Notes From The Past

There is a broad, deeply rooted ideology within mainstream American conservative movement today that has departed from historical conservatism. It is a set of beliefs and principles which have taken hold of most American conservative thought. As we shall explore, this Straussian philosophy has infiltrated a good deal of American conservatism and leads the country away from the ideals of the Founding Fathers.

Sabbatai Zevi was born in 1626 to a wealthy merchant family in Smyrna, a town on the west coast of Turkey known as Izmir today. He rose to be a charismatic Rabbi and Kabbalist who, in 1666, declared himself to be the Messiah. This eccentric mystic managed to attract over a million devotees during his lifetime. A remarkable achievement given this was about half of the Jewish population in the 17th century.

El Salvador was known as the crime capital of the world. Now, after hard-on-crime policies, the country is much safer than many places in the West. Support us at Substack - ad free content, full transcripts, discussions. https://notesfromthepast.substack.com

Our institutions are instrumental in shaping society and ultimately our history. But how trustworthy are the proclamations? Can we trust "The Science"? Notes From The Past is interested in the psychology of the characters who shape our history. Occasionally we will present you with "Notes On The Mind" to present some of what goes on in the collective and individual minds of history makers. Kicking it off with this exploration of institution's claims on truth, primarily sourced from the book, The Matter With Things, by Iain McGilchrist (a highly recommended read). Support us https://notesfromthepast.substack.com

A consideration of the troubles of generation Z and the Alpha's following them. Support us by becoming a member https://notesfromthepast.substack.com

In recent times, one of the many neoclassical artists to see a return to popularity has been the German sculptor Arno Breker. He had worked for the Reich in the 1930s, and remains a somewhat controversial figure, yet respected within his field of expression. Many are familiar with his works, but few know much about the man behind the sculptures. So, who was Arno Breker? Support us by becoming a member https://notesfromthepast.substack.com

George Creel was a progressive reformer who advocated for social and political reforms and saw the government as key in shaping public opinion and promoting social change. He saw propaganda as the primary tool to mobilize public support for such causes and this propaganda agency to release government news, sustain morale, administer voluntary press censorship, and propagandize abroad. This is the story of the Committee on Public Information (CPI) and Woodrow Wilson's efforts to sell WWI to the American public. Support us https://notesfromthepast.substack.com

From the communist victory in 1949, the Chinese people were subjected to various economic and social experiments under Mao Tse-Tung. This would culminate in the complete collectivisation and the beginning of the 'Great Leap Forward' campaign, which would kill tens of millions. It is just one of many destructive experiments undertaken by Mao. Support us https://notesfromthepast.substack.com

French polymath, Gustave Le Bon, a social psychologist born in 1841, stands out as the most influential thinker on crowd psychology. His book "The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind", would become foundational for 20th Century propaganda – from selling cigarettes to American women to mobilising masses to commit acts of genocide. Support us https://notesfromthepast.substack.com Le Bon is best known for his pioneering work in the field of social psychology, and how an individuals' behavior changes when part of a collective group. He argued that when individuals join a crowd, they often lose their rationality and can become irrational and prone to suggestibility, often leading to destructive or impulsive behavior. His writings had a profound impact on the understanding of group psychology and collective behavior.

Many now claim that American ideas were flawed from the start, and that liberalism and liberty are not to be pursued. But what if the term liberty has been redefined, and new ideas inserted themselves in place of what the founding fathers envisioned. Support us by becoming a member https://notesfromthepast.substack.com Today, the meaning of the term liberalism has become clouded. For some, it may communicate a philosophy of freedom from traditional or conservative values. Yet, for others, it describes a destructive ideology. American liberalism during the time of the founding fathers may have been very different to what we know today as liberalism. If liberalism is failing the West, is this a flaw in the original American idea, or is today’s liberalism something entirely different?

Following the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, an amalgamation of various Shiiah groups formed as a force of resistance against the Israelis in Lebanon – this force would become known as Hezbollah (or Party of Allah). This political party and militant group would become a major socio-politcial-military force in the middle east, being designated a terrorist organisation by the European Union and most members of the Arab League. It is now a multifaceted entity spanning many categories such as a political party, social welfare umbrella organisation, army, and transnational terrorist organisation. Support us https://notesfromthepast.substack.com

The formation of Hamas, its long and complicated history within Palestine and with Israel is briefly covered in this overview video. We could not hope to cover every detail of Hamas in this short video, but the intention is to give an overview. Support us https://notesfromthepast.substack.com Hamas, officially known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, is a Sunni Islamist organization with a dual political and military role. This group currently exercises governance over the Gaza Strip within the Palestinian territories. Its inception can be traced back to the early days of the First Palestinian Intifada, a period marked by a sustained series of protests and violent uprisings initiated by Palestinians in response to the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This momentous uprising began in the aftermath of Israel's triumph in the 1967 Arab–Israeli War and unfolded over the course of several years, from December 1987 and culminating in the Madrid Conference of 1991, although some argue its conclusion came with the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. For more details and to support us, consider becoming a member Support us https://notesfromthepast.co/

Iran, historically known as Persia in the West, boasts a long history reaching back many thousands of years and hosting many kingdoms and empires. In this documentary we outline the modern period known as the Pahlavis, named after the Pahlavi dynasty, that ruled from 1925 until the Islamic Republic in 1979. This was a time of dramatic change in Iran, an American led coup, the rapid westernisation of culture and industry, and a constitutional monarchy turned dictatorship, are all part of this dramatic story. Support us by becoming a member https://notesfromthepast.substack.com

Many remember the movie 'The Killing Fields', but few are aware of the history behind Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Simplified history often equates his rise as merely a byproduct of the Vietnam War, but this is untrue. We look at the decades long lead up to the Khmer Rouge, from Pol Pots Marxist awakening at the University of Paris, to the various attempts at seizing power before the Vietnam War. Support us https://notesfromthepast.substack.com

It is said that 200 million people died under communism in the 20th century. Among the many culprits responsible for creating such terrible conditions was Trofim Lysenko, who's 'revolutionary' agricultural concepts cost the Soviet Union and China millions of lives. Support us https://notesfromthepast.substack.com Amid the ruins of Bolshevik leadership after the October Revolution, Russia descended into a series of catastrophic famines. Paradoxically, despite the role of state intervention in exacerbating these crises, the prevailing belief was that further intervention held the key to salvation. This intervention began with a critical re-evaluation of established ideas and the introduction of new concepts tailored to create the 'Socialist Man.' Leading the charge in this collectivist agricultural 'revolution' was the Ukrainian biologist and fervent Leninist, Trofim Lysenko. Driven by a fervent obsession with alternative farming methods, Lysenko was tasked with evaluating crop yields in the Soviet Union. This is the tragic story of how such an ideologue managed to cause one of histories greatest man-made catastrophes.

The 'Tsar Bomba', a Soviet nuclear bomb code named 'Ivan', was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested. The testing of this bomb would be the Soviet’s declaration of nuclear competence to the United States, which held superiority over the USSR in the nuclear weapons race. This is the story of 'Big Ivan' with declassified Soviet footage. https://notesfromthepast.substack.com

After being unjustly sent to the gulag, Alexander Solzhenitsyn would being writing about his experiences. His writings - which exposed Stalin, Lenin, and the rest of the communist system - would have far reaching impacts on Russia and the world. Support us https://notesfromthepast.substack.com

At the height of the Cold War, Vasili Arkhipov would find himself in two deadly situations; the K-19 nuclear submarine incident in 1961, and the Cuban Missile Crisis aboard another submarine armed with nuclear torpedoes. Support us https://notesfromthepast.substack.com