We think we understand the past better than the past understood the past.
Huh?
Few things are more confusing than people judging the past by the standards of today. It leads people to topple statues and take the names off venerable institutions. It is disrespectful at the least, and at the most, villainous. There is nothing more cowardly and conniving than punishing the present for the ills of the past. The past can’t fight back and people in the present are befuddled.
Back in the day, they called it the “generation gap.” We progressives thought we knew better than our parents. A lot was changing, and very quickly, so we got away with it, in a way. Our parents held their tongues and their noses. What could they do really? Governments too, for the most part.
A few things changed (probably not for the reasons we thought) but most things didn’t and eventually most everybody settled down, got a job and did their best to raise a family.
But it’s dangerous rewriting the past. The past is who you are and in the fullness of time we must reconcile ourselves with our history. We need history as it is, not as we wish it to be, in order to do that.
In any event, the past is past and the way it was recorded is also past. People, good people, smart people, did their best. They weren’t perfect. They had their own ideas, their own biases. We all do. No one is above bias, more innocent or holy than the rest. It is a lie to pretend otherwise.
So please, show respect. Do not re-write the texts of the past and publish them as if it were Gospel.
By all means criticize to your heart’s delight, strive to correct wrongs, but please, use the comments section.