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November 04, 2004
Always Look On The Bright Side of Life
Today I received an email that asked the following question: Why do we go through things like the Salem Witch Hunt or the McCarthy Era only to repeat them in similar fashion in the 21st Century? Is there no recognition? No learning? No advancement and evolvement of our society from wisdom handed down to us by Jefferson or Franklin or others?
My response:
That is an argument for beer. I happen to believe that "history repeats itself" pessimism is unwarranted, because of the nature of memory and the way we consciously or not pick and choose the parallels we recall. The cognitive falacy committed with that question is really a function of how the mind works. How do I know this? I make it up. No, seriously, I have read about this stuff because it bothers me how, as you say, we seem to do the dumb stuff over and over again. But, on the other hand, why does every society repeat the same basic story lines in its folklore, or create wine, or music with similar structures? Those are good things, but we tend not to dwell on those since they don't cause nastiness. If you kept score, however, I think you will find a lot of "good" history repeating itself just as often - and hopefully more so - - than the bad stuff. Since we are human beings we do tend to repeat patterns but that doesn't mean that we are fated to be idiots. As the thief to Brian's left once sang from the cross: "Always look on the bright side of life"
Posted by apc at November 4, 2004 03:12 AM