Someone once had an idea that the sun revolved around the earth.
but someone other person thought that the earth revolved around the sun.
well a lot of things worked out better when the earth revolved around the sun, so we started doing that instead of the other thing
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I mean there’s not much point in having biographies or identities even if they aren’t allowed to count for anything.
Just anonymize it and focus on the ideas only
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We can sanitize history so that only the parts that make our history look good are emphasized.
That’s what we generally do.
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You don’t give any hoots – and usually history doesn’t bother much with their personal lives, just whatever gives utility for society — but is there no benefit to keeping historical records of personalities, conflicts, business dealings, moral positives and negatives of historical figures?
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Like
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I may. I would not want history whitewashed to where I could not find out such things if I wanted to.
But politicians have worked very hard at removing unpleasant parts out of biographies and amplifying achievements, either for national pride or to avoid embarrassment.
The choice to care or not care has been taken from us and we don’t even have proof because it’s gone.
So I would rather have the good the bad and the ugly available, even if it means a few people stop riding the train.
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It’s quite possible the person who invented the electric motor was a child raping, animal torturing monster.
But if it made a corporation or family or nation or field (such as science or engineering or philosophy) look bad, the writers of the history may just conveniently repeatedly not teach or record those uncomfortable parts.
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