Hello, history friend. I'm Dr. Zach Twomley, and this is an episode quite unlike episodes we normally do.

Normally, we'd be all about the history, but it kind of seems like history is happening before our eyes, and not at all in a good way.

I've waited a long time to do this episode, you might even say too long, but I'm sure you, like me, have struggled to absorb and really come to terms with what is going on these days.

And it also seems like every other day something else happens.

This episode will probably contain swearing.

So if you've got any kids listening in,

just be aware of that. And I can't make any excuses. I'm just really, really angry these days,

really angry with what I am seeing, really angry with historically illiterate people,

talking down to other people, and I can't take it anymore.

I want to thank you for requesting this episode if you've been in touch. I've seen several of your comments. I've really done my best to try and include everything that I'm thinking about and

all the different points that I

notice and things that seem significant to me. There will inevitably be things that I don't get

into here. But in the next few weeks, I will be doing more episodes with guests, so they will

hopefully add some more context for you and speak to things that maybe I don't get a chance to talk about here.

But I do have to say a huge thanks for that.

And it's because of your guys' encouragement and support that I'm able to do these kinds of episodes.

So thanks so much for that.

And I hope you don't find all of this too grim. I hope you even find it a little bit cathartic. Certainly, I've only just started and I'm already sweating, so that's hardly a good sign. But maybe we all need this. Maybe we all just need to vent, to scream into the void, even if it feels like nothing is working and nothing is changing for the better.

I don't know, but I do know I have a microphone and a podcast and a voice which carries weight in many circles.

Ha ha.

So who would I be?

What kind of person would I be if I didn't add my voice to the long list of people who are saying very similar things to me?

...