I just saw the following statement on my Facebook wall:
My students do not all understand why I say that the point of studying history is not to figure out who was good and who was bad.
This is so true. My students drive me to distraction with questions about who were “the bad guys” in every event we discuss. Whenever I say that “this was more complicated than that”, they seem to think I’m trying to hide my ignorance about what we are discussing.
The bad guys have black hats
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Do the good guys have white hats?
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Separating the *good* and *bad* guys in history is critical.It is equal to discerning good and evil; right and wrong.
Certainly it is not the only value of history, but a great lesson nonetheless.
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I’ve sometimes wondered whether that is a feature of US culture, or perhaps North American culture. I sometimes say something in a discussion forum, and people, usually those from the USA, seem to feel compelled to respond with some kind of moral judgement, like “that’s terrible” if it’s something bad, and something equally judgmental if it’s something good. And US fore3ign policy seems to be based on the same cultural premiss.
Usually when I describe a phenomenon, say, just as an example, “200 people were killed as suspected witches in Xxxx in the last five years” I am not hoping for expressions of outrage or “that’s terrible”. I’m hoping for something more explanatory — what is making people behave like that? Or are there any ways in which bwe could encourage people to modify that behaviour. Just having people emoting all over my blog comments (or whatever) is not at all helpful.
And such people also tent to take comments on something they have said as some kind of moral judgement on them as well.
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“To the victor belong the spoils”
Ive always wondered what history would read like for the west had the Axis powers won WW2
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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