Historically speaking, it’s day #2 of History Lesson Week at the NDD.

Why are histories about the same era written again and again?  Gibbon’s wrote a multi-volume history of the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. Why isn’t that enough, why more books on the same topic?  Why so many books about Lincoln, World War II, the American revolution, China, technology, wars? Why is there such a long history of histories?  Because our prejudices are fluid over the generations and our histories will always be updated to fit our prejudices.

What are our historical and present day prejudices?  Just ask yourself what you believe in and that will tell you.  The belief might blind you to the truth, as is the case in certain branches of Islam or Christianity where they do whatever they can to keep women down.  They go so far as to create and then perpetuate gargantuan lies under the guise of history to validate and support their prejudices against women being equal. They are driven by fear and they call it ‘truth’.

I read a synopsis of Hegel’s idea of ‘the Dialectic’ yesterday. No, I don’t really understand it, and no I haven’t ever read his actual work. (Ask my daughter Rebekah if you want to talk to someone who has actually read it and understood it).  I read it in a book called ‘Eureka! – What Archimedes Really Meant and 80 Other Key Ideas Explained.’  It essentially is this: Thesis, Antithesis and Synthesis.  We start with an idea, the opposite of the idea comes up to challenge it and eventually the two ideas combine to some degree to create a synthesis, a new idea.  That idea/thesis in turn is the starting point for a new antithesis to challenge it and on it goes.

That is how we can see our fluid history.  A way of looking at a series of events is put forth, let’s say about the American Civil War.  Someone writes a book saying it was fought over slavery.  Then someone else challenges that it was about slavery and writes that it was instead about state’s rights.  A third person writes another book that says it was about both.  That leads to yet another book that says it was about neither but instead was about cotton. And on and on it goes. The positive side to the idea of the dialectic is that it should lead to ever increasing knowledge and understanding.  In practice, while I do believe we make some progress in society and life, I also believe that fear and vested interests keep society and individuals from moving forward towards a better life for all.

Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who would always choose ‘history’ on Jeopardy!

Quote by Mark Twain, who was born 4 years after Hegel died.