The
Whys. Q2, Why All the History?
March 20, 2025.
Personal note. More about me in this one than normal.
Sorry.
Why not? History is a rather good fact checker.
President Trump is prone to pull historic rabbits from his
MAGA-ic hat. Sometimes he just gets confused when he is mad, like in 2018 when
he blamed Canada for burning down the White House during the war of 1812. The
British did the burning, and Canada was still a colony.
Sometimes he is blowing a dog whistle, like in 2019, when he
told four Democratic Congresswomen, aka “the Squad,” to go back where they came
from. There was no confusion about the racist history attached to that phrase. Three
of the four were born in the US.
Sometimes it is part of a plan to justify dubious legal
positions, like last weekend when he invoked the wartime Alien Enemies Act of
1798 to remove immigrants without due process (see Reading You Your Rights,
March 15). The Act has been imposed just three times in US history. It does not
go well.
History is where I turn for perspective. I already confessed
I am mimicking historian Heather Cox Richardson’s great Letters from an
American. Another influence is Professor Greg Jackson’s terrific story telling podcast,
History that Doesn’t Suck. And I cannot leave out my Temple U American Studies
Professors, Phil Yannella and Miles Orvell, from whom I learned to always look
both ways. See links in notes.
I was asked recently if knew everything that winds up in
posts beforehand. That is a hard no. I wish I knew to start with the French
Revolution before writing Reading You Your Rights. Phew, that would have been
easier.
Posts start with an observation, a question I cannot answer,
or an echo from history that starts a search for the facts, answers, and
moments that, hopefully, turn into sound insight. I learn from every post and
feel better when I do, even when the lesson hurts.
History leaves us a wonderful trove of stories that, when we
listen, imparts wisdom. And it is a great bullshit detector.
Notes.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-10-24/when-donald-trump-cites-history-watch-out
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/06/politics/war-of-1812-donald-trump-justin-trudeau-tariff/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/14/us/politics/trump-twitter-squad-congress.html
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/about
https://www.htdspodcast.com/about
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://cis-linux2.temple.edu/~lafollet/Herald/47/47_3/vol47no3.pdf
Speaking of history, the history of eugenics is instructive when deciphering the goals of Musk, Thiel, Vance, and other tech bros. This article traces a thread from eugenics to going to mars, neuralink, AI, and effective altruism. https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/13636
ReplyDeleteGreat point, Charles. Eugenics is one of America's dirty little secrets. I need to learn more. Will check out the link and dig in.
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