History, current events, literacy, power, dignity
I am suspicious of the phrase that's usually used to justify learning history--i.e., that "those who are ignorant of the past are doomed to repeat it." Two quick reasons for my skepticism: first, we never exactly "repeat" history, and, second, it's perfectly possible to "know" the past through a lens that renders its most salient, most usable elements invisible. Historians "knew" American history until very recently without paying any real attention to non-white Americans. (My scare quotes, I realise, open me to the critique that since I'm showing that theirs wasn't full/real knowledge of history, that it reinforces the point. But since I'm absolutely sure that there is no "objective" place where some sort of "full" knowledge is ever attained, we would actually be even more doomed by this notion.)
Similarly, I have at times so despaired of the mainstream media (or MSM as the kidz say) that I've stopped attending to news altogether. And I know people who proudly say that they don't read newspapers or watch/listen even to better news sources (e.g., public radio in the US), because it's depressing and/or bad karma. (The best argument for not reading the news I've read comes from Thoreau. I'm happy to read others, if you have 'em.)
I bring all this up simply because I read a couple of sentences in a book review today that offers a good start on articulating more accurately why it's important for us to be literate about our history and current events, even though there are good arguments that it's pointless. They appeared in the middle of a review by Adam Kirsch (of the New York Sun) of a book entitled, The Slaves' War: The Civil War in the Words of Former Slavesby Andrew Ward:
In their insistence on "figuring for theirselves," [what was going on in the outside world] despite the threat of serious punishment, the slaves offer a vivid demonstration of what it really means to say that knowledge is power. Not in the obvious, pragmatic sense: For most of the slaves Mr. Ward writes about, knowing where Grant's army was fighting, or what Presidents Lincoln and Davis were saying, could not have been of any practical use. Unless and until a Union regiment showed up at their gates, there was little most slaves could do about the Civil War but worry and hope.
But in a deeper sense, being able to figure out the political world in which one lives, to situate oneself imaginatively in history, is the most crucial kind of power, the prerequisite for any kind of public action or dignity. It is possible to live without that kind of power: Many Americans today, as surveys continually demonstrate, know nothing about their country's past or its government, and don't feel the lack. But our ignorance, which is an abuse of freedom, is especially shameful when set beside the ignorance of the slaves, which was the stigma of bondage, and which they strained every nerve to escape.
That's the key: if you can't situate yourself in history, the chances that you will be able to take effective public action and present yourself with dignity and power are slim to non-existent. (And it's not easy or likely even with that knowledge, alas.)
In short: We need to know history--both the "official story" and, as best we can, the details not being attended to in the official story--not because our ignorance dooms us somehow to "repeat" it, or even out of some sense of "shame" (although I agree that most citizens of my country are shamefully and often even arrogantly ignorant), but because it's our only hope for becoming effective political agents.
Similarly, I have at times so despaired of the mainstream media (or MSM as the kidz say) that I've stopped attending to news altogether. And I know people who proudly say that they don't read newspapers or watch/listen even to better news sources (e.g., public radio in the US), because it's depressing and/or bad karma. (The best argument for not reading the news I've read comes from Thoreau. I'm happy to read others, if you have 'em.)
I bring all this up simply because I read a couple of sentences in a book review today that offers a good start on articulating more accurately why it's important for us to be literate about our history and current events, even though there are good arguments that it's pointless. They appeared in the middle of a review by Adam Kirsch (of the New York Sun) of a book entitled, The Slaves' War: The Civil War in the Words of Former Slavesby Andrew Ward:
In their insistence on "figuring for theirselves," [what was going on in the outside world] despite the threat of serious punishment, the slaves offer a vivid demonstration of what it really means to say that knowledge is power. Not in the obvious, pragmatic sense: For most of the slaves Mr. Ward writes about, knowing where Grant's army was fighting, or what Presidents Lincoln and Davis were saying, could not have been of any practical use. Unless and until a Union regiment showed up at their gates, there was little most slaves could do about the Civil War but worry and hope.
But in a deeper sense, being able to figure out the political world in which one lives, to situate oneself imaginatively in history, is the most crucial kind of power, the prerequisite for any kind of public action or dignity. It is possible to live without that kind of power: Many Americans today, as surveys continually demonstrate, know nothing about their country's past or its government, and don't feel the lack. But our ignorance, which is an abuse of freedom, is especially shameful when set beside the ignorance of the slaves, which was the stigma of bondage, and which they strained every nerve to escape.
That's the key: if you can't situate yourself in history, the chances that you will be able to take effective public action and present yourself with dignity and power are slim to non-existent. (And it's not easy or likely even with that knowledge, alas.)
In short: We need to know history--both the "official story" and, as best we can, the details not being attended to in the official story--not because our ignorance dooms us somehow to "repeat" it, or even out of some sense of "shame" (although I agree that most citizens of my country are shamefully and often even arrogantly ignorant), but because it's our only hope for becoming effective political agents.