>meme Context and clarification is not a meme. You are just too young to remember when context and clarification weren't served up to you with a few clicks. On

>meme Context and clarification is not a meme. You are just too young to remember when context and clarification weren't served up to you with a few clicks. Once upon a time you had to plough through copious volumes of primary sources. If you were lucky, you had a "professor" (the nice lady who gave you a C in World History when you probably should have failed) who could help you navigate through the miles of "opinions" (that is like a Status Update) dressed up as "facts" (pesky annoyances to be avoided). >trying to understand "Try not. Do or do not. There is no try." -Ghandi >bit of context This particular bit of context was particularly shattering to me when I was given it, as my education (private school, America) never once covered the source of slaves. It was deemed inconsequential. This, for me, is the scariest mindset: certain elements of history are inconsequential because of X. Your comment personifies this willful ignorance. >'all sides are bad' mentality This is my favorite fallacy. People are inclined to seek out a hero and/or Good Side in history. It does not exist. The concept of State Morality is new (it's 100 year birthday is 08 January 2018). Even a concept as fundamental to the modern age as The People is relatively new (France 18th century). There was an article I read a while back about how quickly human societies incorporate Common Knowledge into their shared identity. We then assume it was always this way (try explaining the concept of "second class citizen" to a Babylonian eunuch... after you explain what a "citizen" is of course) and extend our psyche into the humans of the past. The cold truth is that Good Guys cease to exist when the credits roll and history has no Right Side (who is the bad guy between the Mongols and the Muscovites? The Kieven Rus!). I don't think you are actively trying to erase history, but I get the feeling you see history as a tool for politics, and that makes me sad.