat, “Yes.”

At that, the limo comes to a halt. Almost immediately, the grumpy man hops out and opens the door. Before Charles can mentally prepare himself, a round of shutter clicks swarms into his ears like a thousand crickets, accompanied by an ocean of blinding flashes. People are screaming, cheering, chanting someone’s name, all over the place as though the world is made of but noise at that very moment. He can see just as much as his ears can perceive nothing. So staggering is the scene that Charles almost gives in to the urge to withdraw into the guarded shadow of the limo.

If not for a steady hand that gently takes his and helps him regain his balance.

The grip feels all too familiar, Charles looks up, and sees that gorgeous pair of blue-green-grey eyes look at him anxiously, without sunglasses.

“Erik?” he squints, not quite believes in his vision.

“Liebling, are you alright?” Erik pecks on his cheek, a hand rubs lightly on his back, warm, reliable.

Erik, in a black suit that adorns the lean frame of his body, making him look like a perfect work of sculpture. He should be in a museum, so that humanity can forever cherish the existence of such beauty. But at the same time, Charles also wants him to be his and his only.

“I’m… What is this, Erik?” He asks, still a little dazed. His hearing is gradually recuperating, and Charles realises the over-enthusiastic voices are screaming Erik’s name. That favourite sound of Charles’, at the top of the exuberant, fanatic teenagers’ lung, “They’re… Are they your fans?”

“Liebling,” he shoots a reassuring smile at the paparazzi, “I’m so sorry. I’ve been trying to tell you about this for months. I just haven’t got the nerves.

“You are… You are special to me, Charles. You are beautiful, and passionate, and bold in your own way. You don’t care about the fanfare. I have never felt this way for anyone and I don’t want to ruin that, I don’t want to ruin us,” Erik’s gaze is fixed upon him, apologetically, expectantly.

Erik is a celebrity, mayhaps an A-list one at that, judging from all this clamour.

Erik says he’s special to him.

Erik feels the same way for him.

Erik is scared of losing him.

Charles’ lips stretch into a smile, his eyes soften, “You wonderful idiot,” he wraps his arms around Erik’s neck, “Who says it’s going to ruin us? You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

That toothy grin that Charles loves so dearly brightens his face, and their lips meet. The kiss is soft, endearing. He can hear people cheering and the clicks denser.

“Happy 6 month anniversary,” Erik whispers into the kiss. He smells like Charles’ morning tea.

“Happy 6 month anniversary.”

#roses perpetual notebooks #cherik #prompt #i'm so sorry #so so sorry #not proud of this #fanfic #charles xavier #erik lehnsherr #magneto #professor x #x-men

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classicalliberalleague · 7 years

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@NAC you had a list of books on your old page of recommended readings...but I can't find it now. Could you repost it?

I assume you mean this one ( I have this list on my web page with links included for the public domain stuff I could find…I try to keep it updated as I think of new things or find new ones.)

Young adult/childrenThe Little Prince by Saint-ExuperyWhere the sidewalk ends by SilversteinElla Minnow Pea by DunnSophie’s World by GaarderThe Great Good Thing by TownleyThe Jungle Book by Kipling Bridge to Terabithia by DiamondThe Westing Game by RaskingLillies of the Field by BarrettFlowers for Algernon by KeyesThe Wrinkle in Time Series(Wrinkle In Time, Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet) by Madeleine L’EngleThe Dark is Rising Series by Susan CooperThe Tripod Trilogy by John ChristopherThe Hobbit by TolkienCoraline by Neil GaimanEyes of the Dragon by Stephen KingThe Original Shanara Trilogy (Sword, Elfstones, Wishsong) and Landover (Magic Kingdom for Sale, SOLD!, The Black Unicorn, Wizard at Large, The Tangle Box) by Terry Brooks by Elizabeth GeorgeThe Witch of Blackbird PondAdventures of Tom Sawyer by Twain

