>What age are we living in?
>If a group of historians from the future gave you the chance to name the age we’re living in today what would you say and why?
Category Archives: History
>Are we progressing?
>Many famous theorists and authors have argued, or even presumed, that humanity is inevitably marching forwards. Two of the most famous examples are Hegel and Marx. They argued that human history was split into phases, with each phase giving way to the formation of something better. In other words they said progression occured in a linear and forward direction.
There is some evidence for this. We are making progress in curbing poverty for example. But there are a great many examples of the opposite. There are 27 million slaves in the world today, wheras less than half that number were brought to the Americas throughout the entire history of the slave trade. Happiness has stagnated in the last 60 years throughout the developed world. World opinion about democracy is radically changing, with countries as different as Germany, Congo and Russia all gaining more anti-democratic favour.
What do you think? Is change equivalent to progression?
>Afghanistan
>So many questions to ask…
What are your thoughts?
>What was the most important date in history?
>The Economist and Intelligent Life magazines recently discussed this topic and came up with:
1) 1439: Gutenberg’s invention of printing
2) 5BC: Believed to be the date of Jesus’s birth
3) 1953: The discovery of DNA
Do you agree?
>How important is history?
>Do you think history teaching should be compulsory? Or do you think no history should be taught after year 9?
>Can the Marxist vision of Communism ever be realised?
>Is there ever going to be a time and place where Communism can truly succeed in the basic form outlined by Marx and Engels? There have been many ‘experiments’ along the communist model (Russia, China, Cuba, North Korea, Laos, Vietnam). However, these have tended to rebrand Communism in their own formula to suit their specific needs. My girlfriend has told me that according to George Orwell’s book Animal Farm (which I have so far embarrassingly failed to read), human nature dictates that our greed and desire for increased wealth and prosperity ensures that pure communism is just a dream. However, is this just the opinion of Orwell or can Communism never be truly realised?
>Genocide and Human Rights Catastrophe
>The holocaust happened in the 30s and 40s. We swore it would never happen again. Yet look at the Middle East today. Since the holocaust Arabs have been pitted against Israelis and vice versa. Some people even call for a new holocaust, and many would be glad for it.
The Rwandan Genocide took place in 1994. Yet how many people die brutal deaths in Africa every day? And they don’t even make news in the west for they are not considered news worthy. Look up the average age for someone living in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. You will be shocked.
These events are socio-cultural diseases whereby we inflict such pain upon ourselves, and refuse to help our neighbours. Are they inevitable? Are they simply Darwinian purges of society necessary for the strongest groups to evolve? Or can we do something about it? If so, then what?
Battison's Blog 