3 ms·

While it’s true that not everything online is accurate, podcasts and social media offer incredible opportunities to learn about history in new and engaging ways

While it’s true that not everything online is accurate, podcasts and social media offer incredible opportunities to learn about history in new and engaging ways. Will take a personal example, I learned about the Holocaust from books and movies, and this easily like 20 years back when I was like 7 or 8 or maybe even younger. Nowadays, there are entire series of interesting documentaries, podcasts that cover history in far more engaging ways. As for countering misinformation, parents should also teach their kids critical thinking so that they can think for themselves and find valuable sources, instead of dismissing these valuable tools. Plus, history being a topic of conversation, considering I am not a historian. Not sure where your obvious contempt for me is coming from. It's not like I will sit down and talk about the glory of Rome or Genghis Khan as a daily topic of conversation.

kragen 2y ago
I don't have contempt for you. I have contempt for the charlatans who have tricked you by passing off entertainment as history. As for you, I merely disagree with you, which is to say, I believe you to be mistaken. Very mistaken. But if I had contempt for you I wouldn't bother to reply. Kids whose parents teach them critical thinking will be able to see that podcasts and social media are not valuable sources for history. But that's not because "not everything online is accurate"; I've already explained that it's because of the special advantages of podcasts and social media (sensationalism, emotional manipulation, and organizing mob violence) and their structural deficiencies in verifiability, corrigibility, etc. It's not about one or another piece of misinformation, but about destroying the intellectual fabric that makes it possible to distinguish misinformation from truth, which is difficult at the best of times. I am not a historian either, but I often find my perspective on current events is changed by what I know of Rome's empty glory and Genghis's historical impact.

kragen 2y ago

I don't have contempt for you. I have contempt for the charlatans who have tricked you by passing off entertainment as history. As for you, I merely disagree with you, which is to say, I believe you to be mistaken. Very mistaken. But if I had contempt for you I wouldn't bother to reply. Kids whose parents teach them critical thinking will be able to see that podcasts and social media are not valuable sources for history. But that's not because "not everything online is accurate"; I've already explained that it's because of the special advantages of podcasts and social media (sensationalism, emotional manipulation, and organizing mob violence) and their structural deficiencies in verifiability, corrigibility, etc. It's not about one or another piece of misinformation, but about destroying the intellectual fabric that makes it possible to distinguish misinformation from truth, which is difficult at the best of times. I am not a historian either, but I often find my perspective on current events is changed by what I know of Rome's empty glory and Genghis's historical impact.