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I think history should be rewritten. The great leaders of the past like Napoleon or Columbus (http://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day http://theoatmeal.com/co
by dsego 13y ago
I think history should be rewritten. The great leaders of the past like Napoleon or Columbus (http://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day http://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day) should be portrayed for what they were, blood thirsty psychopaths. Emphasis in history lessons should be on science and art, not war and conquest.
- pavel_lishin 13y agoEmphasis in history should be on those events that made a large impact. Would you emphasize the Dada movement over World War I? Would you focus more on the discovery of nuclear fission, rather than World War II? (For that matter, could you?)
- dsego 13y agoFair point. But too often those events are simplistically described as us vs. them, good vs. evil (with good always being us). Maybe the emphasis could be put on individual stories (e.g. Anne Frank) instead of anthropomorphising nations.
- antiterra 13y agoThe real lesson is that humans are tribal and can classify people outside their tribes as something lesser. It's a fundamental and frightening part of our nature; the average human has the capacity to be cruel and brutal. That is the banality of evil. It's not just European great leaders, it's everyone, and it's fueled by the same underlying tendency that creates smartphone brand fanatics.