But how can we learn from stuff if we get rid of it? Can’t we still observe it with the requisite amounts of salt?
I can’t dump Socrates and Diogenes. I just can’t.
Truly not what he’s talking about. He’s saying that unless the field gets more truthful, we’d be better off without it. It often comes down to the amount of uncritical apologia for classical slavery. This cruft has eaten the field.
It’s just that we know so much more about ancient worlds in 2020 than in 1790.
Classics could have spread itself thin trying to cover everything.
Instead it focused on Hellenic, Hellenistic, and Roman culture, alongside Egyptology, Assyrology, etc. Even then it’s had a lot more evidence to take in, as well as cross-cultural comparisons, as well as the use of ancient slavery to justify modern slavery and ancient imperialism to justify modern imperialism.
And some people will continue to relate Socrates and Diogenes to their Hellenic context, while others will compare them to Zera Yacob or Kant. (heads for Existential Comics).
… Or to compare them to someone speaking slightly different dialects. (Some ancient authors are only known because another ancient author wanted to commend on their grammar.)
It’s become one meeting-point in a vast web of knowledge.
Now… It looks like Padilla wants to replace the traditional focus on Grome with a wider range, to provide a gateway to more detailed study of different societies, of different fields, etc. As an intro, that would be a good thing. But as a field, that would stretch itself thin. It’d be hard for anyone to become an expert in something so interdisciplinary.
Thank you for clearing up my misconception.
A lovely thought experiment: no more political reporting, instead let’s have government reporting.
Not sure where to post this:
AKA “People who think removing a <100-year-old statue to the Confederacy “erases history” take active steps to prevent their children from learning history”
from snopes
It’s been confederate copypasta since 1974.
LITERAL de-Nazification in America:
This quote really hit me:
“After 75 years, this is ridiculous. I cannot believe it,” he said. “I cannot understand how this can happen in a country like this. You’re forcing me out of my home.”
Yeah, dude, forcing people from their homes is a bad thing. But you’re flying in a nice airplane to your trial, not being loaded into a cattle car to your torture and death. Stop complaining.
Well there’s one good thing that ICE has done.
Berger still gets a pension from Germany for his employment there, including for his “wartime service.”
Hmm… That led me down an interesting google rabbithole. In 1958, the U.S. passed a law granting pensions to Confederate veterans (and widows and children).
CONFEDERATE FORCES VETERANS
SEC. 410. The Administrator shall pay to each person who served in the military or naval forces of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War a monthly pension in the same amounts and subject to the same conditions as would have been applicable to such person under the laws in effect on December 31, 1957, if his service in such forces had been service in the military or naval service of the United States."
Effective date. SEC. 2. This Act shall be effective from the first day of the second calendar month following its enactment. Approved May 28, 1958.
At the time, there was only one reported Confederate veteran still alive; it was a token gesture, and the status of that claim was disputed.
.
But wait, it gets even more interesting! The last person to get a pension from the Civil War just died last year. And…her father had been both a Confederate and a Union soldier!
Triplett’s father, Pvt. Mose Triplett, fathered her during his second marriage when he was just a few weeks away from turning 84 years old.
Mose Triplett fought for both sides in the war. First, he enlisted in the Confederacy, fighting for two North Carolina infantries. He was in the 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment when he became sick as they marched toward Gettysburg and ended up missing the historic battle that led to the killing, wounding or capturing of all but a few dozen in his regiment.
Triplett ran from the hospital and then joined a Union regiment in Tennessee as a Confederate deserter […]
After the war, Mose Triplett ended up marrying Elida Hall in 1924, when she was 34 and he was 83.
Really sad story about the girl’s life. But interesting history.
he also cried when they read the verdict. cry more, nazi.
He’s just in touch with his Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS side.