Literature Winter’s Tale, A Soldier of the Great War, Freddy & Frederika by Mark HelprinShakespeare (Especially Othello, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, Tempest, Henry IV parts 1 & 2, Henry V, sonnets) Iliad Odyssey by Homer (I like the Fagles translation)Sophocles–Oedipus Trilogy , , Philoctetes , Women of Trachis Orestia by Aeschylus Medea by Euripides Victor HugoLes Miserables The Hunchback of Notre Dam by Hugo A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens To Kill A Mockingbird by LeeWuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Complete works of Faulkner ( esp.The Sound and the Fury, Light in August) by FaulknerHoward’s End by Forster Diary of a Young Girl by FrankThe Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne Catch 22 by HellerGone with the Wind by MitchellFrankenstein by Shelley The Portrait of Dorian Gray , Importance of Being Earnest , An Ideal Husband by WildeThe Time Machine by Wells A Raisin in the Sun by HansberryNight by WieselThe Glass Menagerie by WilliamsThe Devil’s Disciple by ShawA Man for All Seasons by BoltCyrano de Bergerac by Ronstad (unless you speak French only the Hooker translation)Dracula by Stoker Inherit the Wind by Lawrence and LeeMagnificent Obsession by DouglasSilas Marner by George Eliot Decameron –Boccaccio A Modest Proposal—SwiftSelf-Reliance, The American Scholar, Experience—EmersonUp from Slavery—Booker T. Washington

PhilosophyA History of Knowledge by Van DorenThe Cave and the Light by HermanPlato (Euthyphro , Apology , Gorgias , Crito, Phaedo , Symposium , Republic )Aristotle (Metaphysics , Nicomachean Ethics , Eudemian Ethics , Politics , Rhetoric , Poetics )The History of Philosophy by CoplestonDiscourses on Livy by Machiavelli Ethical and Political Writings of St. Thomas AquinasAristotle for Everybody, 10 Philosophical Mistakes, The Great Ideas, How to Read A Book by AdlerCicero (On the Gods , On Duties , 1st and 2nd Philippics Superheroes and Philosophy edited by MorrisBuffy The Vampire Slayer and Philosophy edited by South

HistoryHistory of the Ancient World, Medieval World, Renaissance World by Susan Wise BauerThe Forgotten Man, Coolidge by ShlaesHistory of the Peloponnesian Wars by Thucydides John Adams by McCulloughFrom Dawn to Decadence by BarzunPlutarch’s Lives Cicero, Augustus by EverittLetters of John and Abigail Adams Washington by Ron ChernowThe Glorious Cause by Robert MiddlekauffLost Enlightenment by StarrReagan’s War by SchweizerPatriot’s History of the United States by Schweikart and AllenThe closing of the Muslim Mind by ReillyThe Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

Economics/PoliticsWho Really Cares and The Road to Freedom by Arthur BrooksThe World is Flat by Thomas FriedmanDave Barry Hits Below the Beltway by BarryDemocracy in America by de Tocqueville The Law by Bastiat The Upside of Down by McArdkeSpirit of the Laws The Federalist Papers Adam Smith (Theory of Moral Development , Wealth of Nations )My Journey by BlairThe Conscience of a Conservative by GoldwaterLocke (Second Treatise of Government , A Letter Concerning Tolerance )Parliament of Whores, Eat the Rich, On Wealth, Peace Kills by O’RourkeIn Defense of Globalization by BhagwatiNovus Ordo Seclorum by McDonaldBasic Economics, Civil Rights by SowellThe Next 100 Years by FriedmanThe Mystery of Capital by de SotoThe Road to Serfdom by HayekCapitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose by FriedmanNew Threats To Freedom edited by BellowA Philosophical Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful; Reflections on the Revolution in France by BurkeThe General Theory by KeynesThe Origins of Political Order, Political Order and Decay by FukuyamaBourgeois Virtues, Bourgeois Equality, Bourgeois Dignity by Deirdre McCloskeyCapital by Marx The Conservative Mind by Kirk

Other nonfictionPower of Myth by Joseph CampbellThe Universe in a Nutshell by HawkingFreakanomics by Levitt & DubnerThe Art of War by Sun TzuScratch beginnings by ShepardThe Tao of Physics by CapraShadowplay by AsquithHuman Excellence by MuarryThe Better Angles of Our Nature by Pinker48 Laws of Power by GreeneThe Story of Western Science by Bauer

