Once, when I was in high school, I becamewitness an interesting scene in the lesson. On that day, the history teacher asked the class the question: "Why do we study history?" He was generally from that breed of teachers who like to put their students in a dead end, it would seem, simple questions. Now it seems ridiculous, but then we, without five minutes of graduates, who already have a very extensive knowledge base, trained enough to express their thoughts, could not formulate a clear answer to why we are studying history. In fact, why? We study foreign languages, as this is an added bonus to our qualifications in future work, we study mathematics and physics because of their applied nature for any engineering matter, and why do we study history? No, on an intuitive level, we all understood that the memory of the domestic and world history is necessary, but the formulation of the answer to the question of why to study history specifically to us, and remained vague and uncertain.
Who controls the past ...
Later, I personally built enough for myselfa logical and correct explanation, but it was too long and awkward until in a couple of years I read the famous anti-utopia of the Englishman George Orwell "1984", which painted a picture of the totalitarian future of the planet.
And do not even need to go back to the pastchange history. It is enough to present our distorted version today to careless descendants, and the image of society will inevitably change. It is enough to blot out the crimes of the past century, and to present the greatest criminals in the light colors of benefactors. And now the new mood is changing society before our very eyes. What was shameful yesterday, today becomes a matter of pride. The one who yesterday was blamed, today owns the world. And it is not so important, as all actually happened.
In fact, any historical studyinevitably doomed to impose modern judgments, motivations and norms of morality on the deeds of the past, and it is impossible to restore the truth in absolute by definition. It is important only how we are being presented today with a distant event. Let it no longer change the past, but it can change the present. That is why historical memory is so important in the politics of any social force. That's why politicians fight with each other for their vision of history, since victory in 1939, 1917, 1709 gives them victory not yesterday, but today. And today gives power over the world. And those who managed to find the answer to the question of why we study history, and learned the lessons of the past, it is often easier to understand the intricacies of today.
