The Briefing Room
General Category => Editorial/Opinion/Blogs => Topic started by: mountaineer on January 10, 2019, 03:39:05 pm
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Peter Jackson’s Restored WWI Footage Underscores The Flaccidity Of Today’s Culture
Can any culture raise ‘rough men’ ready to defend it against a ruthless enemy when it cannot even fix in the minds of its developing youth what their sex is?
By William F. Marshall
January 10, 2019“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm,†Winston Churchill reportedly said. He knew a thing or two about combat as a young man, and as the leader of a great nation about facing annihilation as an old man. If Winston could only see us now. The contrast between those young people today who stand ready to protect us and those we protect has perhaps never been more stark. ...
The British offer an even clearer contrast between the rough men who have historically stood ready to protect us and modern, liberal man through two handy examples. First, the legendary British director and producer Peter Jackson has created an absolutely stunning new documentary that I hope every adult in the English-speaking world watches, called “They Shall Not Grow Old.†The film opened in theaters in the United States on December 27 but has been available in Britain for several months.
From the Imperial War Museum, Jackson obtained actual footage shot in World War I, much of which was reportedly previously unseen. He colorized the films, then used advanced computer-guided film techniques to splice in interstitial frames, transforming grainy, choppy, black-and-white original footage into smooth-flowing, color film that looks like it could have been shot by professionals today.
He also hired lip readers to determine what the soldiers were saying in the silent original footage, then dubbed in actors’ voices to replicate the original dialogue. He used sound effects like horses’ hooves clopping, wagons clanking, and artillery shells exploding to match what we see on-screen. The effect is breathtaking. ... Read the entire article at The Federalist (http://thefederalist.com/2019/01/10/peter-jacksons-restored-wwi-footage-underscores-flaccidity-todays-culture/)
It's showing nationwide on Jan. 21. As the granddaughter of a WWI soldier, I cannot wait to see this film. Buy tickets here (https://www.fathomevents.com/events/they-shall-not-grow-old).
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It's showing nationwide on Jan. 21. As the granddaughter of a WWI soldier, I cannot wait to see this film. Buy tickets here (https://www.fathomevents.com/events/they-shall-not-grow-old).
So glad they added another screening, just got my ticket.
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Grrr, for some reason the theatre site isn't accepting my credit card. Will keep trying.
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My son saw this at the pre-release. Even though he possesses no more than an average interest in history, he said it was very good.
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It's showing nationwide on Jan. 21. As the granddaughter of a WWI soldier, I cannot wait to see this film. Buy tickets here (https://www.fathomevents.com/events/they-shall-not-grow-old).
Few today know much about WWI, where my maternal grandfather served. (born 1896)
My paternal grandfather was too old to serve, but registered for the draft at age 37 (born 1881)
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The 100th anniversary of the armistice passed with little attention, sadly.
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As for our flaccidity, that descriptive is much to kind; as we have consciously lost our way.
Regarding the Great War, it was a trans-formative event whose effects reverberate to this
very moment.
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The 100th anniversary of the armistice passed with little attention, sadly.
I think the 100th anniversary of WWII will be the same. And now you see a concerted effort to paint the Allies as the bad guys (Dresden, Hiroshima, etc.)
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The 100th anniversary of the armistice passed with little attention, sadly.
Yeah. I'm pissed that there is no remembrance observed anymore for Grenada.
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I think the 100th anniversary of WWII will be the same. And now you see a concerted effort to paint the Allies as the bad guys (Dresden, Hiroshima, etc.)
The communists have done that for a long time to try and make the West look bad (they were every bit as brutal as they could muster).
When you got right down to it, being overrun by forces from the Axis powers was no picnic, and all-out brutality was standard practice. War is Hell, and hardest on civilians who often stand to lose all, including their lives. One more reason to consider who makes and implements policy for your nation, so their policies keep your nation strong enough to not be attacked, and out of unnecessary conflict.
Note, too, that there was no doubt about who won and who didn't.
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Absalom wrote:
"Regarding the Great War, it was a transformational event whose effects reverberate to this very moment."
Yes.
It was the most wasteful, purposeless and destructive endeavour in human history.
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WWI is so forgotten and overlooked, yet it is a turning point in Western Civilization on par with the Spartan victory at Thermopylae and stopping the Turks at the Battle of Vienna.
The entire system of monarchy was effectively wiped off the map to give rise to the technology and often ideologically driven secular states that remain to this day.
Hardly any living today understand just how radical and immediate societal change it really was, nor how permanent.
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WWI is so forgotten and overlooked, yet it is a turning point in Western Civilization
I'd say it pretty much was the beginning of the end for Western Civilization.
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I enjoyed what I think was the movie... starts out like a BBC documentary then eventually goes to colorized version of old footage and commentary by WWI vets.
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I think the percent of Americans that could walk up to a wall map and point generally to France, Korea,Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan would be a shocker.
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Yeah. I'm pissed that there is no remembrance observed anymore for Grenada.
