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The moves against educational institutions, archives, and libraries are so pernicious because they reveal a radically illiberal agenda and the detrimental effec

by Teever 2y ago

The moves against educational institutions, archives, and libraries are so pernicious because they reveal a radically illiberal agenda and the detrimental effects won't become apparent for years or even decades. What's worse is that it doesn't seem like it's in the best interest of any individual institution or the interests of people running these institutions to resist, so it becomes a coordination problem between getting all the institutions to work together to oppose these actions.

AStonesThrow 2y ago
[flagged]
TacticalCoder 2y ago
[dead]
hayst4ck 2y ago
Authoritarians need to control history because if you understand history, it provides a foundation to judge the actions of those currently in power and damages their legitimacy. As soon as authoritarians are able to consolidate power, they go after intellectuals, chroniclers of history, journalists, and other people who ground themselves in reality. Reason is the natural enemy of authority. Nothing is more telling than deletion of a graph that shows the consequence of poor policy decisions, rather than addressing it or changing policy, and we can expect to experience this literally and metaphorically until American's realize we aren't exceptional because we are American, but because our forefathers lived out American values, and right now we have abandoned American values.
- r14c 2y ago
  I'm with you on a lot of this, but you might want to think about how circular this statement is: "until American's realize we aren't exceptional because we are American, but because our forefathers lived out American values" and then read a lot more American history before it gets deleted. What's troubling to me is that we can't easily own our history, even while we are asserting the necessity to stay grounded in reality.
- hulitu 2y ago
  > Authoritarians need to control history Not only authoritarians.

by Teever 2y ago

AStonesThrow 2y ago

[flagged]

TacticalCoder 2y ago

[dead]

hayst4ck 2y ago

Authoritarians need to control history because if you understand history, it provides a foundation to judge the actions of those currently in power and damages their legitimacy. As soon as authoritarians are able to consolidate power, they go after intellectuals, chroniclers of history, journalists, and other people who ground themselves in reality. Reason is the natural enemy of authority. Nothing is more telling than deletion of a graph that shows the consequence of poor policy decisions, rather than addressing it or changing policy, and we can expect to experience this literally and metaphorically until American's realize we aren't exceptional because we are American, but because our forefathers lived out American values, and right now we have abandoned American values.

r14c 2y ago
I'm with you on a lot of this, but you might want to think about how circular this statement is: "until American's realize we aren't exceptional because we are American, but because our forefathers lived out American values" and then read a lot more American history before it gets deleted. What's troubling to me is that we can't easily own our history, even while we are asserting the necessity to stay grounded in reality.
hulitu 2y ago
> Authoritarians need to control history Not only authoritarians.