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Qui Bono

Reader comment on item: Historians Run Amok

Submitted by Douglas Schulek-Miller (United States), Apr 4, 2017 at 14:32

Sir,

If the number of practitioners of meaningful history are falling off sufficiently in number for it to be a matter of comment, that prompts the question as to who benefits from this? Charlotte Iserbyt in her reflections on the direction and motivation of the US's DoEd. might say that the benefits from not having great substance history resources available falls to those who would rather that the students and public not know of historical substance 1, because it may contradict the "truth", manipulated or revised, that they may be promoting and 2, because giving people an unvarnished version of events of the past provides perspective that is resistant to populist or progressive political manipulation.

It may appear to be a paranoid view, but it particularly sensible if you believe that control of the historical dialogue is sufficiently important to enable the easier promulgation of social engineering practices and policies helpful to those who would be our rulers, but detrimental to expanding the kind of totalitarian theme we see in much of the current politic across political lines and countries. If you want to control the population and your plan is not a near term chaos one, you need to frame the public in such a way as to eliminate sources of meaningful contrast and contradiction.

If this seems irrational, one might remember the uniqueness of these last few years political arena and keep that in the context of the widely Marxist influence of the indoctrination emanating from the DoEd. in the US and the spread of US practices abroad for 40 years has created the snowflake state, one more susceptible to scripted ideology (a la the Frankfurt School) than something we see virtually no more: reasoned political debate. For an illustration, view the tapes of the Nixon/Kennedy debates compared to this last election's version of a debate. Another acute observation might be the despair that results from the observation: have we sunk that far from where we were?

If we are sinking and the preponderance of history programs are dissolving into self-centred meaninglessness, irrelevant to any apposite perspective on current and historical events, consider that nothing happens without it being directed so and for whose interest does this change serve?

Respectfully yours,
Doug Schulek-Miller

Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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Reader comments (12) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
momentous academic decline [17 words]darlene casellaApr 9, 2018 12:05242715
It's Not Only History [203 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
TomApr 9, 2017 18:24238361
Come to Murdoch Uni in Western Australia [50 words]Peter McMullanApr 6, 2017 06:31238225
1This Article Resonated [199 words]BruceApr 5, 2017 10:15238183
Popular Historians Still Can Be Great [162 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
DaveApr 5, 2017 07:19238181
why I didn't study history [206 words]rwApr 4, 2017 21:26238166
It si worse than that [89 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
George ZilbergeldApr 4, 2017 21:01238165
Horrible History [22 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
ANN FARMERApr 4, 2017 17:08238157
Couldn't agree more [175 words]Ron ThompsonApr 4, 2017 16:52238155
Publish or perish may be behind the Microcosmographia [30 words]ETApr 4, 2017 14:49238154
Perhaps it has something to do with the younger generation trying to get faculty jobs [16 words]ETApr 4, 2017 14:43238153
1Qui Bono [375 words]Douglas Schulek-MillerApr 4, 2017 14:32238152

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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