Spectacles

In 1986, Taiwan’s dictator set the island’s democratization in motion — an unlikely story with consequences and lessons which echo to today. — Citations here: https://www.spectacles.news/mini-doc-taiwan-shouldnt-be-a-democracy/ — From 1949 to the 1990s, the Kuomintang ruled the island of Taiwan, first under Chiang Kai-shek and then under his son, Chiang Ching-kuo. The Chiangs and the KMT ruled with an iron fist, which makes their willing embrace of democracy in 1986 all that much more surprising. This video tells the story of how Taiwan’s dictatorship transitioned to democracy not from a position of weakness but one of strength.

Since liberating South Africa from Apartheid, Nelson Mandela’s successors have fostered corruption and brought the country to ruins. What happened to the African National Congress? — Citations here: www.spectacles.news/mini-doc-how-south-africa-fell-apart-mandelas-fading-dream/

What should we do about racist statues? Tearing them down leaves a void in the public memory but leaving them up is an affront to decency. Could there be another way? — Citations here: https://www.spectacles.news/mini-doc-a-simple-slightly-insane-solution-to-racist-statues/ — Around the world, citizens are debating what to do about statues of slavers, imperialists, and prominent racists. At stake is how nations remember the crimes of their histories, and, in choosing how to remember them, what commitments they make to social justice going forward. Some call for complete removal of such monuments, while others insist that to get rid of them is to dismember history, but we think there’s a different way.

Some are wondering, is Italian Fascism back? Truth is, it never really died. — Citations here: https://www.spectacles.news/italy-fascism-problem/ — Many believe that fascism in Italy died along with Mussolini’s fascist regime after World War Two. But it didn’t. Reborn immediately after the war as Movimento Sociale Italiano (Italian Social Movement) or MSI, and reinvented several times since, neo-fascist politics has persisted in Italy. So, while Giorgia Meloni may be Italy’s first far-right leader since WWII, she’s nothing new to Italian politics. The real question is — is she dangerous? And yes, she is. With the help of some democratic theory about the perils of presidentialism, we explain why.

Everyone knows Germany loved starting wars, but the reason why is weirder than you think. Special thanks to our good friend @Kraut_the_Parrot for voicing Napoleon. — Review our sources: https://www.spectacles.news/mini-doc-the-weird-reason-germany-loved-war-so-much/ — This video breaks down a surprising explanation of German militarism. More than anything, bureaucracy built the German war machine, and that same bureaucracy is, surprisingly, still the core of the modern government’s virtues. We are indebted to Francis Fukuyama for his unparalleled scholarship which fueled this video.

Benjamin Netanyahu is threatening to send Israel spiraling. We explain what’s happening, why, and what can be done. The story can help answer the common question, "Why does a democratic country need a constitution?" — Check out our sources: https://www.spectacles.news/israels-crisis-isnt-over/ — In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been aggressively pursuing transformative judicial reforms, in his words, to make Israel more democratic. Meanwhile, thousands have been taking to the streets for the past 15 weeks straight in the largest protests in Israel’s history. We explore the history of Israel’s founding to explain why this country is so strange and why it has no constitution. We’ll also take a look at the reforms and the coalition pursuing them to diagnose what risk these policies may pose to Israeli democracy. Turns out that when you invent a country out of thin air in the 1940s, it’s helpful to write a constitution!

You’ve heard it a thousand times, a thousand ways. “The media is against us.” But where does media bias come from, and can following the money give us the answers? — Check out our sources: https://www.spectacles.news/public-media-and-propaganda/ — Arguments over media bias, while a constant feature of politics, have recently burst into the limelight following Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter and his erratic policy-making and -unmaking regarding media labels, which blended, separated, then re-blended disparate outlets like the BBC, NPR, RT, Xinhua, and others. Confusion abounds and one question seems especially common – “who can we really trust?”

Refugee scientists gave America the bomb…then America turned on science. But why? — Check out our sources: https://www.spectacles.news/how-america-betrayed-oppenheimer/ — Oppenheimer is widely regarded as the father of the atomic bomb, but he didn’t do it alone. Scores of scientists were exiled from Germany, as anti-Jewish laws proliferated. America welcomed many of them, and this openness gave the country the tools it needed to win the race for the bomb. Unfortunately, though, it wouldn’t be long after victory in WWII that America set its sights on a new enemy: communism. Despite their enormous service to the country, many scientists were swept up in the anti-communist crusade and betrayed…including Oppenheimer.

In 1999, a new religious movement occupied China’s capital. The regime would never be the same. — Check out our sources: https://www.spectacles.news/how-a-cult-broke-chinas-government/ — Special thanks to Discord community member Jackqulen who helped me with Chinese pronunciation. Anything I get right is thanks to them; anything wrong is my fault.

On January 23, 1999, five cultists self-immolated in Tiananmen Square. This is their insane story. — Citations here: https://www.spectacles.news/fg-part-two/

On March 11, 2011, Japan faced a massive earthquake, a huge tsunami, and a nuclear meltdown. All things considered, they fared pretty well. Why? — Citations here: https://www.spectacles.news/how-japan-solved-earthquakes/

The murder of Olof Palme remains one of the most intriguing mysteries in Europe. Who did it? — Citations here: https://www.spectacles.news/Olof-Palme-Mystery/

Thanks to America, 2006 proved a turning point for Hamas. — Check out our sources: https://www.spectacles.news/vid-how-america-helped-hamas-conquer-gaza/

Toussaint Louverture was born a slave. He defeated Napoleon and liberated a nation. This is his story. — Citations here: https://www.spectacles.news/vid-the-slave-who-defeated-napoleon/