Why will history forgotten be repeated? Maybe because humans aren’t really very evolved yet? How can we be more evolved today?
I think about all the fallen civilizations of the past – Ottoman Empire, Greece and Rome for examples. What happened after they fell? Medieval type times – that is what happened. Most humans then had to struggle to eat. Fast forward time, humans clawed their way back to a decent standard of living. Is that when humans are so comfortable that they forget the past lessons? Is that the tipping point back into decline? Over time, the lessons of the past are not taught to the young. The cycle begins to repeat. Are we there now? How can we stop the repeat cycle?
A current sign of this repeat cycle happening is the tearing down of bad historical figure imagery. One example is the disfigurement, destruction and removal of several Robert E. Lee statues around the country. Don’t misunderstand me – I agree these represent a terrible injustice.
But if we have no record or teachings about these types of injustice, how will humans of the future know not to repeat them? Even if the imagery remains standing, will people pass by saying ‘That is a nice statue of a guy on a horse’? Or going back to Greece, we admire the ruins of the buildings without thinking (or knowing) of how female babies were sometimes thrown away – literally (Demand, Nancy. Birth, Death, and Motherhood in Classical Greece. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1994.)
Update: 6/12/2020
How about anarchists tearing down all statues?
Have you heard of town criers? Although mostly faded from the current scene, they have spread the news throughout towns for centuries. You can now find them performing at historical sites and festivals. Can we use this idea now? Can we proclaim the injustices at the feet of these horrible statues? Can we use bad history to inform current society instead of hiding the wrongs by removing the scars?
[previously posted on my other site liberalwhy.com]