I'm currently spending my free time listening to a podcast about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - https://martyrmade.com/fear-loathing-in-the-new-jerusalem/ - and watching a PBS documentary about the troubles in Northern Ireland. ("What the hell's wrong with you?" I  wondered to myself idly while stopped at a stop light, finding a dark humour in this.) But I've always been interested in history and history is in many ways the stories of disputes. The Martyrmade podcast is very detailed and intricate and examines the history of that conflict with impressive clarity. It sometimes makes for very hard listening and will humbles any strongly-formed opinions not based in fact. As dark as it is there's something beautiful about an honest pursuit of truth like this. There are similarities to the Northern Ireland conflict (not least of which is that the British are at the heart of both stories. The documentary is less academic and more personal. More visceral. We meet the people who lived through the time and place many years later and see the pain of the experience etched on their faces. Time and again we see a sort of madness overtake people who become capable of unspeakable horrors. Institutions fail but it feels as if there is a design flaw deep inside us all. If we ever hope to prevent the next one all we can do is tell truth after truth until we have built something strong enough to last beyond our times.