3 ms·

That's funny, rewriting history is commonly seen as a left-wing past time (see 1619 project, renaming of military bases and schools, removal of statues, etc)

deleted 3y ago
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AlotOfReading 3y ago
First off, this sort of comment is pretty clearly against the political flamebait guidelines. Secondly, shaping historical narratives isn't a "left" or "right" thing, it's something humans have been doing as long as we have records. Literally the earliest histories we have are king lists constructed to legitimize rulers by association with famous predecessors and events. Those king lists constantly changed over time to reflect new ideologies and cultural shifts. And of course, you yourself are participating in this dialogue of historical memory with your comment. Notice how all the examples you've picked reflect modern discussions and not say, medieval destructions of Catholic statues in Scotland. This is more of a technical point that may not come across well, but as an archaeologist I would argue that these sorts of dynamic reshapings of historical memory are a fundamental part of human culture. A lot of what we do in historical research revolves around what these oddly selective historical memories reveal about past societies and what they considered important.
pavlov 3y ago
On the other end of the spectrum there are such perennial classics as “the American civil war was about states’ rights” and “the British Empire was good actually.” Control of the historical narrative is absolutely fundamental to most reactionary nationalist (i.e. right-wing) political projects. It can transcend left-right boundaries as in Putin’s Russia today. He has shut down organizations like Memorial which was founded already during late 1980s to document Stalinist crimes. Why would he do that? As a self-proclaimed anti-woke, anti-liberal leader, wouldn’t you expect Putin to want to keep up the memory of Communists’ crimes? But he’s a Russian imperialist first and foremost, and sees the Soviet Union primarily in that light. Anything that sullies the history of Russian supremacy must be eradicated.

deleted 3y ago

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AlotOfReading 3y ago

First off, this sort of comment is pretty clearly against the political flamebait guidelines. Secondly, shaping historical narratives isn't a "left" or "right" thing, it's something humans have been doing as long as we have records. Literally the earliest histories we have are king lists constructed to legitimize rulers by association with famous predecessors and events. Those king lists constantly changed over time to reflect new ideologies and cultural shifts. And of course, you yourself are participating in this dialogue of historical memory with your comment. Notice how all the examples you've picked reflect modern discussions and not say, medieval destructions of Catholic statues in Scotland. This is more of a technical point that may not come across well, but as an archaeologist I would argue that these sorts of dynamic reshapings of historical memory are a fundamental part of human culture. A lot of what we do in historical research revolves around what these oddly selective historical memories reveal about past societies and what they considered important.

pavlov 3y ago

On the other end of the spectrum there are such perennial classics as “the American civil war was about states’ rights” and “the British Empire was good actually.” Control of the historical narrative is absolutely fundamental to most reactionary nationalist (i.e. right-wing) political projects. It can transcend left-right boundaries as in Putin’s Russia today. He has shut down organizations like Memorial which was founded already during late 1980s to document Stalinist crimes. Why would he do that? As a self-proclaimed anti-woke, anti-liberal leader, wouldn’t you expect Putin to want to keep up the memory of Communists’ crimes? But he’s a Russian imperialist first and foremost, and sees the Soviet Union primarily in that light. Anything that sullies the history of Russian supremacy must be eradicated.