Pleasure readingMan in the High Castle by DickBeat to Quarters, Ship of the Line, Flying Colours by ForesterThe Road to Gandolfo, Bourne Trilogy by LudlumBig Trouble by BarryEaters of the Dead, State of Fear by CrichtonRed Storm Rising by ClancyI, Claudius by GravesThe Walking Drum by L’AmourGates of Fire by PressfieldThe Scarlet Pimpernel by Ozcry It and The Green Mile by KingThe Agony and the Ecstasy by StonePillars of the Earth by FollettThe Historian by KostovaGrail Quest by CornwallThe Thirteenth Tale by StterfieldLamb, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, Vampire Trilogy, The Stupidest Angel and Fool by Moore

Sci fi/Fantasy Mists of Avalon, The Forrest House by Marion Zimmer BradleyThe Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (et. al)Dune Series by Frank Herbert (et. al)The Sword of Truth Series by Terry GoodkindWorks of Robert Heinlein (esp. Stranger in a Strange Land, Puppet Master, Starship Troopers, Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and Double Star)Good Omens by Gaiman and PratchettWatership Down by AdamsEnder’s Game by CardAmerican Gods by GaimanAnthem, Atlas Shrugged by RandHitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Adams1984 by George Orwell2001–Clarke

Spiritual The Robe by DouglasLost Horizon by HiltonGod Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita by YoganadaThe Second Coming of Christ by YoganandaThe Tao Te Ching (best to read at least two translations)The Alchemist, Veronica Decides to Die by CoelhoAutobiography of a Yogi by YoganandaEvidence of the Afterlife by LongA Course in MiraclesThe Messengers by IngramThe Celestine Prophecy by RedfieldLife before Life by TuckerJonathan Livingston Seagull and Illusions by BachSiddartha by HesseKoranThe Book of CertitudeHoly BibleBook of Mormon

PoetryThe Prophet, The Broken Wings, Song of Man by GibranLeaves of Grass by Whitman (esp. Preface, Song of Myself, I hear America Singing, Corinna’s Going A-Maying,When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer, O Me! O Life!, O Captain! My Captain!)Works of Tennyson (especially The Lady of Shalott, Ulysses, Charge of the Light Brigade, For I dipped into the Future, In Memoriam A.H.H., Crossing the Bar, Ulysses)Works of T.S. Eliot (especially The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Wasteland, Hollow Men, Preludes-, Four Quartets)Divine Comedy by Dante (I like the Mandelbaum translation) Metamorphoses by Ovid Hesperides and Nobel Numbers by Herrick (esp. To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, Argument of his book, Delight in Disorder, To His Conscience, Upon Julia’s ClothesFaust by Goethe Part I Part II Works of Sappho, Hafiz, Rumi, Li Po, Tu Fu (best to read several translations)Tagore (esp. Gitanjali)Spencer– Amoretti (Sonnets 1,8, 10, 35, 37, 67,68, 70,75, 79)Sidney —Astrophil & Stella (Sonnets 1,6,9,15, 31,39,45,52,69,71,72,87,89,108)The Passionate Shepherd to His Love—MarloweThe Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd—RaleighShakespeare’s Sonnets (all them)Meditation 17, Holy Sonnet 10, The Bait—DonneTo a Mouse, To a Louse, Auld Lang Syne. A Red Red Rose–BurnsThe Lamb, The Tyger—BlakeRime of the Ancient Mariner, Kubla Khan—ColeridgeShe Walks in Beauty Like the Night, When We Two Parted, Darkness, We’ll Go No More A Roving, When A Man Hath No Freedom to Fight for at Home—ByronA Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing—PopeThe Measure of a Man—UnknownInvictus–HenleyPrayer of St. Francis of Assisi—Unknown (but probably not St. Francis)Ozymandias, The Flight of Love, To—, —ShellyOde on a Grecian Urn, La Belle Dame Sans Merci—KeatsSea Fever–MasefieldMy Last Duchess, Andrea del Sarto, Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister—BrowningSonnet 43—Barret BrowningRemember, Up-hill, Echo, Promises like Pie-Crust, Lord thou thyself art love,—C.G. RossettiSudden Light, The House of Life, Soul’s Beauty—D.G. RossettiThe New Colossus–LazarusSecond Coming, Sailing to Byzantium, When you are Old, Lake Island of Inishfree—YeatsDo Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night—ThomasWork—Angela MorganThe Highwayman–NoyesCasey at Bat—ThayerJabberwocy, Walrus and the Carpenter, The Hunting of the Snark–CarrollDream Deferred, I too sing America– HughesThe Road Not Taken, Birches, Mending Wall, Fire and Ice, Out, Out–Frost

