From WWW.FOXNEWS.COM
Liberal comedian Bill Maher roasted the woke concept of “presentism,” where historical figures and events are judged in the prism of the present – further arguing against the oft-claimed leftist position that White people are usually to blame for history’s lesser moments.
“New rule: You can get creative with a novel, a TV show or a movie, but history books – that’s not supposed to be fan fiction,” Maher said on “Real Time.”
The host added that gradeschool history class has indeed become controversial as of late, however also pushing back on both ideologic al sides of that controversy.
“[L]iberals [are] accusing conservatives of wanting to whitewash the past — And sometimes that’s true, sometimes they do. But plenty of liberals also want to abuse history to control the present.”
He cited a recent essay by scholar James Sweet, noting the Wisconsin professor “caught Hell” for criticizing presentism.
Maher said it is “stupid” to think that people from centuries or millennia ago “really should have known better,” remarking that most kids regret a lot of what they did in their youth as humanity regrets much of what it has done in its earlier years.
“I read Ayn Rand. I smoked. I was into numerology. Yes. Because we hadn’t then grown into the persons we would become. And humanity writ-large is just the collective version of that. Did Columbus commit atrocities? Of course. The people back then were generally atrocious. Everybody who could afford one had a slave, including people of color.”… (Read more)
