You know. Its interesting. Like… really interesting. And sobering.

Reading history books about the rise of the nazis and the reich, and you ask yourself, “how could they have not known what was going on?” and “how could they let these things happen?” What were they doing just standing around? Why did they let this happen?

I understand that history is written by the victors. I understand that there is so much we will never know. There is nuance and circumstance and so many things that snowball into the most terrible things.

But now… im starting to understand the feeling of powerlessness now. The inability to change the machines that are in motion. The overwhelming dread.

I could make generalizations of the people of germany in the 1930s. But it would be disingenuous. And unnecessary. It feels like they are my neighbors now in 2025. They are angry, or apathetic, or ignorant. And the machine and history does not care about them in the slightest. History will be written by the winner and we are all going to be a broad generalization of what happens next. Your experiences will be written off as a success for the new order, or as a failure. If it is written at all.

History doesnt teach you to dwell on the minutiae and routines of the common man. It doesnt teach you that, despite everything you may do or what you believe, or how much you loathe the actions of your leaders, that you have so little sway. That you are powerless and ineffective.

I feel that and understand that now.

History books in school taught us the wrong lesson i think. But i dont think that we can learn this experience from a book or documentary. If it could, we would not be repeating it now.