Thoughts and Books
May. 5th, 2019 07:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smokingbootI hate the 'For Sale' sign outside my house. The pics aren't even taken yet.
Truth is I don't nest easily at all, don't fall in love with bricks and mortar. And yet, when I find somewhere I like and get used to, I don't like to change.
I used to love my brother's house, and never thought I would like this as much. But the birdsong changed all that for me, that and my feelings grew stronger when we covered the garage with trellis so my outdoors was always green. I would rather rent this out if we could...
But it's probably not practical. The government, in an attempt to catch the populist vibe, are making it more difficult for people to rent out their houses as private landlords. Natch this will only play into the hands of bigger companies but eh, common sense is the last thing this government is about and I wouldn't expect better from Jeremy Corbyn for all I'm tempted to like him.
Added to which, when we come back from NY, I have a hell of a lot of work to get on with. I could do without the added hassle of estate agents and people coming around the house.
A case of my diamond shoes being too tight I guess!
**
Reading 'The Magic Island,' by William Seabrook, and 'Travellers in the Third Reich,' by Julia Boyd. The first is quite fun in a 1920s sort of way, redolent with language that would be considered cringeworthy now. William Seabrook managed to scandalise Aleister Crowley, no mean feat. Travelling the earth obsessed with fantastic experiences, witchcraft,magic and feats of cultural appropriation (actually that's not fair; William didn't appropriate cultures, he pushed himself into them like a puppy that insists you're its best friend) Seabrook had a cracking time, got himself committed eventually, but then that seems to have been due process for early 20th century adventurers. At least he had a laugh on his way to the asylum. He's definitely someone I would invite to a dinner party, though I'd expect little to be left on my wine rack afterwards.
Julia Boyd's book is fascinating, though 'fun' isn't the word for it. It's not perfect, (the chronologies are sometimes confusing) but as a view of the rise and fall of the third reich through the eyes of foreigners/tourists/ambassadors/students at the time, it mesmerises.
The classist attitudes are stunning in their entitlement; it is a very strange thing to realise that so many of the 'upper classes' were fans of Hitler precisely because they believed his spiel about being Europe's bulwark against Communism. They didn't want to know or wouldn't care about nazi atrocities as long as the perps kept the bolshies away from their land and money. The author doesn't say this, but it's a hard conclusion to avoid.
The other thing is the sheer pervasiveness of anti-semitism at the time, seemingly everywhere in the West. There was a huge amount of sympathy for Germany after the war, and a curious culpability attached to Jewish people for, well, I don't know, not seeming as poor as other Germans or something. God knows, it makes no sense. Added to all this was this sense of Jewishness being tied into the Bolshevik revolution in some way... A mess of nonsense that stemmed from what? Just otherness; Europe's old scapegoats bearing others' sins again. I couldn't help thinking that if I was Jewish, I would have real issues believing that Germany could be a friend to me now; after all, if they hated my kind out of irrationality in the first place, why would anything rational change that hatred? Would terrible photos of what they did shame them into caring for my kind? I would be very wary of remorse born out of shocked embarrassment. Still, one cannot stay in such a headspace, or the world becomes a siege.
There were those who recognised the nazis for what they were; Halet Çambel, the first female Muslim to take part in the Olympics, despised the Nazis and when asked if she would like to meet Hitler just said no. There was other food for thought too; the African-American athlete John Woodruff said; 'When I came home, someone asked me 'How did those dirty nazis treat you?' I replied that I didnt see any dirty nazis, just a lot of nice German people. And I didn't have to ride in the back of the bus.'
Do I think it could happen here? Honestly, I don't. Yes, there's thwarted entitlement and poverty and entrenched prejudice, but not nearly as much of it as would seem necessary to create that perfect storm of horrors. When all is said and done, Hitler and National Socialism seem to have been popular at home and abroad - at least, at first, with some caveats. The Brexit Referendum was not a huge vote against the EU; more people did not vote for Brexit than did. Nationalism certainly exists here, but its tide of turdery seems seems limited to idiot MPs, troll twitter accounts and Question Time audiences. I do know a couple of alt-righters, mainly conspiracy theorists whose grip on reality can best be described as lateral.
I think we will be all right, as long as we escape the great Stupidiser; Anger. Best way to avoid anger is to make sure people aren't poor. If people had been truly concerned about the long term effects of poverty, they needn't have feared the bolsheviks/pandered to nazis in the first place.
**
And finally: NYC, not long now!
Truth is I don't nest easily at all, don't fall in love with bricks and mortar. And yet, when I find somewhere I like and get used to, I don't like to change.
