Date: Tue, 02 Apr 2002 12:51:25 -0500
From: Steve Smith <sgs at aginc.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Interesting Inventions
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

Ase wrote:

> Did you know that the AP US History tests now have questions extending
> into the Regan regime? The hot rumor two years ago was that one of the
> upcoming tests would have a major essay question on the '80's. How's
> that for making you feel old?

I don't need any help in feeling old, thankyouverymuch.

Seriously, there's a continuum between "news", shading to "current
events", shading to "history", shading to "ancient history", shading to
"mythology".  "News" drowns in trivia.  "Current events" weeds out the
cat-in-tree stories, checks a few facts, and has some superficial
analysis.  "History" tries to place events in context and relate them to
one another.  "Ancient history" means that people have stopped caring.
"Mythology" means that the "facts" have pretty much gotten lost.

Draw the lines anywhere you like; there'll be somebody to argue with
you.  Personally, I think that the fall of Communism (which I would date
to 1990) is certainly worthy of being called History, even though the
repercussions haven't come anywhere near to getting sorted out.

Big problem is that people try to apply current standards to
"historical" events, without understanding the attitudes of the times.
For an SF example, why is there no sex in pulp SF in the 1940s and
1950s?

--
Steve Smith                                           sgs at aginc.net
Agincourt Computing                            http://www.aginc.net
"Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense."