May
13
The Novice in the Archives/Internet History
May 13, 2018 | Leave a Comment
Today we discussed how museum gives the message that history must preserved from my contaminating touch. You posed the question of which Wright brothers’ airplane should be preserved. I would hope that history would preserve both. To make an assumption that the human mind cannot discern what history is or isn’t is presumptuous. I think in the current climate of “ Fake News” and Cambridge Analytica it’s hard to tell where the truth in history really lies. However, I believe that history consumed by Americans is one that is done with gullibility. The Plane that was crashed provides valuable insight into materials used and allows for speculation of thought that led to the final creation of where it was successful. There is a lot of worth in the idea of something as there is in the product of the idea.
A history textbook sends the message that history belongs to someone else and that person is anonymous to you. History and the preservation of it is not what it used to be. Information and ideas flow through platforms that don’t only include the textbook. I believe the textbook is an archaic form of learning but still does hold some value. Why you may ask? Well, I think the demands of education require learners and people to know more than just the cookie cutter response to things. It is why primary sources and secondary sources are part of the learning to support and contradict the view of history that has been disseminated through a textbook. The citizen is responsible for asking the questions not designed for passive consumption. History of the past was that of passive consumption. Take for example how states in the south receive funding from oil companies to print texts that deny the effects of global warming as well as the effects drilling can have on an ecosystem and the environment as a whole. I will say though that something should be said for trusted and reliable sources because not all information can be taken for utmost veracity. My history does belong to me, it is not anonymous and if it is then something should be said for inquiring minds that exist today.
We discussed the example of the train in the Smithsonian museum. I think there is a select group of people who do take history apart intellectually. Yet, they are so few and far between. Our pace of life and demands of it sets the tone for how we intellectually engage in history. As a society and as a human race we have gotten really lazy with the questioning. The times of the Black Panther Party, Malcolm X and Protests of crises around the world demanded answers that the government needed to provide. We slipped into a redacted lull and government knows best complacency that leaves us unaware and unencumbered. History not belonging to us is our fault. We chose to be blind, numb and dumb to lack of information and misinformation. We had no desire to truly know and as such the message that was given was one that we as people unintentionally asked for. There is a need to have everything wrapped in a neat little bow. But information changes based on demand and pressure and until we apply the pressure and demand for better, our desires will continue to corrupt the timeline of history.
We also discussed the example of Japanese internment camp exhibit. The president of the museum’s take on the exhibit was “If we made it as bad as it actually was people would dismiss it as propaganda so we made it nicer than it actually was so people would accept it.” Museums are for entertainment. People go to be entertained. The history has to be appealing and draw people in, if not, they will not get the audience to remain open. They are gimmicks that attempt to show history and commemoralize it in a way that warrants frequent return trips. So in the end, the meaning of an object has to come from you and not what they want you to get from it.
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