ANST - re: my rant on destroying legends (long)

[I. Marc Carlson]

<"Screamin Gael" <screamingael at hotmail.com>>
>...
>Why do our historians have to destroy Legends? is it not enough to enjoy 
>them, take pride in them, and learn from them?...

I did not see the program you were discussing, so I can't say whether you
have a fair complaint with the "expert" or not.  I am only responding to these
questions you've asked here.

Because some people feel it's better to live with even an *unpleasant* truth,
than it is to live enmeshed in fantasies.  You *know* your legends are false,
and that's good.  Some people aren't so fortunate, and truly believe the 
more pleasant fantasies that the Old West was as Hollywood presented it,
that Dragons existed, Knights were always honorable, that the Vikings were
beloved by those who lived near them, or even  that the Darkies really
-preferred- slavery, that there was no Holocaust, and even if it did happen,
the Jews deserved it for that "Elders of Zion" thing, and so forth. 

I can't speak for anyone else, but I find it impossible to "take pride" in
lies.  I CAN take pride in the fact that human beings, flawed, weak and
dirty as they have been at times, have been able to do some of the spectacular,
nearly impossible things they've managed to do, like just living through
the nastyiness of human history.

Marc/Diarmaid
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