If a member
of a majority/more powerful group does something bad to a member of
a minority/less powerful group, should such an act be considered as part
of a larger historical context? How much of an obligation do members of
the historically oppressive group have to know this history? Are there any parallels here to be drawn
between Slovaks and the more powerful groups which have oppressed them? Or the groups which they have oppressed?
We’re living in the most peaceful era in human history. Since the last war between major powers, there has been such a significant improvement in education, healthcare, economy, political systems and transport that it has increased the living standards globally. Yes, there’re still some conflicts present, but we have never experienced such amicable, almost harmonious relationships between so many nations ever before. However, everything has its bad side. With prolonged peace, people gradually forget their ancestors’ mistakes, which can dangerously lead to their repetition. Moreover, a new and fast lifestyle, characterized by its many opportunities, choices and twists, which has been formed in the past decades, keeps us in our own bubble. We dedicate much more time to ourselves: our family, our career, hobbies and friends because this period enables it – and simultaneously it lowers our interest in the much vaster community in which we live.
ReplyDeleteAs a result, people absolutely lack knowledge of the history of their community and unless it really interests them, they have no need to get to know it. And it’s not about memorizing a topic for a school test; it’s more about understanding the issues and learning from those previous mistakes. With the propagation of these two types of people - ignorant and selfish -, the fact “how much they don’t know about the past and, if they do know, how little they care” is becoming a really huge problem. The author’s experience with “a man in a boater hat and cravat, drinking Champagne and smoking a cigar, who ignored a homeless woman asking for change” and furthermore “he chided her when she gave her some” is a beautiful demonstration of the behavior of that type of people.
Besides spreading ignorance among common people, it also affects different influencers or representatives of states, who are much more responsible for their activities and claims. As an illustration, Milan Uhrík’s quote “I’m not a historian” has become very famous and a sort of meme in Slovakia, however, non-critically thinking people can consider it to be a valid statement. He’s the vice-chairman of People’s Party ‘Our Slovakia’, the far-right national populist neo-Nazi political party, which has 14 seats in Slovakia’s parliament and due to this position, a lot of people believe him. According to recent research, this party would win the Slovak parliamentary elections, if the only voters were 18 to 24-year olds. This result really saddened me since it explicitly reflects a failure of our educational system and the ignorance of young Slovaks. Ignorance of exactly those people, who should be the mainspring of this republic, pushing it towards the future.
Viki, I agree with your statement concerning education, and on how these things could be prevented in some way, but I don’t believe you will ever be able to change the mindset of the majority of people solely thanks to education. I think educating people about their history would be useful, but the problem is, that history tends to be at least slightly biased depending on where it’s taught. I’m not saying that teachers give false information, just that they might mention a few more facts about one topic than another unlike in other countries. Also, I think that there always was and always will be a slight competitiveness between countries as is seen with England and Ireland or Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Hopefully this competitiveness won’t come to an extreme level but for example, it will always be seen in sports.
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