Tag: World War II

The Correlation Between International Conflict and the White Supremacist Movement

1 Comment

Throughout U.S. history, there has always remained a correlation between the aftermath of conflict and vigilante and revolutionary violence connected to the White Supremacist movement. Surges of Ku Klux Klan membership align more closely with veterans of combat and the aftermath of war than they do with anti-immigration, populism, economic hardship, or any of the other political factors experts have traditionally relied upon to explain sudden spikes of membership affiliation. White supremacist activity always have a direct link to post war periods, including notable individuals such as George Lincoln Rockwell who was a World War II veteran and founder of the American Nazi Party, Richard Butler who was also a World War II veteran and founder of the Aryan Nations, Louis Beam who was a Vietnam War veteran and Grand Dragon of the Klux Klux Klan, and Timothy McVeigh who was a Gulf War Veteran and responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995

The Ecologically Destructive Technique of Blast Fishing and Cyanide Fishing

2 Comments

Blast fishing was introduced in Southeast Asia post World War II, by American soldiers who threw grenades into bodies of water to yield a large cache of fish, a technique which is used  during the modern day to produce fish as a food resource in local markets. Dynamite is often used but any explosive will perform the task effectively, even improvised devices which utilize an explosive chemical within a glass drinking bottle with an improvised wick lit by a cigarette. Cyanide fishing is an ecologically destructive method of catching fish in which a diver takes bottled cyanide and pumps it into reef areas where fish reside, stunning the fish and making them easier to catch, so that they can be extracted for the pet and live fish trades. These techniques result in coral reefs losing their color and ultimately dying, eliminating a major food source for marine life within the region. Both methods are extremely damaging to the ecosystem and left unchecked, can decimate entire ecosystems within a few short years. Portions of and entire coral reefs which have slowly built over thousands of years can be destroyed in a matter of seconds by using either of these harmful techniques. Fortunately, both methods of fishing are illegal in most of Southeast Asia

The Development and Repeal of the “Keep Calm and Carry On” Red Poster Campaign During World War II in Britain

2 Comments

The Publicity Division of the U.K. Ministry of Information developed a propaganda campaign prior to World War II in August of 1939. Part of this collection was the iconic red “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster which was designed to be issued at a later date when morale was in need of a boost after destruction and conflict had begun to take place. It is believed that the Keep Calm and Carry On slogan is the best known of all war time campaigns in Britain. The Home Intelligence agency, tasked with monitoring public sentiment and morale, commissioned a survey to study how effective the red poster campaign was at increasing the confidence of the public within the British government. The British government quickly discovered that contrary to expectations, the public found the red posters patronizing and with overtones of an out of touch ruling class pressuring the working class to rise up and defend the state, the very same narrative which was felt by the majority of the public during World War I which was in recent memory for the majority of the British population. Because the red poster campaign was considered a failure, in early 1940, the Keep Calm and Carry On poster among all others were shelved indefinitely with virtually all 2,400,000 (2.4 million) copies rescinded and destroyed

The Indigenous People of Tanna Island, Vanuatu and Their Religious Cult Honoring and Deifying the U.S. Military

1 Comment

On Tanna Island, Vanuatu, every year on February 15th, residents of the Pacific Ocean island chain engage in a military parade with the term “USA” painted in red or tattooed upon the chest of men who carry large bamboo spears with red tipped, pointed ends, a tradition which began more than 60 years ago, inspired by events which took place during World War II, when the U.S. military descended upon the island with modern machinery and supplies (e.g. canned food and cotton clothing etc.). The native inhabitants were in awe of these technologies which lead them to believe that the Americans were in possession of magic. Science fiction author Arthur Charles Clarke’s Third Law states that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. When World War II ended, the U.S. closed its bases in Vanuatu and left seemingly overnight, taking their technologies and goods with them. In honor of U.S. soldiers in the hope that it would entice them to return, the indigenous people created a cult which honored those who had appeared from beyond the horizon. These inhabitants started to create replica U.S. military items (e.g. wooden bandolier designed to mimic artillery shell bandoliers, straw aircraft, U.S. military insignia shoulder patches denoting rank which are painted onto skin etc.). Virtually all religions begin with a miraculous event (e.g. comet in the sky fortelling of calamity) followed by the creation of monuments which exemplify the event observed (e.g. large statue of the Buddha as a deity). Religions developed by cultures which worship other beings which have descended upon them are often referred to as a “cargo cult”

