Those That Don't Learn History...

You know how it ends.

They say that history doesn't repeat, it rhymes. There are patterns and those patterns repeat. The exact same thing won't happen but the underlying causes, behaviours and beliefs are the same, and if we don't learn what these were, we are doomed to repeat them.

We know this instinctively.

The key to avoiding a train wreck is understanding why the train crashed and what we can do to avoid the same disaster. But we can't understand the why until we can spot what caused the wreck (war, revolution, crash, insert tragic event here), in particularly, the attitudes, beliefs and biases that led us down that very terrible road.

The only way we can is by reading history but reading books takes a lot of work and most of us don't have the time. That's ok, some have done the heavy lifting for us and thankfully have pinpointed the nuggets of gold to share.

History Teaches us Who We Are

What we know is there are common pitfalls that we get ourselves in. Thinking traps that cause us to fall over, and doom the people around us. With my own children and students I would refer to these as "threads of truth" or "golden threads". Over time, I would notice that there was a pattern - a pattern of behaviour and thinking that would cause things to fall apart. It wasn't all just random and that it doesn't matter what we do. No. What we do and think matters the most.

Take the Russian Revolution and its aftermath, for example. The people were led to believe that an equal society was possible. All they needed to do was give up their freedoms, work together and one day, they would each have everything they need, no one would have more or less than their neighbour.

It didn't work out.

If they understood human nature, they would've seen through the lies, but they didn't. (Some did but were murdered or thrown into a gulag - but more on that later). Many of the Russian people were led to believe an equality society really was possible, so they jumped on the "we will be all equal" bandwagon. Between 28 to 130 million people died from starvation or were shot for not going along with it (exact figures are almost impossible to determine). 

History Through Comics

It was this understanding that led me to create Duchess and Bruno. I could see that we need to teach our children (and ourselves) how to think critically but not just criticise, that's easy to do. We want them to understand what is happening through a historical lens.

To be able to spot when someone is trying to trick or hoodwink them (that's Joseph Stalin in the pic above - one of the most cunning politicians of the 20th century). To be able to see through propaganda. But perhaps most important of all, to be able to choose to go in a different direction - a direction that is not only good for them but also good for their family, their society and the world. But they can only do this when they have an understanding of the past. Where and why things went so horribly wrong. 

Duchess and Bruno is the perfect vehicle to bring history to life

Our characters, like in George Orwell's Animal Farm reflect the role of individuals in our society. Duchess, Bruno and Boxer are everyday people, like you and me. Gizmo, the chihuahua, is a billionaire who owns and controls most of the major industries in the community. The journalist represents the media and Bubba, Gizmo's henchman, embodies those who will mindlessly follow instructions, no matter how bizarre or cruel.

It is this little community (plus side characters) that brings historical events to life with laughter, realism and heart. Through comics and activities, Duchess and Bruno illustrates the past in a way kids and adults love, helping them spot thinking traps and make smarter choices. This is our mission: to teach critical thinking through the lens of history. In today’s world, we can’t imagine anything more important.

Thank you for joining us on this journey.

Want to learn more about the bandwagon effect and what happened during one of the darkest periods of history? Dive deeper with our fun Bandwagon Effect Activity Pack!

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