Status Updates From World War Z: An Oral Histor...

“Looking back, I still can’t believe how unprofessional the news media was. So much spin, so few hard facts. All those digestible sound bites from an army of “experts” all contradicting one another, all trying to seem more “shocking” and “in depth” than the last one. It was all so confusing, nobody seemed to know what to do.”

I’ve heard it said that the Holocaust has no survivors, that even those who managed to remain technically alive were so irreparably damaged, that their spirit, their soul, the person that they were supposed to be, was gone forever. I’d like to think that’s not true. But if it is, then no one on Earth survived this war.

Be nice if that was the lesson people took from misery. We are all in this together, so pitch in and do your job.

Hey, buddy, it’s cool now, you can let go.

If I ever had a recurring nightmare, and I’m not saying I do, because I don’t, but if I did, I’d be right back in there, only this time I’m completely naked... I mean I would be.

I told him that we might be facing 50 million monsters, but those monsters would be facing the gods.

You carry those voices with you, those cries will be with me the rest of my life, never resting, never fading, never ceasing their call to join them.

Ignorance was the enemy. Lies and superstition, misinformation, disinformation. Sometimes, no information at all. Ignorance killed billions of people. Ignorance was the real enemy, and cold, hard facts were the weapons.

I really liked the story of General Christina Eliopolis. Maybe my favourite so far, at least in its entirety.

News media all those digestible soundbites from an army of experts all contradicting one another, all trying to seem more shocking and in-depth than the last one.

Being beholden to your conscience. He saw the road ahead, a steep, treacherous Mountain Road. We’d all have to hike that road, each of us dragging the boulder of what we’d done behind us. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t shoulder the weight.

West Germany vs. East Germany dealing with Nazi past. Last paragraph

Shock and awe

Fear is the most valuable commodity in the universe.
People selling the fear of you having to live without their products. Fear of ageing, fear of loneliness, fear of poverty, fear of failure. Fear is the most basic emotion we have. Fear is primal. Fear sells.