It obviously only happens once in a century when the year is a repeated number, like 1818, 1919 and now—2020. In addition, 100 years ago, the world entered the “Roaring Twenties,” which was not just an American experience.
While our “Twenties” is starting out with a roar, the headlines from the first few weeks of 1920 are not much different if you squint a little and, maybe, change a name or two.
“Hundreds of people were killed in an earthquake in Mexico, with an epicenter near the Pico de Orizaba in Veracruz State. The final death toll of the 7.8-magnitude quake was 648 people.” There has not been a major earthquake, but the Australian brushfires are front-page news.
“Forty-two demonstrators were killed in Berlin when city police began using bombs and machine guns to disperse the crowd.” Protests have been continuing in France and Hong Kong, and pushed to back pages are the protests against the government in Iran where potentially thousands have been killed and more jailed.
Speaking of the Middle East, in January 1920, “Prince Faisal ibn-Hussein al-Hashemi of Syria and Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau agreed privately in Paris that France would recognize limited autonomy for Syria, with Faisal as the King of Syria.” Europe and the United States have been calling the shots—both figuratively and literally—in that region for more than 100 years.
The “populist” movement is also not an invention of the 21st century. The political powers-that-be and globalists did not like it back then, either. “A group of about 300 anti-government rebels in Haiti, the ‘Cacos,’ made a surprise early morning attack on the capital at Port-au-Prince, only to discover that government police and an occupational force of US Marines had been informed of the plot. At least 116 of the Cacos were killed in the battle.”
Are you worried that the “government”—any government—is looking over your shoulder when you are on the Internet? In 1920, they were infiltrating public meetings and reading “subversive” pamphlets and leaflets. “A second nationwide roundup of suspected communists was carried out in the United States on 300 suspected ‘open and secret gathering places’ of radical cults.”
There were some famous people born in 1920, including Pope John Paul II and Frank Sheeran—the subject of the Netflix movie The Irishman. The United Nations estimates that there are about 320,000 centenarians born in 1920 or before. That figure is estimated to increase to 3.2 million by 2050. In fact, you may attend the christening of child born this year that could live to see 2121.
On the social front, the 1920s was when movies really began to talk off. The technology was good and $2 billion—$25 billion today—was pumped in the industry by the big five production studios. By comparison, streaming video is rapidly becoming like the cinema was a hundred years ago. Alcohol prohibition started almost exactly 100 years ago in the US and, today, we have come full circle with marijuana as a legal drug.
Thailand’s prime minister demonstrated the use of “medical marijuana” at a public event last month. No mention was made if he also demonstrated how to devour a bag of “medical fries.”
The Roaring Twenties though led to the Great Depression, and economic chaos that brought the foundations of World War II. Be equally optimistic and prepared.
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