Bill Maher took on “presentism” in a recent show, and it was spot-on. Presentism is the focus on the present and the viewing of the past through the lens of present values and ideologies and as such erodes history, the study of history, and the potential for learning from history’s mistakes.
Presentism is the inability to conceive of a culture or society different than one’s own without it being automatically inferior and worthless. And therefore feeling justified in using one’s own current worldview to judge—and condemn—all past historical eras, persons, and events. It’s typical solipsism, really, and it’s not uncommon in first-year college students.
The trouble is that colleges and universities no longer teach students to think critically, to step outside their own heads and experience, and to understand concepts and values that existed prior to the present historical moment. So these students remain emotionally- and developmentally-stunted, continue to be solipsistic, and become intolerant of anything that is not closely aligned with or an exact reflection of their own values.
Maher did a great segment on this concept and why it’s problematic. The segment is pointed, often funny, and has enraged the left.
On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher stated that while some conservatives do want to whitewash the past, “plenty of liberals also want to abuse history to control the present,” through presentism and acting as through “the capacity for cruelty” is “a white thing.”Maher began by saying, “How we teach our kids history has become a big controversy these days, with liberals accusing conservatives of wanting to whitewash the past, and sometimes that’s true, sometimes they do. But plenty of liberals also want to abuse history to control the present, and last month, a scholar named James Sweet caught hell for calling them out for doing just that. He criticized the phenomenon known as ‘presentism,’ which means judging everyone in the past by the standards of the present. It’s the belief that people who lived 100 or 500 or 1,000 years ago really should have known better, which is so stupid. It’s like getting mad at yourself for not knowing what you know now when you were ten.”
Professor Jacobson wrote about Sweet’s groveling apology for daring to question presentism.
This is just another example of how far academia has fallen. False confessions extracted from people who dared speak truth to the power that runs campuses, a power not very interested in the truth, but as Hannah-Jones admitted, seeks to frame narratives.
Read the whole thing.
Fox News has more on Maher’s segment:
Liberal comedian Bill Maher roasted the woke concept of “presentism,” where historical figures and events are judged in the prism of the present – further arguing against the oft-claimed leftist position that White people are usually to blame for history’s lesser moments.”New rule: You can get creative with a novel, a TV show or a movie, but history books – that’s not supposed to be fan fiction,” Maher said on “Real Time.”The host added that gradeschool history class has indeed become controversial as of late, however also pushing back on both ideological sides of that controversy.”[L]iberals [are] accusing conservatives of wanting to whitewash the past — And sometimes that’s true, sometimes they do. But plenty of liberals also want to abuse history to control the present.”. . . . Maher pushed back on assertions that slavery was basically unique to America, pointing out the root of the term is Slav – adding that Slavic people are not Black.”Slavery throughout history has been the rule, not the exception,” he went on, adding that human capacity for cruelty is just that – human – and not explicitly White.”But in today’s world, when truth conflicts with narrative, it’s the truth that has to apologize – Being woke is like a magic moral time machine where you judge everybody against what you imagine you would have done in 1066: And you always win.”
Maher is right, of course, and it’s a shame that colleges and universities are not only encouraging narrow-mindedness and intolerance but are actively working to instill it in students.
These students then go out into the world with the same childlike, naive, self-centered belief system they entered college with, only now it’s turbo-charged with self-righteousness and leftist activism. It makes sense, though, emotionally and intellectually mature people reject radical leftism as the tyrannical totalitarianism that it is, so ensuring that the next generation remains emotionally and intellectually underdeveloped is important. Cruel, self-serving, and cynical, but important.
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