Whatever Happened to History?

 

We are in the process of losing history and therefore any meaning for our life that is more than a rapidly passing moment.

According to a recent poll, 72 per cent of Americans think that we are now in the “worst” period of American history.  Polls are dubious things and the great historian John Lukacs has questioned whether there really is any such thing as “public opinion.” But this poll simply supports what we already knew about pervasive historical ignorance, which is exhibited every hour of every day by the politicians and the minions of the “news” media. 

Americans are a momentary and self-referential people. They can’t remember what happened last week unless it was on a soap opera.  Few have any notion of ancestors, and, except for those of us who cherish our grandchildren, posterity is never thought of. If it is not now it does not exist. This is an unprecedented situation. In every past civilised society even common people had some idea of what their ancestors did in the great events of the past. The past was felt—it was not a theory or a slogan. And they planted trees and built houses that would only be enjoyed by their descendants.

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