How much ignorance of history does it take to be doomed to repeat it?

[lees1975]

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2023/11/how-much-ignorance-of-history-does-it.html

Lady Gaga's hit "Bad Romance," which debuted in November, 2009 and stayed on the charts for quite a while, including spending about eight weeks at the number 2 spot in the United States, popped into my mind today as I was listening to an afternoon talk show host chat with a guest about the state of politics and the ignorance of history in this country. There are some lyrics in the song which would be fit descriptions of what we are seeing happen in front of our very eyes.

"I want your horror, I want your design,
'Cause your a criminal as long as you're mine,
I want your psycho, your vertigo shtick,
Want you in my rear window, baby you're sick."

"Caught in a bad romance."

We have a former President, running for the office again, who committed the biggest crimes against the Constitution of the United States, and against American representative democracy, that any politician has committed to date, and that's saying something. If that weren't enough of a "world turned upside down" scenario, this candidate is currently the front-runner in the whole field of candidates in the Republican party. Now he's talking about concentration camps, vermin, and imprisoning and pushing out all of those identified as political and soclai enemies, including many of those who think he's on their side. It's not just a bad romance, this is the nightmare that we are living right now.

Will we do anything about it or will we let it happen?

[czarjak]

1. Denial of history isn't ignorance of history. Or forgotten history.

[hlthe2b]

2. While there is little doubt we have a widespread ignorance of history in this country...

(and not merely limited to any group or generation), Santayana's famous quote references the failure to "remember history." So, it seems he assumed far more of Western societies--specifically the US-- and their ability to educate their citizens than it would appear to be the case. However, his actual quote was specifically giving voice to the tendency to "forget" the important lessons of history.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905. From the series Great Ideas of Western Man.

[Journeyman]

3. "Those who remember the past are doomed to a lifetime of reruns." . . .

So there's that, as well . . .

[onecaliberal]

4. The DOJ should have acted swiftly and they should have charged the planners IN the government.

[lees1975]

5. The law is only as good as its enforcement.

The first breakdown was with the Mueller investigation. Crimes piled up but we had a corrupt attorney general and a corrupt President and too many people sitting on their hands.

But we had a stellar, well=conducted congressional investigation and still, not much movement. The apparatus only works if we use it. I really wonder if this most recent rhetoric of his will sink in, with all of its implications, or if we'll still be ignoring it and fighting over how old Biden will be at the end of a second term, fussing over which side to take, Israel or Hamas, and worried about how much it might cost our coffee and our gas to go up.

Meanwhile, those parts of the world that depend on American stability for their own peace of mind are worried sick and losing confidence.

The President is standing up to it but he needs help to smash up this media conglomorate that is fixated on every little thing that Donald Trump does.