Short StoriesWilde (The Carterville ghost , The model millionaire , The nightingale and the rose )Poe (Masque of the Red Death . Tell tale heart , Cask of Amontillado , Fall of the house if of usher , The Purloined Letter ,The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade , Pit and the Pendulum , Mertzengerstein , The Duc De L’omlette , The black cat , The Murders of the Rue Morgue , Van Kempelen and his discovery , Mesmeric revelation )Hawthorne (My Kinsman Major Molineux , Young Goodman Brown , Rappacini’s Daughter , Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment , The Snow Image , The Minister’s Black Veil , The Maypole of Merry Mount , The Celestial Railroad , Sister Years , The New Adam and Eve , The Artist of the Beautiful )O. Henry ( Lickpenny Lover , The Gift of the Magi ,After Twenty Years , The Last Leaf , The Cop and the Anthem , The Clarion Call , The Skylight Room , The Buyer from Cactus City , The Duplicity of the Hargraves , The Furnished Room , Witches loaves , The Third Ingredient , Spring time a la Carte , The Green Door , By Courier, The Romance of the Busy Broker, One Thousand Dollars, Tobin’s Palm)Lovecraft—(The Cats of Ultar , The Outsider , Beyond the wall of sleep , Hypnos , The call of Cuthulu , Dunwich horror , Dagon)EM Forrester (The Other side of the Hedge , The Machine Stops )Edith Wharton –The fullness of life Collins–Mr. Lismore and the Widow Bradbury—Exiles, Sound of thunderHans Christian Anderson –( In a thousand years , Little mermaid )Ambrose Bierce–Occurrence at owl creek bridgeConnell–The most dangerous game Thousand and One nights–Aladdin and his magic lamp The necklace by Maupassant Anthony Hope–The Philosophy in the Apple Orchard Doyle (The Red Headed League , Scandal in Bohemia)Gilman–The Yellow Wallpaper Harrison Bergeron by VonnegutThe story of an hour by Kate Chopin The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Rikki tiki tavi by KiplingThe ones who walk away from Omelas by Le Guin Bartley the scrivener by MelvilleThe lady or the tiger by Frank Stockton Abbot–FlatlandJericho Road by Henry van dyke Henlein– (The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag, All you zombies, By his bootstraps, Waldo, Beyond this horizon)Philip K. Dick (We can remember it for you wholesale, Paycheck, Second Variety, The Minority Report, The Golden Man, Variable Man)William Faulkner (A Rose for Emily, The Tall Men, Shingles for the Lord, Shall not Perish, Elly, Uncle Willy, That will be Fine, That Evening Sun, Red Leaves, A Justice, A Courtship, Lo!, Ad Astra, All the Dead Pilots, Wash, Mountain Victory, Beyond)Mark Twain (The celebrated jumping frog of Calaveras County, Diary of Adam and Eve)Washington Irving (Sleepy Hollow, , The Devil and Tom Walker )Gelett Burgess–The number Thirteen , The MacDougal street affair Lord Dunsany– The bureau d’exchange de Maux , The Exiles club , The Sword of Walleran The mortal immortal byMary Shelly The Adventure of the Snowing Globe By F. AnsteyThe Sleeper and Spindle by GaimanMark Helprin (Katherine comes to yellow sky, Ellis island, Tamar)

PodcastsThe History of Rome, Revolutions

#books #book recommendations #literature #reading #book lovers

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silentfcknhill · 7 years

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And for the identity ask, 2, 3, 9, 14, 15, 20, and 30?

Sorry for the delay in responding to this! I wanted to wait until I got home from work so I could think about it properly. >.

2. Have you ever found a writer who thinks just like you? If so, who?

I want to be vain and say Edgar Allan Poe because I think we have similar interests and I can relate to him personally. He is my favorite author and I even have a tattoo of him on my back. But I don’t think I am as good at metaphors and such as him. Realistically I would say the closest to how I actually think is Jostein Gaarder. He wrote one of my favorite books called Sophie’s World, an experience in philosophy from the eyes of a child’s imagination and that book seemed to apply to my life a lot. I really related to the juxtaposition of the intellectual, realistic tone and the child-like creativity that the knowledge is filtered through. That kind of duality exists at my core.

