Victor Davis Hanson Ping !
Let me know if you want in or out
Posted on 05/05/2005 4:30:42 AM PDT by Tolik
Our society suffers from the tyranny of the present. Presentism is the strange affliction of assuming that all our good things were created by ourselves — as if those without our technology who came before us lacked our superior knowledge and morality.
We naturally speak of our own offspring in reverential tones. Do this or that "for the children" — youth who are the most affluent and leisured in the history of civilization. A new Medicare prescription drug benefit will add a mountain of national debt. Yet contemporary "seniors" as a group, even apart from the largess of Social Security and Medicare, are already the most insured cohort in our society.
We rarely mention our forbearers. These were the millions of less fortunate Americans who built the country, handed down to us our institutions, and died keeping them safe. Such amnesia about them was not always so. Public acknowledgment of prior generations characterized the best orations of Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy, who looked for guidance from, and gave thanks to, their ancestors.
<....>
Reverence for those who came before us ensures humility about our own limitations. It restores confidence that far worse crises than our own — slavery, the great flu epidemic, or World War II — were endured by those with far less resources at their disposal. By pondering those now dead, we create a certain pact: that we, too, will do our part for another generation not yet born to enjoy the same privilege of America, which at such great cost was given to us by others whom we have all but now forgotten.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
Let me know if you want in or out
The titel should read "Victor Davis Hanson: What happened to history?"
I made a mistake, please help me to correct it. Thank you.
Another great article. "Presentism" might be as serious a problem as our so-called liberalism.
To appreciate the value of history, we must also accept that human nature is constant and fixed across time and space.
I have argued this point for years. Some people think that because we have all these material advantages, we are somehow a different people than our forebearers.
We are not. In fact, in many ways we are far more ignorant of the world and human nature.
By pondering those now dead, we create a certain pact: that we, too, will do our part for another generation not yet born to enjoy the same privilege of America, which at such great cost was given to us by others whom we have all but now forgotten.
"Public acknowledgment of ... the best orations of Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy, who looked for guidance from, and gave thanks to, their ancestors."
Mmmm...'cept today it's not PC to acknowledge anything good having come from white men.
But the larger point about "presentism" is a good one. And it follows many lines of thought. One major one might be, could any society today, with all its computers and Internet access and LED gewgaws, build a Great Pyramid? A Great Wall? A Malborg Castle? I kinda doubt it.
And we don't need to think in grand terms to come to understand Presentism. Look around you. Look at everything you use daily, from your car to your pen, radio to ratchet. Could you make any of those things if you had to? Do you understand how they work, or the knowledge it takes to create them?
I think more people really ought to appreciate the magic that our forebears have left us.
ping for later read
" ... A society that cannot distinguish between the critical and the trivial of history predictably will also believe that a Scott Peterson deserves as much attention as the simultaneous siege of Fallujah, or that a presidential press conference should be preempted for Paris Hilton or Donald Trump ... "
The entire article was breathtaking and quotable.
I certainly relate to the above passage.
Thanks for the ping.
The more 'stuff' they acquire takes people away from the basics. And the more they have, the more they want. It's a vicious cycle.
Many of us are into the 'good old days', when life was more simple. Old cars, real homemade food, tinkering, friends, and God, not necessarliy in that order, are what keep me going.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.