The Reason Beer Bottles Are Brown and Green

Leave a comment

Alcoholic beverages like beer are brown in color because clear glass allows ultraviolet light to penetrate which can alter the flavor profile. Bottles inevitably became tinted brown to prevent ultraviolet light from achieving full penetration. After World War II, green bottles became popular due to shortages of brown glass

The Chinese Government’s Eradication, Extermination and Annihilation of the Islamic Uyghur Ethnicity

Leave a comment

It is estimated that the Chinese government is holding more than 1,000,000 (1 million) practitioners of Islam in detention camps, the largest incarceration of an ethnic group since World War II. Holding facilities used to house detainees utilize the latest, most advanced technology in development, technology which is actively being tested to better control human beings. Chinese technology has advanced to the point that words spoken over telephone conversations can trigger surveillance so those with families inside detention centers often talk using coded language when using any type of telecommunications device. In 2009, thousands of Chinese Uyghur’s (pronounced “wee-gurr”) rioted in China’s Xinjiang province, the primary location of most Chinese Uyghur people. This riot was caused after a peaceful protest had gone awry due to law enforcement suppression, with the protests originally being conducted because of 2 Uyghur practitioners who were killed by the Chinese state. Almost 200 people, mainly Han Chinese were killed in this conflict. In the aftermath of this event, in an attempt to suppress any further activity, an unknown number of Uyghur were murdered and thousands imprisoned. President Xi Jinping appointed Chen Quanguo (pronounced “Chen Chang-gu-woa”), a strong arm tactical leader who had earned a reputation as an enforcer after pacifying Tibet. Quanguo elevated security in Xinjing against the Uyghur people, to suppress any future insurrection. Xi’s government decided that Xinjing’s 13,000,000 (13 million) Muslims would be treated as potential terrorists despite evidence which explicitly states that an extremely small minority of Uyghur people identify with the ideology of insurgency, separatism, and militancy. China has developed a ranking system which consists of 100 points, denoting somebody as a safe person. 10 points are deducted for each category which applies to an individual (e.g. identifying as Uyghur, being between the ages of 15 – 55, having knowledge of Islam, engaging in regular prayer, relatives living abroad, holding an active passport etc.). The Chinese government soon realized that the number of people who would be deemed unsafe in reference to this new system was quite large which is why enormous holding camps were developed upon an industrial scale. The Chinese government initially denied the existence of these facilities but satellite imagery clearly and definitively prove their construction and use. It is believed by western intelligence that there are now up to 1200 camps in operation. Facilities are highly regulated with moveable cameras in each dormitory and classroom, and detainees are permitted no more than 2 minutes in the bathroom before running the risk of being struck in the head with a electric baton prod. There have been accounts by detainees of other prisoners who were treated so poorly that their mental health began to decline into madness. The scale of this operation has caused some children to lose both parents which is why specialized orphanages have been setup to take care of children left behind by their incarcerated guardians. The Chinese government has recorded footage from within the camps to portray for the outside world the narrative that these facilities are nothing more than re-education centers. In reality, these highly polished videos have more in common with tourism advertisements than they do with journalism as the facilities are depicted to be much better than they actually are in terms of treatment of those imprisoned and the conditions presented to them. A large majority of Han Chinese are in favor of these facilities as racial bias, prejudice, and Islamaphobia is commonplace against the Uyghur ethnicity in China. Many Han believe the propaganda which has been fed to them, leading them to believe that the Uyghur people are of a lower intelligence quotient than Han Chinese and that they are incapable of doing anything outside of agrarian tasks like herding sheep. Detainees are actively being experimented upon to develop technologies which will forever change the modern world in respect to surveillance. The Chinese government has employed a tiered process for surveillance of the Uyghur people which begins with video surveillance setup outside of the home and ramping up to having flagged identification so that whenever law enforcement or checkpoints are present, a person is stopped and questioned, possibly being detained. All intelligence information is