History, Denial, & DNA

And here comes another general reflection on... things.

What prompted this is an article that, I must admit, made me scratch my head a bit.

Perhaps we're back to a place where my brain cells are making me weird... That's always a possibility.

So, here's what I think...

I believe that we must promote History - even though it can be really tough to get a clear picture of the past (believe me, I spend most of my PhD research time attempting to piece together what happened during a military siege: thousands of soldiers, several nations involved, bunches of spies reporting to their sovereigns, and... I have one full day that disappeared into oblivion!).

Yet, we must try to remember (or simply learn!) about our past, because it's true that things tend to be repeated by the powers that be if we, citizens, don't pay attention.

We can't know everything. Of course... but we can try to not be (too much) blinded by our current politicos.

As I already stated before in another post, I can't stand denialists. It's not because I was properly educated in History, it's because we're dealing with people who can read proof, see proof, potentially meet actual victims of historical events, and yet who will deny that these pieces of History happened, and that makes me angry beyond words. That's arrogant and counter-productive.

History happened. Face it. Learn from it. Don't do it again.

If you deny History, I'll point at you and make fun of you until you grow a brain or you crawl back into your cave and leave good society alone.

What I'm planning to say next may well seem a paradox to some, but it's not.

Whilst I believe in knowing History and in avoiding denialism, I do not think that individuals have to apologize for their parents' or their ancestors' actions.

Saying that one regrets sharing DNA with someone who did terrible things in History, that's one thing, but that never means that one has to apologize for what others committed.

I cannot, for one second, imagine myself hunting down the name of the German officer who gave the order to shell the city where my great-grandmother was killed, and then locating his descendants to demand an apology or to target them with a reparations claim.

On the topic of slave owners, there are several points to consider.

 - The fact that it was "normal" back then doesn't excuse the horror (let's update the concept: would I become Japanese, go to Taiji and slaughter dolphins because that's what they do? No... but we're back to my being a weird creature; always have, always will).

 - The fact that profit was made in the past by individuals has to be separated from atrocities committed by states (I'll never have any sympathy for governments being inhuman, be it about the Holocaust, the internment of American citizens of Japanese descent, the women who were taken by the Japanese army in WWII in order to become sex slaves, and the list goes on and on and on).

- It's possible that, upon learning that one is related to some dark historical figure, someone might feel sad and somehow guilty (that's a private reaction to which everybody's entitled), but it's perfectly annoying and arrogant to expect everybody to feel guilty about one's ancestors' past.
To somehow paraphrase one of the commenters in the article I mentioned, I probably have ancestors who committed crimes in caves back when we were still hunting with silex, and I'm not going to apologize for that because that's got nothing to do with me. Ook probably killed Argh in some dark cave over some meat or because of Mrs Argh, but Argh's scions can't go after Ook's descendants today.

- The bottom line is: the great-grandchild of a person who owned slaves is not guilty of the ancestor's sins; we're all born into families that have extraordinary histories, but the children (provided that they don't share the views of the parents and ancestors) have nothing to do with the past, and they can't change it.

It's like treating a child poorly because you don't like the parents. Blame the parents all you want, but the child never asked to have some DNA mixed in order to be created. If someone's to be blamed, put the blame where it really belongs.

Things can be strange. History is full of tragedies.

In my family, I've got a massive bunch of teachers, linguists and historians (Merlin! I wonder where I come from!!). The nasty things that my blood relatives did were all things done to other relatives (in-house nastiness, if you want): they cheated siblings out of their share of inheritance... Stuff like that. That is the extent of nastiness in my family.

Now, if the daughter of my eldest cousin tried to sue me for being the one who got our great-grandmother's watch and ring, I'd be pissed (not only because those are the only tangible things that our grandmother managed to salvage from the vultures who were her older siblings, but also because she gave me both whilst she was still alive and she knew there would be a battle for both after her death if she didn't make her will clear before it was too late).

I can understand the pain and trauma of people whose ancestors were stolen and taken to the other side of the globe as if they were pieces of furniture, but the mere idea that, over a century after the abolition of slavery, private individuals could still face reparations claims is something that puzzles me - deeply.

If someone were to say, 'Oh, I regret that my family no longer owns slaves; that'd have looked cool on my curriculum, and my bank account would be so much bigger with all that free workmanship!', then sue him or her to hell and back before having him or her prosecuted for being a twat... or something.

If someone is born in a family that used to own slaves in the 19th century, well.......... that person was born in that family by accident, and he or she isn't responsible for what was done before 1843.

Back to myself... I loathe most of my blood relatives. Most of them are petty, bigoted, limited, stuck in the Dark Ages, and... I could go on. I don't get along with them, and they don't like me.

I can't relate to most of my cousins, and I can't relate to their parents. Hell! It's because of them that I've changed my name!

If I can't relate to the blood relatives who are so close to me, how could I feel any connection with my ancestors - or feel guilty about anything they've done?

For the moment, I know the history of my family up to 1845. I was told the History of the family in such a vivid way that I have the feeling that I somehow knew them. When I finally manage to go farther in time, Merlin knows what I'll discover... but whatever I find, I'll treat it as History, I'll admit that it's my past, but no one shall make me feel guilty.

Facing History, knowing History, yes, but being stuck in the past can only lead to more suffering.

Actually, you know what? I think I'd like to find the descendants of the officer who gave the order that killed my great-grandmother, just to see if they'd like to start a movement where we'd take steps to protect our families and all families, as if we could make all bipeds realize that we're all from the same family, which we are, because the Earth is our village and we all come from the same stardust fallen into a mud pond somewhere on this rock.

Yea... There's no need to tell me that it's not going to happen. Biped brains still have to evolve quite a lot to start considering my idea as a potentially valid option.
We'd need to learn from History, not deny it or be frozen by it. This is yet another case of 'Not out of the wood'...