Is History Becoming History? ( #BOTB Results )

Who should decide when what or who has become irrelevant?   Do you trust others to make that decision for you?  And who are those "others"?   

Is History Becoming History?

        Looking back to my years of pre-college education, it seems strange that I often considered history to be one of my least favorite courses.  It's strange--maybe even contradictory--since I've always loved movies, books, and stories about historic events.  I still prefer non-fiction accounts of people and times in the past.  In actuality history was/is one of my favorite subjects.

          It would be unfair to some of the wonderful teachers I had in younger days to say that they taught the subject of history poorly.  Primarily it was a matter of my perception--a perception that changed radically after I began taking history classes at the University of Tennessee and began pursuing the topic on my own.  History became interesting to me as well as relevant to my understanding of the people and events that shaped history to the present day.

          Those who we see currently rejecting the achievements of those who brought us to where we are now--those who want to tear down monuments and erase names from history books--they are essentially ignorant from all indications I receive from them.  Or they are radical insurgents who are deliberately trying to destroy the history, culture, and legacy of the United States of America and for that alone they should be condemned and rejected.

        To me there is no logical argument to tearing down or even removal of statues and monuments that currently exist unless they pose some kind of threat to their surroundings or there is a sound purpose in doing so.  Just because they might "make people feel badly" is not a reasonable argument.  Those monuments are inanimate without any motivation in and of themselves and therefore cannot "make" anybody feel anything--people chose to feel an emotion, control it, and take action to deal with why they feel that way.  The monuments are objects of learning, reflection, understanding, and discussion.  They should be cherished as part of our heritage--or at the very least respected as property that others might appreciate.

        And all of this does not even address the memorials as art.  They are indeed art since they were creations of human minds and handiwork.  Some, such as those on Monument Avenue in Richmond VA, are (or were) quite impressive to behold.  When I lived in Richmond my route to work took me past those statues and I always enjoyed seeing them.

         Now, the statue of Stonewall Jackson (whom I still proudly claim in my family's ancestry) is gone.  I guess the others have been removed as well.  I know that the statue of Matthew Maury was removed after Stonewall, something I lamented since I had only recently learned about Maury's great contributions to science and navigation.  Why oh why?  Why is there so much ignorance?  Why is the will of a handful of un-American Americans catered to while the rest of us are not even given an opportunity for input?   The incompetent mayor of Richmond, Levar Stoney, is a pitiful joke as far as I am concerned.

           But that's where we've come to in this country.  Loud mobs of ignorant child-adults seem to be kowtowing local and state leaders into submitting to the will of folks who care nothing for America.  None of the government leaders or mob participants will ever attain the great achievements of Christoper Columbus, Thomas Jefferson, or Andrew Jackson.  I can say that with relative confidence and I'll retract my words if I ever see it happen.

          We live in sorry days, but I'm hoping better things will be coming.  I don't expect that to happen so I won't lay any money on that bet.  As much as possible we need to reject the mob influence or the influence of insidious radical groups like Black Lives Matter.  If you're offended by that then do your research--BLM is an evil organization.  Many people can't seem to distinguish between the sentiment of black or any lives mattering and a leftist organization that has absconded a slogan as their name.

            In true Orwellian fashion the radical left wants to rewrite our great history to reflect their ideology.  The pressure to shame us about our history is leading to musical groups changing their names, movies and books under consideration to be banned or given limited access, or erasing any vestiges of our history in our surroundings.  If you really want to tear down statues then build your own damn statue on your own land with your own money and rip the sucker down.  Otherwise leave your filthy mitts off of what others have created and funded. 

           I for one love the United States of America despite its flaws and foibles.  History should be a learning experience.  Unfortunately the spoiled brat radicals haven't learned much from our history, but they are gladly taking cues from the evil governments of the past that did the same kind of eradication of the past.

             To get angry or upset about history and what people of the past did is utterly foolish and stupid.  Really?  Getting emotional about things that already happened and can't be undone other than in some childish imaginary way?   Let's pretend things didn't happen? 

               I glad I'm more intelligent than that.   But that's me.  And I think it's a lot of other people as well.   Anyone who supports the "peaceful" protesting of graffiti, looting, violence, destruction, and chaos in general is an idiot--a dangerous idiot.  Maybe you have a different point of view about this-- and then maybe you're an idiot.



