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There is no right side of history. History is a set of lies that people have agreed upon (attributed to Napoleon).

CM30 4y ago
Yeah, I don't care much for the term either. It kinda assumes that history naturally moves in one direction, and that the everything moves naturally towards whatever the author considers progress. But who's to say which political 'side' will win? Who's to say it'll become 'better' from our point of view, rather than slide into authoritarianism and dictatorships? Feels like there's no guarantee either way...
- simple-thoughts 4y ago
  Interesting that you state authoritarianism and dictatorships themselves the bad outcome, rather than the consequences of such systems. In a hypothetical world where these dominated, they would do so by creating better outcomes (as unlikely as that seems to many people today who haven’t lived good lives in authoritarian countries).
  - lkzty 4y ago
    This time it is different!
    - simple-thoughts 4y ago
      Would you prefer to live under King Louis XIV or Robespierre? One of these is more democratic than the other ;-)
- readthenotes1 4y ago
  authoritarians and dictators are how we got here. Why are you so dismissive of them? if you can believe the history books, at any rate
Aaronstotle 4y ago
The people who pursued appeasement in Europe in the 1930's were certainly on the wrong side of history. While there's not always a "right" side, your stance on a position at that point in time can be deemed correct by future generations.
- tekla 4y ago
  Its quite impressive to have a post that literally smacks head first into the parent like this in such a self destructive way. The appeasement policy is still heavily debated today and is in no way a objective truth that it was "wrong" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeasement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeasement I encourage you to read the fairly long wikipedia detailing the long debate over this policy.
- oxfordmale 4y ago
  If Nazi Germany would have won the war, perception of pursued appeasement in Europe would have been completely different. History is written by the victors. Or to rephrase this in modern day language, there is an unconscious victor bias.
bsder 4y ago
> History is a set of lies that people have agreed upon (attributed to Napoleon). If you hold this belief, you have no defense against all the charlatans that wish to deceive you. Facts do exist--even in the humanities. Part of the job of modern history is actually to unearth the evidence that both contradicts and exposes the lies that have been promulgated.

CM30 4y ago

Yeah, I don't care much for the term either. It kinda assumes that history naturally moves in one direction, and that the everything moves naturally towards whatever the author considers progress. But who's to say which political 'side' will win? Who's to say it'll become 'better' from our point of view, rather than slide into authoritarianism and dictatorships? Feels like there's no guarantee either way...

simple-thoughts 4y ago
Interesting that you state authoritarianism and dictatorships themselves the bad outcome, rather than the consequences of such systems. In a hypothetical world where these dominated, they would do so by creating better outcomes (as unlikely as that seems to many people today who haven’t lived good lives in authoritarian countries).
- lkzty 4y ago
  This time it is different!
  - simple-thoughts 4y ago
    Would you prefer to live under King Louis XIV or Robespierre? One of these is more democratic than the other ;-)
readthenotes1 4y ago
authoritarians and dictators are how we got here. Why are you so dismissive of them? if you can believe the history books, at any rate

Aaronstotle 4y ago

The people who pursued appeasement in Europe in the 1930's were certainly on the wrong side of history. While there's not always a "right" side, your stance on a position at that point in time can be deemed correct by future generations.

tekla 4y ago
Its quite impressive to have a post that literally smacks head first into the parent like this in such a self destructive way. The appeasement policy is still heavily debated today and is in no way a objective truth that it was "wrong" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeasement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeasement I encourage you to read the fairly long wikipedia detailing the long debate over this policy.
oxfordmale 4y ago
If Nazi Germany would have won the war, perception of pursued appeasement in Europe would have been completely different. History is written by the victors. Or to rephrase this in modern day language, there is an unconscious victor bias.

bsder 4y ago

> History is a set of lies that people have agreed upon (attributed to Napoleon). If you hold this belief, you have no defense against all the charlatans that wish to deceive you. Facts do exist--even in the humanities. Part of the job of modern history is actually to unearth the evidence that both contradicts and exposes the lies that have been promulgated.