Bill Maher had a terrific monologue recently in which he talked about presentism.
Presentism: an attitude toward the past dominated by present-day attitudes and experiences.
It is ludicrous to hold people who lived centuries ago to the standards of today and declare that "they should have known better." He offers a reality check on that view, which happens to be hilarious. The tearing down of statues and the denouncing of historical figures has ravaged the country since the rise of presentism. As one who earned a degree in history, this trend has been particularly irksome. Everyone was bad and we must universally condemn them.
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