fed into a central system referred to as the “Public Security Database”. All Uyghur people have been instructed by the government to visit local police precincts to submit forensic data regarding themselves including vocal samples of ones voice which provides a unique voice signature, three dimensional facial scans, fingerprints, blood samples, and even deoxyribonucleic acid samples. The Chinese government is running specialized programs in Xinjing entitled “Homestay” and “Becoming Family” which sends uninvited Han Chinese workers into the homes of Uyghur people with the official statement stating that these programs are designed to promote national unity and harmony. The visitors sent out are described by authorities as “relatives” of the Uyghur people, but in reality, these people act as agents of the state, collecting, recording, and submitting intelligence via surveillance at an intimate and personal level which is inside of the home. Each person being monitored is provided a biographical profile so that the Chinese government understands how large or little a threat a person truly is. Many Uyghur households are individually marked with quick response barcodes, often referred to as “QR codes”, the same kind used on social media to photograph and pull up information instantly. Law enforcement frequent homes with quick response codes marked on the front door of a home upon a regular basis to scan it and ensure that only those who are registered for the home are present within it. Smartphones are examined at the various law enforcement outposts setup across the province to ensure the public is complying with the rules and regulations setforth by the state. Anyone caught violating any of these rules is subject to immediate arrest and detention with many examples of people being imprisoned for innocuous offenses (e.g. 12 months of incarceration for installing WhatsApp upon a smartphone). In addition to this, all Uyghurs are required to instal a Chinese government app which monitors their devices for suspicious activity. This level of intrusiveness is unprecedented in the modern world, as no country other than China employs such aggressive measures to surveillance it’s people. Xinjing has been labeled by experts to be the most tightly controlled and regulated region in the world, a surveillance state which surpasses all others, teetering upon the borderline of science fiction in terms of the Chinese governments reach, breadth, and depth of intelligence. The Chinese company Leon is helping to build the infrastructure needed to create a seemingly impregnable surveillance state, developing technologies and strategies which most likely will be rolled out across China and into other countries which want to adopt and license the technology from China, which provides a dual benefit effect as the Chinese government then owns the worlds best surveillance systems to surveil its own people as well as the ability to sell these technologies to the highest bidding countries and organizations, providing an economic incentive for China to continue developing and pushing the boundaries of what is possible with this bleeding edge technology. It should be noted that Leon is only one of many companies working with and for the Chinese state to develop surveillance technologies. Foreign nations outside of China have done little to protest the development and implementation of these technologies in an concerted effort to ensure economic relationships with China remain un-jeopardized. Measures to eradicate the Uyghur people and culture to the point of annihilation have recently been increased with physical, visual evidence recorded of bulldozers demolishing traditional Uyghur housing in Kashgar, China as part of the Communist Parties housing modernization and development program. Satellite imagery definitely demonstrates that symbolic destruction is occurring in tandem with the domes and minarets of mosques being dismantled and removed from at least 2 dozen Islamic religious sites as of 2019. The Chinese government emphatically states that human rights are not violated in re-education centers and that cruelty is strictly prohibited with detainees free to apply for consent to leave at any time. These claims however have not been verified and evidence to the contrary has been overwhelmingly collected and distributed by western media organizations. The Chinese government is heavily focusing upon indoctrinating the current generation of young Uyghur children, forbidding the usage of indigenous language and cultural practices in an effort to assimilate young Uyghur children into becoming Chinese citizens identical to the Han Chinese which is the predominant ethnicity of China, comprising 92% of the total population, a figure which means that 19% of the worlds total population identify as Han

The Socioeconomic Reason As To Why Inner-City Schools Are Often Academically Inferior to Suburban Schools and Provide Less Opportunity to Students 

