I’ve always been a strong believer that history repeats itself. Hitler’s failed invasion of Russia in 1941 mirrors Napoleon’s blunder in 1812. Massive amounts of consumer debt helped lead to the Great Depression, and within 80 years the Great Recession followed a similar path. Sure, there are coincidences, but I believe the underlying cause of why we see so many “déjà vu” events is because humans at their core share values and tendencies that don’t change with the times. One of which is the desire to see change, and revolt, when they believe something is fundamentally wrong with society. To understand trends like these is why I believe studying history has so much value. I’d love to leave this class with a better grasp of the mindsets of different groups during the ’68 period, in particular the marginalized of the era. In achieving this, I hope to gain clarity about our current time, and begin see society from the eyes of those who continue to be marginalized. So far we’ve talked about 2020 being another 1968. Whether or not this year is looked back upon, and studied, along the same vein as ’68, I have no doubt that the political and social upheaval of 1968 will be repeated at some point in the near future. If this class helps me broaden my viewpoint, so that I can understand violence, demonstration, strike and movement from more than just my current vantage point, I would consider the journey of this class a success.
3 Replies to “HISTORY WILL REPEAT ITSELF”
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I too, agree with the idea that history repeats itself. Especially when society does not change. Although MLK was assassinated in 1968, the United States has not seen much growth in the issues MLK was fighting to change. With the Black Lives Matter movement on the rise in 2020, we see a segregated and racist society that has not changed much in the past 50 years. While different in the events that sparked change, as the previous comment states, there are many parallels linking 2020 as a repeat of 1968. It will be interesting to look at how the rest of 2020 plays out regarding the BLM movement as see if there are any policy changes after the mass protests in June after the killing of George Floyd.
I also think it would be interesting to look on the other side of 68 at what period/event/thing we might classify as the predecessor, if we’re thinking about 2020 as the successor to 68. Perhaps there is value in articulating earlier episodes of this pattern, or in being able to conclude that 68 was revolutionary in the sense that it was a historical first. Off the top of my head, the Protestant Reformation and the American and French Revolutions might be good candidates for evaluation.
I think you bring up an interesting point about history repeating itself in this post. Obviously, here in 2020 we are not going to see a type of revolution or movement that exactly mirrors the 1960s or previous movements before that, but there are bits and pieces that we can take from each time and apply it now. One thing that we are doing in this class is analyzing the events and factors that lead into 1968. These events, such as Vietnam war, the Kennedy assassination, and the Martin Luther King assassination were the spark for change. Looking at that and seeing how that manifested itself into a movement is a useful tool for us because it allows us to look at the events in our time today and speculate on how they may create change. Today, we see events like the killing of George Floyd, the election of Donald Trump as President, and the coronavirus pandemic all factoring in to a time of serious change. The only thing in life that is truly constant is change, so I think it is important to realize our society is changing and to use our knowledge of the past and apply it now to be better informed.