10-13-2005, 10:21 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-13-2005, 10:24 PM by Occhidiangela.)
Quote:How we can examine history with the objective of resolving past social injustices w/o creating new ones?
Why bother? I suggest you are asking for an answer, in the abstract, to a question whose "resolution" cannot be implemented.
The past social injustices are in the past, and are not resolvable. They are rather a matter of record. Don't look back, dahling, it gets in the way of the now. The current and predicted social injustices we may be able to mitigate or prevent via prudent action.
You won't resolve anything that has already happened, not at any level deeper than the thin layer of new skin. The Pope's apologies to the Jews, a few years back, is a classic case of empty words that resolved nothing. It was a gesture, or as I saw it, posturing. Closure is not available for everything, nor can "I'm sorry" repair the broken vase, the burned down house.
Peoples of various groups, clans, and tribes make their own view of history, what bits they know of it in combination of fact, fiction, and myth. They put their own stamp on it. If you haven't read Balkan Ghosts, I highly recommend it. Kaplan does an excellent job of describing this phenomenon.
Myth and history are still inextricably mixed together in the minds of many groups of people. That barrier to resolution is too oft ignored by the residents of the Il Torre d'Avorio.
Occhi
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete