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Why do we glorify horrible people from the distant past? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 2 months ago by Konis@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Julius Ceasar, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan and many more...

These people had beliefs and worldviews that were so horribly, by today's standards, that calling them fascist would be huge understatement. And they followed through by committing a lot of evil.

Aren't we basically glorifying the Hitlers of centuries past?

I know, historians always say that one should not judge historical figures by contemporary moral standards. But there's a difference between objectively studying history and actually glorifying these figures.

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[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I feel like you've entirely ignored the context I said that in.

If you actually want to argue pros and cons for academic purposes (they're all long dead remember), the other person gave a good summery of the good sides of the Mongol Empire.

[–] LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

The Nazi's created rocketry as we know it today and made many innovations in medicine and manufacturing.

Are we going to argue the pros and cons of the Nazi party?

This conversation wasn't even about the Mongol empire it was about Genghis Khan

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 months ago

Hmm. I guess it seems hard to separate Genghis Khan and the Mongol empire to me. Pretty much everything we know about him for sure is as the guy in charge of the Mongol empire. There's a few stories about him personally enemy chroniclers put down, but they all have that myth-y Washington and the cherry tree feel to them.