During the short occupation of Grenada, the locals found ou that our troups were away from home during a family holiday Thanksgiving -- so they invited our guys into their homes to share a meal with them. They Grenadians had no such holiday and learned about it onnthat day. Later they decided to observe their own Thanksgiving holiday and chose the anniversary of the American invasion as the date. So at least the citizens of Grenada will always remember.
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WWI is so forgotten and overlooked, yet it is a turning point in Western Civilization on par with the Spartan victory at Thermopylae and stopping the Turks at the Battle of Vienna.
The entire system of monarchy was effectively wiped off the map to give rise to the technology and often ideologically driven secular states that remain to this day.
Hardly any living today understand just how radical and immediate societal change it really was, nor how permanent.
It was the Kaiser, sending some rodent named Lenin to Russia to stir up trouble for the Monarchy and hopefully mess up the Russian war effort on the Eastern Front that led, in part to the October Revolution, the death of the Romanovs, and the USSR. A profound impact on the course of history in the 20th century and beyond.
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As for our flaccidity, that descriptive is much to kind; as we have consciously lost our way.
Regarding the Great War, it was a transformational event whose effects reverberate to this
very moment.
YES.
'Flaccidity' assumes a gender and gender-specific equipment that is, according to current politically correct climes, no longer self-evident.
More's the pity.
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It was the Kaiser, sending some rodent named Lenin to Russia to stir up trouble for the Monarchy and hopefully mess up the Russian war effort on the Eastern Front that led, in part to the October Revolution, the death of the Romanovs, and the USSR. A profound impact on the course of history in the 20th century and beyond.
Europe never recovered from that war. WWII was merely piling on.
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Europe never recovered from that war. WWII was merely piling on.
Not just Europe, but the world. Would we have Socialist regimes in this hemisphere--or any, for that matter, had Stalin never come into power? The slaughter of 100 million people...Would Hitler have come to power if there had been no communists to fight in the streets, making his party attractive?
The Cold War might never have happened, and neither the atomic weapon nor its delivery systems as a tool of mass destruction...
While that second war may have been rendered inevitable by the terms of Armistice of the first, would it have happened the way it did, with the people who rose to power? Or might a less violent and far flung alternative have occurred?
The repercussions of the First War are with us to this day, with generations programmed with who our enemies are--others of similar stock--who might have allied differently to face different threats, instead of the confusion and distrust which will persist into the foreseeable future.
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From the article:
... Britain’s Telegraph recently reported that UK schools are teaching British children that “Trans boys and men and non-binary people may have periods†and that “menstruation must be inclusive of all genders.†You read that right.
In the span of 100 years, Britain has gone from producing men who were so eager to fight and die for their country that 16-year-olds lied about their age to enlist when the minimum age was 19, to teaching primary school boys that they can have periods just like girls and offering feminine hygiene products in boys’ bathrooms. This phenomenon isn’t unique to the U.K. U.S. colleges, like the University of Wisconsin, University of Minnesota, and Brown University offer menstrual products in their men’s rooms, in the name of “menstrual equity†and as a sop to a miniscule “transgender†population. ...
I fear the 18-25 males in our country (except, maybe, those raised in rural areas) would simply scream, clutch their teddy bears and start crying if this nation were under attack. Heaven help us.
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Not just Europe, but the world. Would we have Socialist regimes in this hemisphere--or any, for that matter, had Stalin never come into power? The slaughter of 100 million people...Would Hitler have come to power if there had been no communists to fight in the streets, making his party attractive?
The Cold War might never have happened, and neither the atomic weapon nor its delivery systems as a tool of mass destruction...
While that second war may have been rendered inevitable by the terms of Armistice of the first, would it have happened the way it did, with the people who rose to power? Or might a less violent and far flung alternative have occurred?
The repercussions of the First War are with us to this day, with generations programmed with who our enemies are--others of similar stock--who might have allied differently to face different threats, instead of the confusion and distrust which will persist into the foreseeable future.
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Many decades ago, a French Jesuit began our Latin Class w/this story:
>>>>>
In his Commentaries to the Roman Senate, Julius Caesar never failed to reference the ageless and enduring enmity between the Tribes of Gaul and Saxony, as the reason for the cost and duration of
the warfare necessary to secure the borders of their Empire.
After Rome fell, Clovis 1 became King of France in 509 AD, yet it was not till 1870 that Germany was unified under the Hohenzollern Monarchy.
During those 13 centuries France treated the Germans as it pleased, led by the likes of Martel,
Davout, de Coligny, Richelieu, Napoleon, among many.
Then Von Bismarck and Von Motke emerged crushing the French in the Franco-Prussian War; the Treaty ending the conflict being held in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.
The Marshall's of France were kept standing and waiting by Bismarck who then entered the room w/a table and chair, sat down and told the French that Alsace-Lorraine was now German, that War Reparations of 5 billion marks had been imposed and that they would never step on German soil again.
The French were apoplectic, seething w/rage as Gallic hubris could/would not bear the affront.
Almost 50 years later they sought their revenge and the rest is history.
Indeed, Europe and the world are far worse off for the catastrophic impact of the Great War.