Recently I was watching a YouTube interview with one of my favorite columnists who offered a startling observation. Except for maybe one or two, he said, most columnists avoid placing current events in the context of history. As a historian he always does.
For some reason this struck me, even though we live in an age that takes pride in avoiding history, if not rejecting it altogether. You might say it’s built into our DNA.
Though this trend has accelerated over the last 50-60 years, its roots go back at least as far as the Enlightenment some 400 years ago. Many would date it 100 years before that.
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