3. List your fandoms and one character from each that you identify with.

Well, I have so many fandoms, but don’t always have a character I identify with in each, so I’ll just list the characters that I identify with most from media that I love. Also, some are kind of embarrassing but I didn’t come this far to be in denial xD

Pixel from Lazytown. Alice from Alice In Wonderland. Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. Brick Heck from The Middle. Amanda Young from the Saw franchise. Willy Wonka from Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.

9. Are you an artist?

Yes. A really good one? No. I’ve been drawing for years but I only have practice with pencil and traditional art, I’m still trying very hard to learn to create digital art with Photoshop, SAI, Corel, Illustrator etc. I’m also still struggling to find a personal style. I’m such a perfectionist that every time I draw something (usually faces, that’s what I’m more skilled at) it has to be hyper-realistic and I just get frustrated, start crying and stop drawing for awhile. I think with effort I could be very good, I’m not trying to sound vain, but I think that good art is learned rather than a god-given talent. Talent plays a role in creativity and being able to visualize what you want to see appear but technical skill with drawing is equal to the amount of work put in for the most part. Right now I am doing a challenge where I practice drawing a single bit of anatomy every day for an entire month, starting with what I’m worst at: hands. I start off using references, and then do it from memory/creation. I don’t post my art online much because it makes me self-conscious and I want to be better first.

14. Are you a musician?

No. I love music so very much, all types of genres. It plays a huge role in my life, but I am not coordinated enough to play an instrument and my singing voice is not good. Not awful, but not even decent. I wish I could sing. If I ever try to learn an instrument, it would probably be the drums. I prefer to enjoy other people’s music without the stress of having to create it, I don’t find it relaxing to practice and it doesn’t come naturally to me.

15. Five most influential books over your lifetime?

Well, as I said before, I was very inspired and slightly mindscrewed by Sophie’s World. But the most influential book in my life was probably the whole Silmarillion/Lord Of The Rings/Hobbit series because I literally became obsessed with it and still am. I guess The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich would count as well, because it’s really what inspired my interest in history in general and Nazi Germany in particular. It is a very large book so I’ve only read it twice, the first time when I was in grade 8, the second time in grade 9 when I did my English final essay on it. I also used it for reference in my Political Science exam/essays at the end of the year during grade 12. I’m sure many people thought I was a Nazi sympathizer when I carried it around at school, I would walk down the halls reading it and it has a giant swastika on the cover. It was one of many rumors about me that wasn’t true. One of the first books I remember becoming enthralled by was a book I read in elementary school called Behind The Attic Wall. It just struck me as really eerie. One of my favorite books I own is The Complete Tales And Poems Of Edgar Allan Poe. My grandmother gave it to me when I was 11 and it sparked my love of the tormented writer himself xD And one more bonus one because I couldn’t pick just five, The Mysterious Stranger (any version, even though none are completed) by Mark Twain is the creepiest and most existentially depressing book I’ve ever read. I ended up finding an animation of it online while looking for book reviews and I was kind of disturbed.

20. Would you rather be in Middle Earth, Narnia, Hogwarts, or somewhere else?

Even though Middle Earth is my favorite, it is also very dangerous and I probably wouldn’t survive there long. I’m going to say Hogwarts, but only after the second wizarding war is over, Harry and co. have left and it is relatively safe again. There are just so many classes I’d want to take there.

30. Pick one of your favorite quotes.

Again, I have so many. This is really unfair so I’m defying the question and I’m going to pick a few v.v

“As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.”

“All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream.” Liked this one so much that I tattooed it on my back under Edgar himself.

And the quote that applies the most to me out of any single thing I’ve possibly ever read: “I reject your reality and substitute my own.”

#asks #thereichdoktor

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Nazi in a sari

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Nazi in a sari

Image copyright Savitri Devi Archive

Savitri Devi, a mystical admirer of Hitler and a cat-loving devotee of the Aryan myth, seem destined to fade into obscurity after her death 25 years ago. But thanks to the rise of the extreme right, her name and her image now crop up online more and more, writes Maria Margaronis.

