Judt Response

1. Initially Just expresses that there is now over arching theme of European history but rather many smaller ones that contribute to the whole. One of these is that of the fading “master narrative” in Europe. This came about as a direct result of things simply calming down in a way. The heat of the 19th century ended and many nations sought to co-exist with others. Furthermore he argues that people began to lose political faith and more importantly faith in revolutionary tendencies fueled my Marxism.

2.Much like how Europe’s master narrative began to fade the large political divide began to become muddled as well. To think of it in term of topography its easy to look a ravine where one side is the Left and one side is the Right. On comes the 20th and 21st centuries and now its a crater with a large intertwined center where moderates exist in large numbers but there not a gradual shift between extremism and moderates. This could be seen in places like Germany and Britain where there are more parties than can be counted on two hands. This helped people define their political leanings better in the long run since you didn’t have to completely agree with a side to be a part of them.

3.The shift taken in the 21st and late 20th century caused many issues. For starters the idea of safety provided by the UN made everyone into a patriot for their country. Yet post 9/11 we see this pride for a country being used as a method of hate towards another. Safety in the destruction of others. That is of course if you yourself do not have to be the destroyer. The UN’s militant presence in the age of terrorism makes people from every country in the Union believe it is their purpose to express the generally accepted view point which was anti- islam. The uneducated crowd really enjoyed this and it even happened in the U.S. Back when France claimed that Iraq had no nuclear weapons the good red blooded Americans back home decided France was the enemy. Our oldest ally lost because of the UN’s ability to get everyone involved. Who remembers freedom fries. Likely not many of us since we were too young but the point still stands. Safety breeds violence and hate.

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