Saturday, 30 May 2015

The Cost of War

quote [ The Fallen of World War II is an interactive documentary that examines the human cost of the second World War and the decline in battle deaths in the years since the war. The 15-minute data visualization uses cinematic storytelling techniques to provide viewers with a fresh and dramatic perspective of a pivotal moment in history.

The film follows a linear narration, but it allows viewers to pause during key moments to interact with the charts and dig deeper into the numbers. ]

This short video contains an impressive visualization of deaths due to conflict, first and in the most detail for WWII, and then for conflicts throughout history. Well worth the time to watch the whole thing. No image as I'm not clever enough to do a video image capture on my Chromebook.
[SFW] [history] [+5 Interesting]
[by Space_1889@1:49amGMT]

Comments

lilmookieesquire said @ 2:22am GMT on 30th May
I like this as food for thought, but there was so much more I wanted to add; the inability to zoom out during the "interactive" charts was infuriating; and I thought they were going to make a greater point about where we might be without the loss of life and culture the wars caused.

That said, I like how they took the emphasis off WW2 in the % of world population that died.

But I object to the idea we live in a super peaceful age (it's a bit disrespectful to the people who are currently suffering though war) or that we should somehow be lucky or optimistic because there's no huge war right now because of our economic/corporate structure. It's kind of a rehash of the Golden Arches theory of peace (generally, no countries with McDonalds in them have fought in a war since WW2).

That said, it's a nice video and I like how it doesn't shy away from US civilian bombings of Japan etc.

That said, if anyone is interested in the eastern front:
http://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-ghosts-of-the-ostfront-series/
is a great series.
sanepride said @ 4:34am GMT on 30th May
Never heard the Golden Arches theory before, but a more likely correlation might be that conflict has declined as global communication has become more technologically advanced. Places that were far away and alien during WWII are now a Skype call away. You can be FB friends with anyone anywhere. Perhaps, at least for people with some access to technology, we have less inclination to kill people we can so easily have relationships with.
lilmookieesquire said @ 4:56am GMT on 30th May
Yet at the same time travel had never been more restrictive and the wealth gap between nations is still largely a north/south barrier. The world of 1911 seemed freer and more global than now. (No passports needed for travel)

It might be fair to say distance has done the U.S. no favors lately- in that the Pacific Ocean is no longer the barrier from destruction it once was and the distant shores we've picked fights with have come back to haunt us to some degree perhaps. With progressive technology, no stronger country can really afford to start a war with other strong countries. That hasn't stopped stronger countries from exploiting weaker ones. I object that this is a time of peace in that light- otherwise that seems like saying the development of the nuclear bomb was a great/peaceful idea (same philosophy/justification behind the machine gun)

The fact remains that countries that entered WW2 really didn't know/understand what they were starting, vastly under estimated te length it would be, the pain it would cause, and the ability of countries to absorb damage. That's perhaps also in large part to Hitler and Stalin being amateur military hacks (the difference being Hitler picking up more command as the war progressed and Stalin handing more off) but I digress here

I think the analysis-end story of this video is weak. It's almost a promotional ad for corporate overlord-ship (look what corporations and business have done for world peace!) and probably the message they went with to get grants/sponsorship in order to show their statistical data chops.

I think that is partially true (peace is profitable) but we need to be wary of the industrial-military complex (even peaceful Sweden is the 4 or 5th largest exporter of military weapons)

I was expecting the video to talk about the effects of the lost. The shock to our cultures... the years of recovery... How the U.S. is probably just coming down off its relative WW2 high (peaked during the 70s) and is still adjusting in the understanding of having to SPEND on its own infrastructure (you can't always just steal someone else's scientists)

But I think an end message like that gets political and controversial with te blind nationalist crowd. *shrug* just my 5 cents.

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