I recently binge watched a series on Netflix called " Babylon Berlin." It awoke an interest in the Weimar Republic and the change that occurred in Germany between the First World War and the Second World War when Germany flirted with democracy under the leadership of Hindenburg, the President of Germany from 1925 until 1934.
It was raw, gritty, dark and often troubling. Explicit in its portrayal of the excesses that humanity can so often, like today, embrace or at the very least, tolerate or ignore.
I was struck by the divide between those that had so much and those that had so little.
Those that lived in a plastic world fueled by drugs, sex, money, power and greed; and those who struggled to survive the horror that was their lives.
The sheer depravity and self indulgence of the " well heeled " in sharp contrast to those that provided " services" to feed their wanton debauchery at such a cost that they were left with no dignity and no hope.
I fully admit that it is not something that I would wish a 90 year old like Redhead to watch. It is too dark. Too raw. Too ghastly.
Yet it stirred me to consider how the fall of the Weimar Republic is not dissimilar to what we, as western nations, are about to confront. Head on.
In many respects, Hindenburg was very much like his namesake: a well-intentioned way of getting from Point A to Point B , but, following his participation in the rise of the Nazi's, he crashed and burned - along with the Weimar Republic. Much like our governments are doing today over energy policies.
Without belabouring the issue, I found myself going down rabbit holes and trying to understand the Rise and Fall of the Weimar Republic.
So much that went wrong was tied to the thirst for money. The thirst for power and the quest for supremacy over the masses - no matter the cost to them - in short, a selfish elite who cared nought for the citizenry who slaved in order to satisfy their lust for sex, drugs, and the rock and roll of their self centred lifestyles.
Of course, it must be acknowledged that the crash of the American Stock Market in October 1929 was the death knell to the Weimar Republic. They had coasted along in a false sense of security for so long that they did not realise that their wealth was built, like a house of cards, on a weak foundation.
Much like today.
There were too many similarities to today for my liking.
We have willingly or unwittingly ( depending upon which side of the great divide between right and left you reside) dived into an underworld of sexual perversion, abortion at will, rule by transgenderism and homosexuality. We are surrounded by fentanyl and drug overdoses. People incapable of functioning. Bathed in the darkness of pedophilia, drag queens and the denigration of women and the demasculation of men.
Our military is in tatters.
Our health care is in disarray. Our economies teetering on the brink of ruin.
Votes are no longer worth the paper that they are not written on because of voting machines.
Elections are a farce.
Religion and Faith are being corrupted by the very forces of evil that seek to destroy the bedrock of our countries.
Racial tensions are being manufactured by our elite in order to further divide us.
Crime is out of control and our judicial systems are weak, corrupt and ineffectual.
Even our police are as guilty ( at times ) of brutal abuse of citizens.
Fear reigns supreme and hope is a memory disappearing into the mists of time and becoming the stuff of stories about " I remember when... "
What, seriously, do we have to look forward to?
More of the same?
Or, will it be like Babylon Berlin, where it inevitably ends in catastrophe?
Unfortunately, I am erring on the side of catastrophe.
For, without a fight back against the insanity, the dilemma we will ALL face, rich and poor, is that hope in the future will require a period of great darkness, great sacrifice and one hell of a lot of pain.
Do we have the strength to fight this battle?
After recent election results and the current Covid insanity, I sadly think not.
Perhaps we will join the Weimar Republic and become the stuff of history books when a hope was dashed by ideology, selfishness, egos and corruption.
Either way, I suspect that we will be in for a tough time.
Much like the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazism, there will be no winners. Only losers. Only the losers don't know it yet. More fool them and more fool us.
Indeed, more fool us.....
Tomorrow, we will look at something quite extraordinary - an article written in 1993 about the impact of national health care on the Weimar Republic. Until then....