"So... everything the Communists ever did cannot be judged?"

"Uh, well, you see..."

  • Audeamus [any]
    ·
    4 years ago

    There's a nuance here between how historians use this idea and how conservative propagandists do.

    To understand history, you do need to put yourself in the minds of the time instead of your own: i.e., why was Alexander considered the greatest man ever when he did things like march his army through a desert killing most of them to prove that he could or challenge his successors to fight each other, dooming his empire to collapse amidst internecine wars?

    But that doesn't mean we in our time can't say, "what a giant asshole, what a barbaric age, no one should celebrate him."

    • AlexandairBabeuf [they/them]
      ·
      4 years ago

      utter slander; the answers were "to show the desert who's boss" (a worthy endeavor) and "there can be only one" (the correct way to run an autocratic society)

      • emizeko [they/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        4 years ago

        reminds me of Caligula declaring war on Poseidon and ordering his soldiers to whip the sea

        • Frank [he/him, he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          When you're the emperor of Rome you can't just say "big gay Roman beach party!" You have to come up with a suitably imperial excuse.