Roll on October. It seems so long since I have done anything remotely educational I can feel my brain cells dying like cheap light bulbs.
Since finishing AA100 a lot has happened. First was Brexit - I make no apologies for voting 'Leave'; and then came the complete non-manifestation of the promised end of the world as we knew it. Further afield, terrorists still tried to shock the world with atrocities that, while unforgivable, seem no longer to have the dramatic effect upon those not directly affected: As a global community we seem to have become desensitised by the almost constant onslaught of suffering fed us by a sensation-seeking media; and in those countries such as France which have lately borne the brunt of such attacks in Europe, the general indigenous population become more united, and strengthen their resolve to crack down on the amorphous terror threat and decent majority of muslims find themselves both further alienated and vilified by unscrupulous right-wing politicians.
As a prospective historian, it seems strange to live in a time where the wanton destruction of sites such as Palmyra (which, grievous though it was, in a literal sense was only the loss of old material relics of a bygone age, if on a huge scale,) seems to resonate more with people than the loss of many lives. Perhaps this displays either a greater respect for the importance of understanding history in order to understand both the present and the future, or it displays the truth of our having been so assaulted by images of humankind's inhumanity to humankind that we subconsciously perform the mental equivalent of putting our fingers in our ears and singing "lalala" very loudly.
I refuse to believe that it is any way a reflection upon humankind becoming less compassionate.
Looking forward to A105
Roll on October. It seems so long since I have done anything remotely educational I can feel my brain cells dying like cheap light bulbs.
Since finishing AA100 a lot has happened. First was Brexit - I make no apologies for voting 'Leave'; and then came the complete non-manifestation of the promised end of the world as we knew it. Further afield, terrorists still tried to shock the world with atrocities that, while unforgivable, seem no longer to have the dramatic effect upon those not directly affected: As a global community we seem to have become desensitised by the almost constant onslaught of suffering fed us by a sensation-seeking media; and in those countries such as France which have lately borne the brunt of such attacks in Europe, the general indigenous population become more united, and strengthen their resolve to crack down on the amorphous terror threat and decent majority of muslims find themselves both further alienated and vilified by unscrupulous right-wing politicians.
As a prospective historian, it seems strange to live in a time where the wanton destruction of sites such as Palmyra (which, grievous though it was, in a literal sense was only the loss of old material relics of a bygone age, if on a huge scale,) seems to resonate more with people than the loss of many lives. Perhaps this displays either a greater respect for the importance of understanding history in order to understand both the present and the future, or it displays the truth of our having been so assaulted by images of humankind's inhumanity to humankind that we subconsciously perform the mental equivalent of putting our fingers in our ears and singing "lalala" very loudly.
I refuse to believe that it is any way a reflection upon humankind becoming less compassionate.