On history.

I have very little (and nothing new) to say about history. But I do appreciate it more and more. I’ve always loved studying history because it was fun and really not that difficult. The unique elation one feels from getting a superb grade for a paper submitted with three minutes to spare is fantastic! Clearly I’m pleased, but at the same time, I’ve lately wondered why the humanities are important. I suspect that part of the difficulty rests with a society that focuses on making profits and measurable progress. But I’ll save my views on capitalism for another time. And each time I return home and meet the med school friends (congrats!), bme people, engineers, even architects, I wonder whether I’m wasting time and talent on fluff. Yes, fluff. The less-gifted study history and art, the more-gifted take on the STEM fields, right? At least that’s the mindset of many Asians.

But back to history. I’m reading The Embarrassment of Riches by Simon Schama. Schama discusses the founding myth of the Netherlands as a land and people set apart; sounds familiar, yeah? Also, I read an article the other day in the Atlantic about the Mugwumps and the state of politics in the 1880s. David Frum puts the current political discourse in perspective thusly:

You think Rush Limbaugh or Keith Olbermann talks harshly? Listen to this campaign speech from 1880:

Every man that tried to destroy the Government, every man that shot at the holy flag in heaven, every man that starved our soldiers, every keeper of Libby, Andersonville and Salisbury, every man that wanted to burn the negro, every one that wanted to scatter yellow fever in the North, every man that opposed human liberty, that regarded the auction-block as an altar and the howling of the bloodhound as the music of the Union, every man who wept over the corpse of slavery, that thought lashes on the back were a legal tender for labor performed, every one willing to rob a mother of her child—every solitary one was a Democrat.

That was Robert Ingersoll, one of the most famous orators of his day, stumping for the Republicans. Think of him when people tell you that today’s political discourse has sunk below the standards of the hallowed past.

The point itself has been made again and again. We all probably knew at some point that Charles Sumner (Ma) was rather severely beaten by Preston Brooks (Sc) in 1856 (yay Wikipedia for names/dates). And the Brooks-Sumner affair was recently resurrected courtesy of Congressman Joe Wilson (thanks to TNC for the point), also of South Carolina.

So that’s what history does, I think. Again, the point has been pounded to near-oblivion, but still, I find it true. History, in a big sense, gives context and keeps us level-headed.

But there’s also the personal side of history. Again, I must reference TNC. Two things. First, in December (?) there was an article about hair cuts for black men and one on history, white guilt, civil rights, and racism. I was pretty lost in both conversations (I spent more time reading the comments section than the article itself. Unlike most comments sections, TNC’s commenters are insightful and well-written. No trolls.) I have never in my life thought about where black men (and women) get their hair cut. I have also never felt justified in saying anything about civil rights/slavery in the US because I feel so disconnected from that history. History is emotional. That’s willy-nilly, touchy-feely, but I’m not sure how best to describe it. I cannot study Mao Zedong’s policies, listen to Joan Baez sing about Tiananmen Square (though I disagree with her to some extent), read about the Cultural Revolution objectively or passively. I hold strong opinions about these issues. I imagine that it’s the same for Americans and civil rights/slavery. Knowing little to nothing, I cannot jump into this issue, though many people who seem to know little to nothing about China throw out their ideas on highly-public forums, which is terribly irritating to me. Thank goodness for level-headed observers like James Fallows (also of the Atlantic :)).

Be it history, general, or history, personal, people must be aware of it for it to have any import. Yet humanities departments continue to atrophy.