Battle of the Bands Results 

         This most recent Battle featured the Dave Loggins hit "Please Come to Boston" as performed by Confederate Railroad and Reba McIntire.  The Railroad chugged out of the station with a nice lead, but it wasn't long before spunky Reba overtook the train to take the lead all the way until the end of the match.

          I liked both versions quite well, but the male voices of Confederate Railroad were more preferred to me than Reba's country twang.  But, alas, my vote for the Confederate guys wasn't enough to beat Reba.  And I gotta admit that her version is pretty good.


Final Vote Tally

Confederate Railroad         10

Reba McIntire                    13




Next Battle on July 15th?  Maybe? Probably

           If I show up for a mid month Battle I hope you'll join me in a week.  I still feel like I need the break, but on the other hand I have so many Battles waiting in the wings that by doing two a month I might wrap them up in a couple years if I'm still blogging that long.  Then, of course, there is that fact that I keep thinking up new Battles to add.  But for me it's all less of a conundrum than it is a matter of whim.  Either way, I intend to be back at some point so please don't forget me.  Forgetting seems to be the mode of the day and I don't relish being the next victim of being forgotten.  Not in my lifetime at least.


        Can you think of a logical reason to tear down monuments to the past (especially if they have been standing for many decades)?    Do you think students today are being properly educated about history?   Are you interested in exploring the past?  

History ( #AtoZChallenge )

        To what extent do our possessions reveal our pasts?   Does what we own tell the story of who we are or were?   Or does our life accumulation only deepen the mystery?

History and What Our Possessions Tell About It

        At times I feel like an archaeologist or historian digging down into the strata of the past as I'm rummaging through my accumulation of possessions.   As I continue digging I come to the realization that time does not necessarily correspond in any logical chronology in the way things have settled.

         My previous forays into sorting and organizing have caused a commingling of the older with the newer.  Like things have been placed together in some instances, while at other times, for the sake of expediency perhaps, things might have been boxed together because of size, shape, or some other non-historical criteria. 

        There is usually no great mystery to me concerning my possessions, but to someone else coming upon my trove of material things, perplexed head-scratching might a common reaction.  There is a lot of history confined within the walls of my home, but unraveling the past through my possessions might take a lot more research than anyone might care to put into it.  My history is probably not important unless it somehow affects the one examining my history. And even then would anyone care to invest that time?

        We each have a history that is meaningful to ourselves and not to many others.   Unless we are famous or with some significance to the greater history of humans and the world in which we all live, we and our possessions might be meaningless.  Looking at a city, a neighborhood, we see many microcosms of personal histories.  No one person can study all of those histories, especially when it takes the detective work of piecing together clues by studying the possessions of each individual.

        No one will care about my history like I do.  And no one will understand.  If I get around to it, I will try to categorize and label as much as I can.  That is, if I get around to doing that.  Then, even if it is all neatly sorted and tagged with identifying descriptions, who will care? 

        Do you try to identify things you own so that others will know what it had meant to you?  If you've ever had to sort through an estate, did you ponder the personal historical significance of items?   Have you ever found something in left behind possessions,  in a second-hand store, or elsewhere that had an interesting background that you were able to discover?




     

Beginnings (#AtoZChallenge)

        Measurement requires a certain degree of accuracy.   Everything that is measurable has a beginning which in turn means it has an end.  If there were no beginning or end then it could not be measured and certainly not with any degree of accuracy.




In the Beginning...

         Time is an artificial construct that exists where there are constants.  Without the rotation of the Earth and its revolutionary course around the Sun, how could we measure time, know our ages, or discern historical reference.  Without an ability to gauge dimensional measurements such as distance or the existence of fixed points such as stars, time as we know it could not exist.  Time is order and not chaos.

         The ways we measure time are based on other factors outside of time.  The measure of our life is dependent on the time that has been set into place at some distant point in the past.  That point can be called "the beginning".   What was there before a beginning?   Chaos.  Or perhaps we can say the non-existence of thinking reasoning minds.   But then that becomes much like the proverbial tree falling in the forest where nobody is present.   Does that tree make a sound?   Does place without a reasoning being have time?

       Day one.  Year zero.  In the beginning...  That is when time begins.

       What do you think?  Does time exist if there is no one to measure it?    Does time serve any benefit to anything beyond the reasoning mind that is desirous to organize its world?