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Thermodynamics. Politics is about the struggle to control the flow of energy between organisms. History is about creating narratives of that struggle, in order
by delichon 2y ago
Thermodynamics. Politics is about the struggle to control the flow of energy between organisms. History is about creating narratives of that struggle, in order to learn to tap the flow or to direct it. To a first approximation, a history that's disinterested in politics is like a football game commentary that's disinterested in the score.
- devindotcom 2y agoI realize this is largely a lost battle but strictly speaking "disinterested" means no interest in the sense of "conflict of interest." A disinterested party has no "interest" in one outcome over another and can therefore be trusted to be impartial in the matter. "Uninterested" means what you wrote, they are not interested in something in the more everyday sense of the word. Not everyone thinks it matters but the two words do have distinct meanings, and in some situations (like in conversations about values, politics, etc) it is actually worthwhile to be precise so that one does not inadvertently mislead the reader.
- delichon 2y agoMerriam Webster agrees with you for word sense 1a, but with me for word sense 1b. So you win and I agree that uninterested is a better choice here.