They say opinions can't be wrong. Too bad that opinion is wrong.
Society, or at least our society, focuses heavily on specialization. I chose to specialize in a few things, and one of them was history. I spent six years studying slavery and race in America, and after those six years, I'm here to tell you something: slavery was bad.
You'd think I wouldn't need to specify that, but I do, actually, because I was reminded tonight that some people are still on the fence about that.
Let me lay this on the line: the Confederacy was bad.
Yep. If you disagree, that's your opinion. Your wrong opinion.
See, the thing about history is that it's a legitimate field of study. I know, I know. You know exactly where General Dickface McGee of the 27th South Carolina was on April 28, 1864. You like to dress up in gray and fire a repro Enfield. You watch Modern Marvels. You're "a bit of a history buff." Guess what? I don't care, because that's not as important as why General McGee was there and what he was fighting for (and if you think it was "state's rights," I'd like to exercise my state's right to allow its citizens to call you a moron). If you can't articulate correctly why McGee was fighting, you aren't a historian, no matter how bad you want to be.
Why do I bring this up? Because there are people, a lot of people, who think they can have an opinion on this stuff without having to take the effort to study it. And that's not great.
Thing is, as a country, we're very hands off about STEM. We don't like to question that stuff. Math is math, science is science, and only the very few, and the very crazy, pretend that global warming isn't a thing or that evolution is bullshit. We rightly point out that experts have studied that stuff and come to a certain consensus and we bow to that consensus because we trust those who have put in the work to come to it.
So why do we not do the same for history?
Why can Joe Blow say the Confederacy was fighting for a glorious cause and have so many people believe it? Why can Pickup McDualie say that the founders had no flaws and should be worshiped and have everyone call him a patriot? Why are those ludicrous opinions any better than the opinion that evolution is bullshit because monkeys still exist?
Wrong is wrong.
If you want to understand the importance of history, consider how long you'd make it in life without a memory and then consider that our country's memory is our history. You should really really listen to the people whose historical memory is more studied than yours.
So yeah, my historical "opinion" is actually more valid than yours. Too bad for you.
Dick thing to say? Probably. But most of the country loves it when Neil DeGrasse Tyson or Bill Nye slam anti-vaxers or creationists. The analogue to those people in my field is neoconfederates, Nazi apologists, great-men theorists. They're arguing against overwhelming evidence, and you need not listen to them. Ever.
A pretty chill dude once said that a house divided against itself cannot stand. (I think he was quoting the Bible or whatever; I'm not a facts guy; I'm a theory guy.) Our country is divided, in a sense, in that we allow opponents of the consensuses of STEM to be ridiculed, but we respect, as opinion, those who disagree with the consensuses of the humanities. And that's a shame.
A country with a large number of people who believe that the Confederacy had no racial motives may, for example, call blacks thugs when they riot against an unjust police system which has its roots in that Confederacy. A country that doesn't recall that its founders had flaws may be unwilling to question its own rectitude. Bad history causes problems. Good history is important; ergo, the opinions of historians are also important. Respect and defer to them.
This is a great country. You can believe that without believing that it's perfect or always was perfect. We are, like everything, flawed. Historians are generally of that opinion, and it is the right opinion.
But what do I know? I just spent six years buried in documents you don't know exist. I spent six years studying concepts most people aren't aware have been posited. I'm just a historian, not God, guns, and the American way.*
What do I know?
*To be fair, guns are pretty awesome.
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