 Editor in Chief Bill   | 09 Dec 2020 2:41 p.m. PST |
As per usual, existential questions related to the history field have bubbled to the surface on Twitter. I've got two of them to discuss in this post. They appeared on Twitter within a week of each other and though they were posted separately by different people, they speak to each other… link |
| cavcrazy | 09 Dec 2020 2:46 p.m. PST |
History belongs to us all, all mankind owns the history of this world regardless of it being "good, or evil." |
| doc mcb | 09 Dec 2020 2:46 p.m. PST |
Interesting topic. My history is for anyone who is interested, and thanks for the compliment. But we do not need segregation in history any more than in water fountains. |
| Thresher01 | 09 Dec 2020 2:50 p.m. PST |
Ah, the hilarity of "major" first world problems amid the "social justice pandemic". I REALLY hope someone is working on a "vaccine" for this, AND that it is 100% effective. |
| mjkerner | 09 Dec 2020 3:15 p.m. PST |
Chad is such a Tool. I find it telling that all of this SJW type of self-criticism and self-reckoning is straight out of communist doctrine. |
| von Schwartz | 09 Dec 2020 5:03 p.m. PST |
@Thresher01
I REALLY hope someone is working on a "vaccine" for this, AND that it is 100% effective. Sorry Thresher, I'm afraid that there ain't no cure for stupid. |
79thPA  | 10 Dec 2020 7:41 a.m. PST |
To the victor, of course. |
Puster  | 10 Dec 2020 9:25 a.m. PST |
An absurd question.
If somebody claims to "own" history to the degree that he disallows other to investigate it we are pretty short from controlling history. While I am sure things like that happen it has the same dirty smell like claiming that there is a "jewish" math or science and an "aryan", which is not only better but the only one allowed. Happened in the early thirties, and we know were it ended. Sorry for introducing Nazi-jargon, but thats how I feel about such a hilarious idea like "my history, don't collect and touch". |
| Sundance | 10 Dec 2020 11:36 a.m. PST |
The bigger problem I find is the skewing of history for self-interest, and then calling the skewed version "history" |
| robert piepenbrink | 10 Dec 2020 5:17 p.m. PST |
Pick up the history. Look on the bottom of the base. If it doesn't say "Property of Culture Group X. If found, drop in nearest mailbox." then it is a part of the history of all mankind, since we are all human, and interact. Anyone claiming history is exclusively theirs and no one else has a right to study or comment on the history or own cultural artifacts had best produce a title. So far, I've never seen a marked base, or such a title. That said, I think study of historical individuals and groups should involve the sort of sympathy and empathy we'd like to see applied to our own cases when the time comes--to the extent that honesty permits, of course. Not seeing a lot of this lately. There's plenty of hagiography, of course, and many trees are killed to establish that the prevailing beliefs of previous centuries are not those currently in favor. But knowing and understanding societies long dead and portraying them accurately is much harder work. |
| von Schwartz | 13 Dec 2020 8:40 a.m. PST |
Look at what's happening now, tearing down statues because they don't comport with your agenda on what you think history should be. I forget where I read this but someone said something to the effect that, "History is not there for you to agree with." That is probably not the exact quote but I think it conveys the general sentiment.
Then of course there is the more well known one about learning from your earlier mistakes. Those who don't know history, are doomed to repeat it. |
