The twentieth century was not especially wonderful for Italy. In World War I, although on the victorious side, the cost in manpower was terrible and most of the fighting took place on some of the most inhospitable land on the planet. That generation was scared and almost immediately fell under the influence of Mussolini, a charismatic, blustering and to be honest, not a very bright individual. Following his dreams of glory, all of Italy became a vicious battle ground and the nation, ill-prepared for war, was bombed and shelled into submission. As if those experiences were not enough, Italy suffered bouts of Red terrorism, economic stagnation, and political instability. The United States on the other hand had a pretty good twentieth-century. Victorious in two World Wars, the victor of the Cold War and huge economic growth, the nation became a super-power. While the twenty-first century has not been all that great, the nation is still the magnet to hundreds of millions of people around the world who still believe that we are the land of opportunity.
How is it then that we see mobs in the United States, attempting to destroy statues of imperfect men who did great deeds, improved the health of millions of people or who fought for their noble and not so noble ideas but with an honest belief? We do not see this type of activity in France were Napoleon who was responsible for the deaths of a million of his countrymen and who knows how many of other nations is still honored. Do the French tear down the beautiful palaces created by their despotic kings? How about the British who first outlawed the slave trade? Should statues of great explorers be torn down because they dared to believe that their values and system could help people in other lands?
Why do we suffer they type of self-flagellation? Who are these self-centered, intolerant racists that create such havoc in their attempt to show us how they have found the Truth? How can they even dare to make suggestions about how things could be better when they are so woefully ignorant of what truly came before them.
Which brings us to the article linked below. Today, one can run across houses, commercial buildings, stadiums, statues and more that were built to glorify the Fascist regime of Mussolini. They are literally everywhere, and no one defaces them or attempts to tear them down. Why? Perhaps it is the realization that those times were three generations ago and that Italy is a different country. Perhaps it is because people understand that they can learn from history and that to discard it is another step toward totalitarianism. The line from 1984 that “he who controls the present, controls the past and he who controls the past controls the future”. Perhaps we need to force feed some history to those silly children who believe they have found the “Truth” and that it will be different this time. If we do not and they continue their ignorant ways, we should not be at all surprised at the result.
https://www.city-journal.org/article/italys-non-cancel-culture