Leave a comment

The reason inner city schools are often gravely underfunded and therefore poorly equipped to provide and meet even the minimum standard of education required by U.S. law is because of the way in which racial integration changed the United Stated of America. Often referred to as “white flight”, as black Americans migrated from the southern U.S. towards the north, many Caucasian americans became increasingly aware and uncomfortable with their neighbors, particularly of the direction in which their cities were headed. This caused many Caucasians to move away from the city and into suburban areas which resulted in the majority of the Caucasian population no longer being emotionally or financially invested in what occurred in the city which they once resided in. This lack of interest alongside the push by Caucasian’s to ensure Caucasian tax revenue went towards areas of self interest, namely the suburbs surrounding these cities, caused less and less income to flow or even trickle into the city alongside fewer and fewer people who cared what occurred politically inside the city. Over time, inner city educational districts became markedly worse off and gradually this new low came to be accepted as a new normative standard, while suburban school districts had an opposing trajectory as they statistically became able to offer a better standard of education, also being accepted as a new normative standard. This gross dichotomy between the inner city and outer suburbs continued to occur for decades which is why post World War II, the U.S. educational system has been in constant disarray and need of improvement in respect to the opportunities afforded to students to acquire the information they need to compete and succeed in life. The irony of this situation is that no nation on Earth is better equipped to resolve such an issue as the U.S. is the wealthiest nation to have ever been formed

Pablo Picasso’s Politically Charged Guernica Painting

Leave a comment

On April 26, 1937, Guernica, Spain was severely bombed due to civil conflict brought on by World War II. The Basque town of Guernica was openly hostile towards General Francisco Franco’s ideologies, and because of this, Franco unleashed a 3.5 hour bombing raid upon this defenseless city, with help from German allies. In total, 1650 people were killed, 900 injured, and most of the township was destroyed, an event which sparked international outrage. Pablo Picasso created a piece of artwork as sentiment towards anti-war and anti-violence entitled “Guernica”. Picasso understood that artwork and politics rarely go together hand in hand and so he created not a piece of aircraft and bombs but rather of horses and swords, as he was determined not to create artwork which could be used as propaganda in the future. The bull depicted within the painting is designed to represent Franco and his military powers and the suffering horses and weeping woman symbolize the people of Spain. Picasso’s Guernica work became a timeless masterpiece and a copy of it is on display at the United Nations world headquarters in New York City, United States of America. The Guernica painting was covered briefly with a veil during 2003 when U.S. General Colin Powell announced the United States’ decision to invade Iraq. The Guernica image was seen as incendiary commentary and therefore intolerable during this chaotic period. The Guernica painting has become a symbol of protest to violence, war, and military regimes, not just for every country in the world, but of the 20th century and beyond

The Original Target of Nuclear Warfare in Japan During World War II 

Leave a comment

The Ryōan-ji (pronounced “rai-oh-anne-jee”) temple garden in Kyoto, Japan was the intended target of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan during World War II. The American Secretary of State Harry Stimpson, who visited the Ryōan-ji temple garden during his travels throughout the world, lobbied against the bombing of this garden and other gardens around it located in Kyoto as he had appreciated the gardens beauty and significance to Japanese culture. Because Stimpson was steadfast in his opposition to the bombing of the Ryōan-ji Temple garden, the site was spared with Nagasaki substituted as Nagasaki was considered an equally suitable target

The Unsustainability of Massive Debt 

Leave a comment

A major driver of prosperity during the last 50 years of the 20th century has been debt. Prior to World War II, significant debt (e.g. mortgages) did not exist. Debt has been the fundamental driver of all of this forward momentum. This system of prosperity is dependant upon one’s financial ability to service it, and although it is accepted as normal, it is unfortunately unsustainable. This movement has created the enormous financial sector and markets which the industrialized world is now familiar with. The mindset of enjoying now and paying later creates a mindset in which people are divorced from affordability. History has consistently demonstrated that this model is highly volatile and worse, unsustainable in the long run