In 2012, browsing the website of Greece’s Golden Dawn party for an article I was writing, I stumbled on a picture of a woman in a blue silk sari gazing at a bust of Hitler against a blazing sunset sky.

What was this apparently Hindu woman doing on the site of an openly racist party devoted to expelling all foreigners from Greece? I filed her as a curiosity at the back of my mind, until the rising tide of extreme-right politics in Europe and America threw up the name “Savitri Devi” once again.

It isn’t hard these days to find discussions of Savitri Devi’s books on neo-Nazi web forums, especially The Lightning and the Sun, which expounds the theory that Hitler was an avatar – an incarnation – of the Hindu god Vishnu, and Gold in the Furnace, which urges true believers to trust that National Socialism will rise again. The American extreme-right website Counter-Currents hosts an extensive online archive of her life and work.

Her views are reaching a wider public audience, too, thanks to American alt-right leaders such as Richard Spencer and Steve Bannon, former Trump chief strategist and chair of Breitbart News, who have taken up her account of history as a cyclical battle between good and evil — a theory she shared with other 20th Century mystical fascists.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Richard Spencer in Charlottesville (August 2017)

Dark metal bands and American right-wing radio stations also roar about the Kali Yuga, the Dark Age of Hindu mythology, which Savitri Devi believed that Hitler was once destined to bring to an end.

Who was Savitri Devi, and why are her ideas being resurrected now? Despite the sari and the name she was a European, born Maximiani Portas to an English mother and Greek-Italian father in Lyon in 1905.

She learned Indian languages, married a Brahmin, and forged an elaborate synthesis of Nazism and Hindu myth

From an early age, she despised all forms of egalitarianism. “A beautiful girl is not equal to an ugly girl,” she told an interviewer sent by the Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel in 1978.

Swept up by Greek nationalism, she arrived in Athens in 1923 at the same time as thousands of refugees displaced after Greece’s disastrous military campaign in Asia Minor at the end of World War One.

She blamed the Western allies for Greece’s humiliation, and for what she saw as the unjustly punitive terms imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles. In Savitri’s mind, Greece and Germany were both victims, denied the legitimate aspiration of uniting all their people in one territory. That view, combined with a passionate anti-Semitism which she claimed she learned from the Bible, led her to identify herself early on as a National Socialist.

Hitler was Germany’s champion but, she said, his desire to eradicate Europe’s Jews and restore the “Aryan race” to its rightful position of power made him her “Fuhrer” too.

Image copyright Savitri Devi Archive

Listen to Savitri Devi: From the Aryans to the Alt-right on the BBC iPlayer

In common with anti-Semitic thinkers since the 18th century, Savitri blamed Judeo-Christianity for destroying the glory that was Greece and the Aryans’ mythical ancient utopia. In the early 1930s she sailed for India in search of a living version of Europe’s pagan past, convinced that the caste system, by forbidding intermarriage, had preserved pure Aryans there. (Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, who visited India in the 1970s, shared her misconception.)

So unusual was the sight of a European woman travelling fourth class by train that she was placed under surveillance by the British colonial authorities. But Savitri had little to do with the British in India until World War Two, when she passed information she gleaned from them to the Japanese. She learned Indian languages, married a Brahmin (whom she believed to be an Aryan like herself), and forged an elaborate synthesis of Nazism and Hindu myth, in which Hitler was a “man against time” destined to bring about the end of the Kali Yuga and usher in a new golden age of Aryan supremacy.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Young Brahmins training to be priests in Varanasi

In Kolkata in the 1930s, Savitri worked for the Hindu Mission, now a quiet neighbourhood shrine but in those days a centre for Hindu nationalist campaigning and missionary activity. The politicisation of India’s religious communities under the British had helped to foster the growth of the Hindutva movement, which argued that the Hindus were the true heirs of the Aryans and that India was an essentially Hindu nation.

Savitri offered her services to the Mission’s director, Swami Satyananda, who (like many Indians before independence) shared her admiration for Hitler and allowed her to mix Nazi propaganda with her talks on Hindu identity. She travelled the country lecturing in Hindi and Bengali, salting her talks about Aryan values with quotations from Mein Kampf.

