Will history be the judge? Does the arc of history bend? Figures of speech both reflect and shape our expectations.
My constitutional law professor thought the courts should have ended “separate but equal” education not by finding it unconstitutional, but by enforcing equal funding for all schools, making segregation financially unsustainable. It is easy from this distance to consign him to the wrong side of history. We call “the right side” the one that wins out in the long run as accepted and wise. Three problems with this notion:
2 Comments
10/19/2020 08:13:11 pm
As an expression of one's feelings of anger or frustration, personifying history in that way can work pretty well. As in, "I can't do much about this now but history will get revenge."
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AuthorI'm a historian who writes novels and literary nonfiction. My home base is Madison, Wisconsin.
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