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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

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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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[–] blaue_Fledermaus@mstdn.io -4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I posted this question on Mastodon some time ago:

Is there any modern geopolitical issue that can't be blamed on Alexander "the great"?

[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Most of them? You'd have to do a degrees of Kevin Bacon thing to blame the Korean War on him.

Now, blaming everything on either the US, the British or Napoleon I could get behind

[–] blaue_Fledermaus@mstdn.io 1 points 3 months ago

Indirectly, yes, but not far. The instability created by people fighting over the scraps of his conquests allowed the rise of the Roman empire, and people fighting over their scraps throughout the Middle Ages led to the creation of the modern empires.