In 1945, devastated by the fall of the Third Reich, she returned to Europe to work for its restoration. Her arrival in England is described in her book Long-Whiskers and the Two-Legged Goddess, a children’s fable whose heroine is a cat-loving Nazi like herself.

Image copyright Savitri Devi Archive

Image caption Savitri Devi was often photographed in swastika earrings

The heroine, Heliodora, “had no ‘human feelings’ in the ordinary sense of the word,” she wrote. “She had been, from her very childhood, much too profoundly shocked at the behaviour of man towards animals… to have any sympathy for people suffering on account of their being Jews.”

Her ashes were laid to rest with full fascist honours, purportedly next to those of American Nazi leader George Lincoln Rockwell

Savitri was always clear that she preferred animals to humans. Like Hitler, she was a lifelong vegetarian. She viewed the world as if from a great distance, caring more for what she saw as the deep patterns of nature than for human lives. Visiting Iceland, she spent two nights on the slopes of Mount Hekla as it erupted. “The original sound of creation is ‘Aum’,” she wrote. “The volcano says every two or three seconds, ‘AUM! AUM! AUM!’ And the Earth is trembling under your feet all the time.”

In 1948, Savitri managed to enter occupied Germany, where she distributed thousands of pro-Nazi leaflets, bearing the words: “One day we shall rise and triumph again! Hope and wait! Heil Hitler!”

She said years later that she was glad to be arrested by the British occupation authorities because it brought her closer to her jailed Nazi “comrades”. During her imprisonment, which was cut short by her husband’s intervention through the Indian government, she grew close to a former Belsen wardress condemned as a war criminal, “a beautiful-looking woman, a blonde of about my age.” Savitri’s sexuality has been the subject of some speculation. Her marriage to Asit Mukherjee was allegedly celibate because they were not of the same caste; the Nazi financier Francoise Dior, niece of the fashion designer, claimed to have been her lover.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Francoise Dior claimed to have been Savitri’s lover

In her later years, Savitri Devi returned to India, where she seemed to feel most at home. Living in a flat above a garage on a quiet Delhi street she devoted herself to the neighbourhood cats, going out every morning to feed them bread and milk bedecked in the gold jewellery traditionally worn by married Hindu women.

She died at a friend’s house in England in 1982. Her ashes were laid to rest with full fascist honours, purportedly next to those of American Nazi leader George Lincoln Rockwell.

Image copyright Savitri Devi Archive

Image caption Savitri Devi in Delhi, in 1980

Savitri Devi herself is almost forgotten in India now, but the Hindu nationalism she espoused and helped to promote is in the ascendant, much to the concern of her nephew, the veteran left-wing journalist Sumanta Banerjee.

“In her book A Warning to the Hindus, which came out in 1939, she advised the Hindus to cultivate a ‘spirit of organised resistance throughout Hindudom,'” he says. “The targets of this resistance were the Muslims, who were a threat, according to her, to the Hindus. And this is the same fear that is being echoed today.”

Hindutva is the official ideology of Prime Minster Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which claims that Muslims and secularists have undermined the strength of the Hindu nation. Though the party’s official spokesmen condemn violence, the riots that led to the tearing down of the Babri Mosque at Ayodhya in 1992 and the current waves of attacks – sometimes fatal – by vigilante groups on Muslims and dissenters tell a different story.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Hindutva is the official ideology of Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party

In the US, racism, anti-communism and Christian fundamentalist notions about the impending apocalypse have together prepared the ground for the far right’s flirtation with occult Nazism and Hindu prophecies.

And as in India, the traditional ruling majority’s fear of losing power has been an effective recruiting tool.

“Since the middle of the Obama administration the single most important factor in the minds of people who joined the Tea Party was the idea that white people were being shoved aside,” says researcher and writer Chip Berlet. “The far right and organised white supremacist groups have both been buoyed up by fear among many white citizens in the United States that they’re being displaced and humiliated.”

Savitri Devi’s work forms part of the history of both India’s Hindu nationalists and the European and American extreme right. Her flamboyant, eccentric writings contain – unvarnished and uncensored – all their key ideas: that human beings can be divided into “races” which should be kept separate; that certain groups are superior to and more entitled than others; that these groups are under threat; and that the dark times in which we live will only end when they again take power, returning us to a mythical golden age.

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