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Why do we glorify horrible people from the distant past? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 3 months ago by Konis@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

109 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Julius Ceasar, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan and many more...

These people had beliefs and worldviews that were so horribly, by today's standards, that calling them fascist would be huge understatement. And they followed through by committing a lot of evil.

Aren't we basically glorifying the Hitlers of centuries past?

I know, historians always say that one should not judge historical figures by contemporary moral standards. But there's a difference between objectively studying history and actually glorifying these figures.

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[–] agitated_judge@sh.itjust.works 12 points 3 months ago (3 children)

You should be more worried about why we glorify horrible contemporary people, or from the more recent past. Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Donald Trump, Ellen DeGeneres, the list is endless. There are a lot of people that even glorify Hitler himself.

And wrt Alexander the Great, having killed a lot of people does not make a person horrible. My grandfather killed a lot of people, probably hundreds. He never wanted to talk much about it. He was a great guy and a hero. Alexander the great killed a lot of people, but in doing that he eliminated the enemies of his people. He is recorded in history for spreading civilization, arts, education. He founded many cities that flourished, some of them even stand today. He freed a lot of cities that were ruled by his people's enemies. His conquests are one of the major reasons modern western civilization exists. He did all that as a military leader and he killed a lot of people.

[–] index@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Heroes don't kill hundreds of people, they save them.

[–] Buelldozer@lemmy.today 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Heroes don’t kill hundreds of people, they save them.

Ah, so the people killing Nazi's in WWII aren't Heroes anymore. They should have saved the Nazis instead!

Are you hearing yourself?

[–] L0rdMathias@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Bro that statement alone proves that poster is obviously like 12, or trolling. Why are you bothering with a response?

[–] Buelldozer@lemmy.today 2 points 3 months ago

You never know, they could written something out without fully considering the ramifications. It happens.

[–] Wes4Humanity@lemm.ee 1 points 3 months ago

What if we glorify horrible contemporary people because we're taught to glorify sociopathic behavior through how we're taught about historical horrible people?