kropotkhristian:

Another history pet peeve: the answer to any given ethical question is never “study history.” History by itself does not give us a value judgement or an ethical answer to any current problem. It only gives us hints about what people did before. If you think that “history” backs up your ethical stance on something, you need to give it some more thought. This obviously isn’t true of bogus historical claims like “the Civil War was fought over state’s rights” - that really is just a historical lie. But the related question “should confederate monuments be removed,” cannot be answered solely with the answer “yes, because the Civil War was fought over slavery.” There is actually a broad ethical question at play here about remembrance, memorializing, slavery, and white supremacy. That’s really where the answer is found. And I think that the answer is definitively “fucking absolutely,” but it isn’t because I study history. A horrible person could study the same history and decide that the confederate monuments should definitely stay. It is really my ethics and values that lead me to that position.

In other words, your view of history is just a reflection of your values. We need to actually talk about what is right and wrong, and why, instead of just delaying that conversation through the lens of “history.” I think that avoidance actually only empowers reactionaries. Racists aren’t wrong because they haven’t studied history - if they had, they would still be wrong, because a racist is just a fucking horrible thing to be.

1. shinji-bikari-archive liked this
2. always-a-choice reblogged this from kropotkhristian
3. withoutmyguiltandmyhair reblogged this from kropotkhristian
4. withoutmyguiltandmyhair liked this
5. sunnyandraining liked this
6. norbinary reblogged this from kropotkhristian
7. norbinary liked this
8. kittymeow321 liked this
9. polishynell reblogged this from kropotkhristian
10. noonesposting liked this
11. randomlyburstsintosong reblogged this from kropotkhristian
12. itslasttraintoclarksville liked this
13. shadowwingwitch liked this
14. cynical-nb liked this
15. hugsforeverett liked this
16. mellowstarscape liked this
17. sakurachan811 liked this
18. shrubjade reblogged this from kropotkhristian
19. shrubjade liked this
20. aveline-the-dragon-slayer liked this
21. clarahighlander liked this
22. dualityofcat reblogged this from andallmannerofthings
23. dualityofcat liked this
24. stephenbt liked this
25. sunflowersees liked this
26. proficuous reblogged this from philosophyshitscribble
27. 21st-century-breakdown liked this
28. philosophyshitscribble reblogged this from andallmannerofthings
29. batifiend liked this
30. lexicontortionist liked this
31. actnebbish reblogged this from kropotkhristian
32. bi-biotic liked this
33. allmylittlewordstpp liked this
34. tele-vision liked this
35. luxembrutalist reblogged this from kropotkhristian
36. faaavor-right reblogged this from andallmannerofthings
37. faaavor-right liked this
38. sekar-ngenguwung liked this
39. hydralisk98 liked this
40. write-them-on-your-bones liked this
41. iusername42 liked this
42. pippipjangles liked this
43. glorytosparta liked this
44. kropotkhristian posted this
45. Show more notesLoading...