• jballs@sh.itjust.works
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      15 hours ago

      The book 11/22/63 by Stephen King had a great scene about the Cuban Missile Crisis that I thought was amazing at humanizing the whole situation.

      Before reading that scene, the Cuban Missile Crisis was a short blip in my highschool history book. I had a vague idea that the Russians were moving nukes to Cuba and the US said that would be crossing a line in the sand which they would consider a nuclear attack. But that was it.

      The scene from the book tells it from a family’s perspective going through all the fear and uncertainty that the average person was feeling. People were absolutely convinced that the world was ending. It’s worth a read.

      • ExtantHuman@lemm.ee
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        11 hours ago

        American education really skims over everything post WW2. Can’t pay attention to things that aren’t taught. What little that is covered, is done so I’m the last few weeks of senior year when everyone already knows that they’ve graduated.

        Nor does history class delve into how things felt at the time. It’s all abstracted dates and events.

        So maybe lay off the flimsy insults and remember that not everyone has the same experiences as you.