I've
always thought that one of the best ways to study history is to read
the actual words of the people who inhabit the past, such as letters,
journals, etc. I once got into an online debate with a gentleman who
was defending Christopher Columbus and his eponymous holiday. I was
arguing that Columbus was one of the worst humans in a history full
of worst humans.
The
other gentleman was having none of it.
He
asked, “How do you know that for sure?”
“Because
we have his diaries. He didn't try to hide his murderous, raperous,
and generally horriferous ways!”
His
response stuns me to this day...
“Well,
THEY SAY those are his diaries.”
Ah,
yes, the mysterious “they.”
“They”
are always saying “something” that the willfully ignorant among
us can use to shut down any meaningful dialogue that we “smart
asses” try to have. It's almost as if they perceive intelligence as
something we aquire for the sole purpose of contradicting them or
making them look foolish or to set their brains abuzz with a big ol'
swarm of the cognitive dissonance.
In
truth, that's only PART of the reason us “smart asses” like to get
smarter.
Earlier
today, I read a letter at
http://colonialnorthamerican.library.harvard.edu/
written
by one James Otis, Jr. He was a lawyer in colonial Massachusetts who
coined the phrase “taxation without representation is tyranny”
back before we went to war with the British.
The
letter was one that a college-age James wrote to his father
because...
wait
for it...
he
wanted his dad to send him money. He needed 15 shillings for belt
buckles, 15 shillings to print his thesis (at Ye Olde Houfe of Kinko,
I'm assuming), and some extra for “any manner of entertainment” after
commencement at Harvard (translation: ale and weed).
That's
right, the man who would go on to write words that are still uttered
today (usually by Tea Party types who want to burn our entire
government down, but still) was a normal college student who hit his
old man up when he was strapped for cash.
Reading
the actual words of historical figures humanizes them and shows us
how little the human condition changes over the centuries. I'll take
what the real people said over what “They” say any day. (I'm
really sorry that last part rhymed.)
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