The Problem of Politics

One of the biggest enemies history has is politics. This is not to say one specific party or another is the problem, rather politics all around is the problem. This article will cover the problem of politics, and it will offer some tips as to how you can avoid this problem.

The Problem

In America, politicians have made history a political agenda both now and in the past. Now, instead of advocating for the truth, they are advocating for what gets them the most political points with their constituency. Politics can easily get in the way of preservation, public history, curriculums, poplar history, academia, and more. Politics leads to history and historical facts becoming polarizing, something that should never happen.

While individuals can use history as a way to inform their political decisions, and should do so, they should never use their political choices to inform history. Those who are dedicated to the field and to the future of history should make the decision not to do mix together history and politics, they are not a good couple.

Currently, political agendas are so woven into history that historical facts can seem like political points to people. This should absolutely never happen. This is not exclusive to one side and its an issue on both sides. History is history no matter your politics. On the other hand, there are entire historical “facts” that are just political agendas in disguise. Some of these “facts” end up being pervasive narratives in history even if they are far from the truth.

While this is a prominent issue in our current time period, it is not exclusive to us. America has had this issue for a long, long time. In American history, it became a popular thing in the early twentieth century to blend history and politics, and on a smaller scale was an issue long before. On a broad scale, humans have been manipulating history for political gain since humans have recorded history.

Throughout my degree I have focused on this issue with many different topics including: Alexander the Great, Emperor Constantine, and Saint Patrick. In my own research I have studied this issue with Alexander Hamilton, and different interpretations of the founding of America. The variety of these topics shows just how pervasive the issue is.

These topics all are also incredibly convenient topics to sneak agendas into. In the ancient world, someone as powerful as Alexander the Great would have been a great vessel for manipulating politics. In modern American politics, if you can trace something back to the origin of the country in either a positive or a negative light, it reinforces whatever point you are trying to make. It is a genius really. But, such a terrible thing for history.

Events become more black in white when they should be nuanced, three dimensional people turn into two dimensional shadows of themselves, and heroes and villains are created where there should be nuanced people. All because some politician wanted to make a point that they should not be making. Or, because someone who wanted to push a political point, put that point over the truth.

Politics are a bulldozer for real, nuanced, and truthful history. There is not one side or another that is solely at fault, it is a bipartisan problem. When you are writing history, always remember that your actions have consequences, and your words have power. One little change or agenda could go down in history as a fact. Make sure that you are writing truthful, and well sourced history.

When you are reading or consuming any kind of history content, always remember to think deeply about what you are reading. Think about who wrote what you are reading, why they wrote it, and check the sources. You do not need to be a historian to realize that something is wrong or dishonest. You only need to think critically.

Do not fall for rhetoric meant to make you believe something either. For example, those who claim they have “the real history” of a topic, or claim to teach you things “the others don’t want you to know” are more often than not pushing a narrative. Every book claiming to have “the real history” of a topic has been an unsourced, politically biased, attention grabbing garbage dump of a book in my experience. In addition, books with emotion provoking, clickbait titles are often not books that contain high quality history. If they contain history at all.

Always make sure that you use good judgement and critical thinking while you are reading, learning, and researching. The problem of politics runs deep and is not just a problem that we are facing now.

Tips for Avoiding Falling Into the Political Problem:

• Read multiple books about a person, topic, or event. Make sure they come from authors of a variety of backgrounds, and are not just all the popular mainstream books. This way you get a variety of perspectives and can begin to see what is political and what is fact.
• Look into the historiography of a topic, understand why the narrative is the way that it is.
• Check someone’s sources. See who they are citing, and what portion of their sources are primary.
• Read the introduction or authors note, sometimes the author will talk about why they wrote the book which can be very telling.
• Look into the background of the author or creator. See if their background is historical or political.
• See who is promoting or recommending the book. If it is dominantly political individuals, it could be a very telling sign that the book is more political than historical.

It is important that we do the best we can to avoid politics and coming to political conclusions. Even if we want to agree because it is convenient to our narrative or beliefs. Even if it requires re-evaluating what you believe. The preservation and proper writing of history is far more important than politics.