“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” George Orwell '1984' (with thanks to Sal Hemingway for unearthing this quote)
I dislike sanitising history. Tearing down statues on the back of populist sentiments is denying the past. From my perspective, the slave trade was odious, but at the time of Colston et al, it was an acceptable trade. People benefited from it. And those that shout the loudest against it now seek to deny their own history.
I always say:
Look at history through the eyes of the time (in the past).
I agree. History shouldn't be sanitized.
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