Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

-- George Santayana

IMO this is problematic. History never repeats exactly no matter how well it is remembered. And it is not remembered that well. It is always being revised, interpreted, manipulated to suit the views of the expert du jour.

However in the last 150 years, a new dimension of historical record has emerged. Previously we were limited to oral and written history. Then came still photography, film, audio and video. History is now recorded by the man in the street.

Granted, interpretation of that history is as difficult as ever. But what actually happened is more clear. The videos of the WTC are real. No smart-ass will ever claim that this event did not happen or was faked by TPTB for their own shadowy purposes.

Wouldn't it be interesting to have videos of Christ, of the Crucifixion, of Christ ascending unto heaven (did He wave?), of the Founding Fathers, of Mohammed, of people and events of which we only have ancient scripts to document?

My question is: do you think we really learn anything from history? Do you think that we will learn more now that it is recorded in more detail? Has graphic recording of events in WWII and Viet Nam inclined the world to be more peaceful? Will video of the WTC instruct future generations in the folly of violence? Will videos of the WTC be even more than quaint entertainment in 100 years? (on Sept 11. 2101, the History Channel presents a one hour retrospective of the attack, brought to you by your friends at Fritolay)

I remember touring Yellowstone Park in 1989, one year after the devasting forest fire of 1988. Yes, all the charred tree trunks stood as mute sentinels to what had happened. But already there was a new green layer. Life was prevailing. The old had given way to the new. The new did not remember the old. Life-force was all that mattered.

Those who lived thru WTC will never forget it. Those who were born after might never remember it, despite the videos, audios, documentations. This is the miracle and tragedy of new life.

100 years from now there will be a fancy memorial at the site of the former WTC. Children will romp and laugh. Lovers will sigh and be lost in each other's eyes. The grand memorial will collect pigeon shit and mean as much to these people as Civil War memorials do to us.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 25, 2001

Answers

Exactly so, Lars.

This past week I've been asking people "Do you even KNOW if we still have US troops in Kosovo, today?" That was our last "war", if you want to call it that. Nobody I've asked even knew. We just forgot; all that videotape on CNN notwithstanding. Same-same Viet Nam. We have lots of tape and film of that, but we still don't seem able to "remember" what a protracted war like that was even like anymore, or we'd tuly be damned scared of the next one. We forgot. We always forget. And remarkably quickly. Maybe we need another reminder. To keep us humble.

Has anybody heard if we have an "Exit Strategy" for any of these proposed actions yet? I haven't. What have we learned about not having one of those?

I just hope (as I said in another question) "Would we all be so hot to trot, I wonder, if we had a big "national" crystal ball and looked into it and saw - oh, gee! - a whole new World Empire emerging, down the road a ways, from the ashes of the Middle East, because of our careless actions now? Something of the enormous size and scale of the old Ottoman Empire, or those of the great Princes of Persia? HUGE, finally united, totally Islamic, and laughing very confidently at the tired, beaten old USA?" that we don't end up dumping ourselves on that scrap pile of "former superpowers" in the process of learning something.

I don't think that all the history lessons, books, films, and videotape in the whole USA will have one iota of meaning or value to those fine American's beating the War Drum now. War is better than football, and they just want some, on any pretext; who cares?

-- Zzzzz (asleep@the.wheel), September 25, 2001.

Lars, Lars, you and George have it backwards. It would be more accurate to say--

Those who CAN remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Look at all the places where hatreds, vendettas and revenge fester on and on for hundreds of years. Why? One reason is that past atrocities are kept alive. They are passed down and even exagerated. The Serbians still hate the Albanians for their complicity with the Turks 500 years ago. Likewise Palestine/Israel and so many others.

In the future such passions can be fanned even more easily by replaying videos of atrocities. Some demagogue 200 years from now might want to drum up hatred of Arabs. All he would need to do is replay the Sept 11 tapes.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 26, 2001.

Sure...while the rest of us are...

-- ...Zzzzz (asleep@the.wheel), September 26, 2001.

"History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren't there."

- George Santayana

-- (BS detector @ WW.West), September 28, 2001.