Why?
Why would someone want a fascist government? Or, why throw away a centuries old system to try communism?
Stories told by past generations evoke the same concerns prevalent around the world today.
Governments, from tsars to emperors to republics, were often perceived as corrupt or inept and people were looking for something better. Nearly every society has struggled with economic inequality in some form. Nations have always been concerned with racism and immigration.
Our ancestors grappled with new technology, just as much as we do. For example, their form of AI was the "factory system" - disrupting the workforce and replacing people with machines. New political systems arose, from democracy in the United States of America to communism in Soviet Russia.
Different words have described these conflicting political systems throughout the brief span of time that we’ve chosen to focus on (mid 1800s - 1989) and are still thrown around today. Socialism. Fascism. Capitalism. Liberalism. Conservatism. Left vs. Right. These are the ideas Messy History examines through diaries, memoirs, journals, and interviews.
Archivists collect and organize the world’s information, while historians analyze it to understand the people and context. We’re storytellers, relying on the work of both of these groups. First, finding individual stories, and then using historical context to set the stage for them to be shared with all of their eccentricities, flaws, and biases. Every episode, like every person, is different. Our method for bringing each person to you changes depending on the medium, writing style, and personality of our eyewitness.
So why are we here? Our mission is to connect people through our shared past. We aren’t alone in this crazy changing world. We’ve lived through wild times before. Our great-grandparents rearranged governments and entire countries. What choices will we make for our future?
