A00258 - Must See TV for the Month of April 2024: PBS: Julius Caesar: The Making of a Dictator: Whispers in the Wind

 

The documentary "Julius Caesar: The Making of a Dictator" concluded last night with Julius Caesar being killed after becoming the dictator of the Roman Empire and thereby undermining the 500-year practice of democracy in Rome.  Sadly, very few people watched the documentary and, therefore, the historical lessons associated with the dictatorship of Julius Caesar and the demise of Roman democracy are just simply whispers in the wind.

Nevertheless, as one who listens to whispers in the wind, I found that one of the messages that resonates throughout time is that once a dictator becomes the dictator, even if it is only for a day, the dictator tends to want to remain dictator for more than a day, ... the dictator wants to become dictator for life.

We have seen how this worked in Russia.  Now, we may be on the verge of seeing how it works here.

May God watch over us ... may God watch over the U S.  We are in a very historical year.

Peace, 

Everett "Skip" Jenkins

Fairfield, California

April 17, 2024

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Subject: Must See TV for the Month of April 2024: PBS: Julius Caesar: The Making of a Dictator

For the Month of April 2024, perhaps the most important program may be the three-part PBS documentary entitled "Julius Caesar: The Making of a Dictator".  With the hints of history repeating itself some 2000 years later, it may be helpful to see how a dictatorship can arise and to see what a dictatorship can bring.

You can read more about the documentary below.  The first episode airs tonight, Tuesday, April 2, at 9pm.  Please do watch ... 

Peace,

Everett "Skip" Jenkins

About the Show

The dramatic story of how nearly five centuries of ancient Roman democracy was overthrown in just 16 years… by one man. This is the story of a brazen, ambitious power-grab that saw Julius Caesar consolidate the vast power of Rome in his own hands.

Rome. 63 BC. Julius Caesar is 37. An ambitious aristocrat, holding a minor political office, is determined to climb the senatorial ladder. For almost 500 years, Rome has been ruled on Republican principles – a democracy of sorts, built around the central idea that no one man should ever wield too much power.

But Rome is on a knife edge.

The gulf between the rich political elite and the ordinary people of Rome is growing. And the stage is set for a new type of politics: one where populism clashes with an aristocratic establishment; where whipping up the resentments of the lower classes and threatening political enemies with violence has become the norm. Rome is a tinderbox – a society riven by division – and it is on this precipice that Julius Caesar is poised, ready to exploit those divisions to devastating effect…

Julius Caesar: The Making of a Dictator is a landmark 3-part box set history series that tells the dramatic story of how nearly five centuries of ancient Roman democracy was overthrown in just 16 years. It the story of a brazen, ambitious power-grab that saw Julius Caesar consolidate the vast power of Rome in his own hands.

The series brings together an expert cast of historians, academics and experienced political operatives to unfold and analyse this epic story, exploring the how Caesar achieved his remarkable rise to power, the impact it had on Rome’s delicate political system and asking – ultimately – why Caesar had to die? Illustrated with artful dramatic moments and packed with contemporary resonances, this epic series has all the elements of the best political thrillers, with complex power dynamics playing out for the biggest of stakes: a psychological drama that seeks to get inside the minds of the protagonists. It unpacks the final decades years of the Roman Republic in fascinating forensic detail.

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Subject: Must See TV for the Month of March 2024: PBS: Dante and Book of the Year for 2024: Dante's "The Divine Comedy"

On March 18 and 19, PBS airs the four-hour documentary by Ric Burns entitled "Dante" 

Dante (March 2024) | Steeplechase Films (ricburns.com)

Dante (March 2024) | Steeplechase Films Coming to PBS March 18 & 19, 2024 Check your local listings! DANTE: Inferno to Paradise, a groundbreaking two-pa...

As my Program Listings guide explains: "Explore the stunning power and drama of Dante Alighieri's great masterwork, "The Divine Comedy" -- inarguably one of the greatest artistic masterpieces in the history of literature.  This documentary by Ric Burns dives into the riveting life and times of the poem's maker, the politics and culture of the late Middle Ages, the birth of the Italian language, and the birth of humanism itself."

Based on this intriguing description, I have made Ric Burns' "Dante" documentary my Must See TV for the Month of March 2024.  

Also, in anticipation of actually having some background on the actual text of "The Divine Comedy" masterpiece, I recently purchased a copy of "The Divine Comedy" from Amazon. The book I received is 895 pages long and is divided into three parts: The Inferno, The Purgatorio and The Paradiso.  The Inferno -- The Hell -- is some 270 pages long.  If I am diligent, I think I can finish The Inferno by the time the documentary airs but I cannot read the entire book by the time.  Accordingly, just as I did with "The Autobiography of a Yogi" and "The Song of Bernadette" in 2023, I am making Dante's "The Divine Comedy" my Book of the Year for 2024.

Divine Comedy - Wikipedia

It should be a very interesting March.

Peace,

Everett "Skip" Jenkins