I used to love my brother's house, and never thought I would like this as much. But the birdsong changed all that for me, that and my feelings grew stronger when we covered the garage with trellis so my outdoors was always green. I would rather rent this out if we could...
But it's probably not practical. The government, in an attempt to catch the populist vibe, are making it more difficult for people to rent out their houses as private landlords. Natch this will only play into the hands of bigger companies but eh, common sense is the last thing this government is about and I wouldn't expect better from Jeremy Corbyn for all I'm tempted to like him.
Added to which, when we come back from NY, I have a hell of a lot of work to get on with. I could do without the added hassle of estate agents and people coming around the house.
A case of my diamond shoes being too tight I guess!
**
Reading 'The Magic Island,' by William Seabrook, and 'Travellers in the Third Reich,' by Julia Boyd. The first is quite fun in a 1920s sort of way, redolent with language that would be considered cringeworthy now. William Seabrook managed to scandalise Aleister Crowley, no mean feat. Travelling the earth obsessed with fantastic experiences, witchcraft,magic and feats of cultural appropriation (actually that's not fair; William didn't appropriate cultures, he pushed himself into them like a puppy that insists you're its best friend) Seabrook had a cracking time, got himself committed eventually, but then that seems to have been due process for early 20th century adventurers. At least he had a laugh on his way to the asylum. He's definitely someone I would invite to a dinner party, though I'd expect little to be left on my wine rack afterwards.
Julia Boyd's book is fascinating, though 'fun' isn't the word for it. It's not perfect, (the chronologies are sometimes confusing) but as a view of the rise and fall of the third reich through the eyes of foreigners/tourists/ambassadors/students at the time, it mesmerises.
The classist attitudes are stunning in their entitlement; it is a very strange thing to realise that so many of the 'upper classes' were fans of Hitler precisely because they believed his spiel about being Europe's bulwark against Communism. They didn't want to know or wouldn't care about nazi atrocities as long as the perps kept the bolshies away from their land and money. The author doesn't say this, but it's a hard conclusion to avoid.
The other thing is the sheer pervasiveness of anti-semitism at the time, seemingly everywhere in the West. There was a huge amount of sympathy for Germany after the war, and a curious culpability attached to Jewish people for, well, I don't know, not seeming as poor as other Germans or something. God knows, it makes no sense. Added to all this was this sense of Jewishness being tied into the Bolshevik revolution in some way... A mess of nonsense that stemmed from what? Just otherness; Europe's old scapegoats bearing others' sins again. I couldn't help thinking that if I was Jewish, I would have real issues believing that Germany could be a friend to me now; after all, if they hated my kind out of irrationality in the first place, why would anything rational change that hatred? Would terrible photos of what they did shame them into caring for my kind? I would be very wary of remorse born out of shocked embarrassment. Still, one cannot stay in such a headspace, or the world becomes a siege.
There were those who recognised the nazis for what they were; Halet Çambel, the first female Muslim to take part in the Olympics, despised the Nazis and when asked if she would like to meet Hitler just said no. There was other food for thought too; the African-American athlete John Woodruff said; 'When I came home, someone asked me 'How did those dirty nazis treat you?' I replied that I didnt see any dirty nazis, just a lot of nice German people. And I didn't have to ride in the back of the bus.'
Do I think it could happen here? Honestly, I don't. Yes, there's thwarted entitlement and poverty and entrenched prejudice, but not nearly as much of it as would seem necessary to create that perfect storm of horrors. When all is said and done, Hitler and National Socialism seem to have been popular at home and abroad - at least, at first, with some caveats. The Brexit Referendum was not a huge vote against the EU; more people did not vote for Brexit than did. Nationalism certainly exists here, but its tide of turdery seems seems limited to idiot MPs, troll twitter accounts and Question Time audiences. I do know a couple of alt-righters, mainly conspiracy theorists whose grip on reality can best be described as lateral.
I think we will be all right, as long as we escape the great Stupidiser; Anger. Best way to avoid anger is to make sure people aren't poor. If people had been truly concerned about the long term effects of poverty, they needn't have feared the bolsheviks/pandered to nazis in the first place.
**
And finally: NYC, not long now!
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no subject
Date: 2019-05-05 10:09 am (UTC)Remind me, did you ask a little while ago for NYC recommendations, or was it someone else I know who's also going out there this year?
no subject
Date: 2019-05-05 10:50 am (UTC)You are very kind about the house. It is hard to leave but maybe I need a different vibe to help me work.
And if you win the lottery, I look forward to hearing about your own dream home and further travels. One day we'll meet in Nashville...