inhumanity – Stepping Stones

Preface: Either With US or Against US

“Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make:
Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. (Applause.)”
—President George W. Bush on September 20^th 2001 inaugurating the ‘War on trr’ (sic).

This article analyses Spielberg’s 2005 film Munich for its thematic relevancy to the Israel-Hamas War and resurged Palestinian Conflict begun by the October 7^th attack; and more essentially, to the globalised ideology of counterterrorism. Before doing so, I outline in this Preface the context in which I interpret the current war and significant themes from the film.

Detail of the Penguin Classics Edition of Daniel Defoe’s *A Journal of the Plague Year (1722)*

Following my notes (presented in the previous post) on the book A Journal of the Plague Year, which were quite extensive; the following is a categorization of the most significant themes I have discerned from those notes, which are quite concise.

The main categories of the themes are Societal Dynamics, Conduct of Authorities, and Psychological Effects—the first two being the most substantial and thus each being divided into subheadings.

Having completed this list of themes, I find that Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year* clearly reveals its striking relevance to 21^st century occurrence of plague; and its breadth of insight – within its accessible, narrative form – testifies to its likely being the best book one can start with towards gaining a perspective on pandemics.