Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it. Ignorance may deride it. Malice may distort it. But there it is. (Winston Churchill)
Thinking about the musings from DAY 16: Does Presentism Affect The Way You View The World?…
I would submit to you that of the three concepts that I teach in the opening weeks of class: Bias, Syllogism and Presentism, the greatest danger when learning to learn from our past is, presentism. While there are inherent issues and shortcomings potentially when using both bias and syllogism, when trying to learn about history, it is presentism that can have the greatest negative impact overall. There are five major reasons why I would suggest to you that presentism is the greatest danger of the three when trying to learn about the history of humanity:
1) You may interpret how individuals in the past felt about historical norms by applying your modern values such as independence and individuality;
2) You may disregard the economic challenges of the past based on your current economic situation;
3) You may view individuals in the past as irrational and ignorant as you may assume that people of today are more intelligent and wise;
4) You may judge people of the past with the modern ideas of morality of today and;
5) You may tend to believe that a past decision was foolish and irrational due to the poor outcome while ignoring that the decision at the time based on the information that was available;
Why do these five dangers of presentism, applying present-day ideas to help you to interpret the past, a bad idea when looking back at our history?
The history of slavery is an excellent example of how presentism can quickly lead you away from the truth.
Historically speaking, there are many concepts that humans have in common, regardless of the who, the where, or the when.
One of these concepts is slavery.
A simple question I ask to the class early on in the semester is:
“How long has slavery been around in human history?”
The response is usually quick and uniform and said aloud by a large majority of the room:
“Since Day 1!”
“Correct.” is my reply.
Since the obvious has been reveled, I then show them a series of pictures of structures that have been built by humans from around the world throughout time. Before showing them the slides, I tell them to think about the following:
“What do all of these structures or places all have in common?”
I then show slides and structures from the following civilizations. (The approximate dates of beginning construction are listed as a reference point chronologically):
1) 2560 BCE – The Pyramids of Giza – Ancient Egypt, Giza, Egypt;
2) 221 BCE – The Great Wall of China – Qin Dynasty (China);
3) 312 BCE – Roman Aqueducts – Roman Empire, Europe, Middle East and North Africa;
4) 300 BCE – Roman Roads – Roman Empire, Europe, Middle East and North Africa;
5) 70 – 80 CE – Roman Coliseum – Roman Empire, Rome, Italy;
6) 400’s CE – The city of Chichen Itza – Mayan Empire, Yucatan, Mexico;
7) 1609 – 1616 The Blue Mosque – Ottoman Empire, Istanbul, Turkey;
8) 1660 – Wall Street – New York City, New York, USA;
9) 1672 – 1695 Castillo de San Marcos – St. Augustine, Florida, USA;
10) 1749 – Washington and Lee University – Lexington, Virginia, USA;
11) 1758 – Mount Vernon – Alexandria, Virginia, USA;
12) 1772 – Monticello – Charlottesville, Virginia, USA;
13) 1789 – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA;
14) 1792 – The White House – Washington D.C., USA;
15) 1793 – 1800 US Capitol Building – Washington D.C., USA;
16) 1819 – University of Virginia – Charlottesville, Virginia, USA;
17) 1828 – The railroads owned by: Norfolk Southern, CSX, Union Pacific and Canadian National – USA;
18) 1839 – 1846 Trinity Church – New York City, New York, USA;
19) 1889 – Clemson University – Clemson, South Carolina, USA;
20) 1939 – The Jefferson Memorial – Washington D.C., USA;
After finishing the slides, I ask the question again:
“What do all of these structures or places all have in common?”
The answer is simple once you put all of the pieces together.
They were all created by in part, or from beginning to end, by slaves.
I then bring up a topic that has been quite emotional as of late especially in the United States:
“What should we do with Confederate monuments and memorials in the United States that have been built by slaves and/or glorify slavery?”
To my students the answer seems overwhelming:
It would be in the best interest of all to remove these monuments and memorials.
Never mind the fact that for the past 100 plus years, overwhelmingly public opinion polls clearly oppose these removals. Never mind the fact that the states of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, have laws that have been enacted and passed, to prevent the removal of these monuments and memorials. (At least as of this writing).
To have a discussion today regarding slavery, it goes without question that slavery is all of the following and more:
Bad, wrong, immoral, unethical, hateful, demoralizing and hurtful.
Using syllogism, the logic for removing monuments and memorials seem indisputable, at least from the student point of view:
Part A – Confederate monuments and memorials in the United States were built by slaves and/or to glorify slavery;
Part B – Slavery is bad, wrong, immoral, unethical, hateful, demoralizing and hurtful;
Part C – The removal of these monuments and memorials built by slaves and/or glorifying slavery in the United States would be the right thing to do;
So at first, it appears that the science is settled, the logic, morality and justice seem to be on their side…The right thing to do is to remove monuments and memorials in the United States that have been built by slaves and/or memorializes slavery.
It is at this point that the students seem to be in complete agreement with what appears to be obvious facts.
I explain to them that their logic seems pretty solid. And if this logic is pretty solid, why not go beyond the classroom…
Why not go beyond the United States?
Why not introduce these logical conclusions regarding slavery to the world, and convince everyone, everywhere, to follow through and remove all monuments and all memorials that were built by slaves and or glorified history throughout human history?
At the time of this writing, the United States is still the world’s global leader in many ways. Wouldn’t it make logical sense to carry this through regarding buildings and structures built by slaves around the world?
Shouldn’t they not also be dismantled as well?
Well…do you remember those 20 structures that I mentioned earlier?
All of them were built by slaves.
Are we sure we want to do follow through and remove all of them?
If we apply presentism to all of human history, and be consistent about it, then we must remove all of those structures around the world that were built by slaves. If we remove all of those structures from around the world, then we remove the history behind all of those structures. If we remove all of that history behind those structures, how can we learn from our history? After all, if they are removed, haven’t we then erased all of that history?
How are we supposed to learn about the evils of slavery throughout history if it is all taken down and removed?
Are we as humans sure we want to do that?
I close with this part of the class discussion with this:
Beware applying your morals, ethics, viewpoints, bias, and personal experiences as a 15 or 16 year-old, upon those around you and more importantly, those who lived before you.
Can we agree that recognizing presentism and how to inhibit its influence can help us to better understand human history?
Beware of the siren call of presentism when learning about history….
Do not feel discouraged if you are a proponent of the removal of American monuments and memorials that have been built by slaves and/or memorialize slavery in general. Do not feel discouraged if you believe that your morals, ethics, viewpoints, bias, and experiences led you to this conclusion. Instead, embrace the idea that presentism with all of its dangers and pitfalls, can be used to help us to better understand and appreciate those who have lived before us. Embrace the idea that by recognizing and denying presentism, you can not only learn history as it actually happened but can perhaps share this knowledge with someone else.
4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. (3 John 1:4 KJV)
Was today’s blog a little confusing at times? Was the content perhaps a little overwhelming? Did you feel lost not understanding some or most of the subject matter?
Those feelings are totally understandable and it is ok to have one or more of those feelings. Remember that you are reading Day 17: The Dangers Of Presentism.
If you haven’t been in class since the first day of school…or when the project began…or when the contract was first signed, etc., these feelings make perfect and logistical sense.
Please feel free to go back to where all of this began: