One step closer to Jaws. I know the shark can't get me, but I can't help imagining what it would be like if he could. - Click the photo for more.
This past weekend I was in London and visited the Damien Hirst exhibition at the Tate Modern Art Gallery. Hirst is the most prominent member of the Young British Artists, a group of visual (postmodernists?) artists formed in the 1980s and 1990s. His work, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991 (shark to the left) is iconic. The suspended carcass is unsettling, captivating, and elicits an adrenaline charged, visceral response. A New York Times review noted:
“In keeping with the piece’s title, the shark is simultaneously life and death incarnate in a way you don’t quite grasp until you see it, suspended and silent, in its tank. It gives the innately demonic urge to live a demonic, deathlike form.”
Ultimately, however, our reaction is defined by internal and external contextualizers. The museum, the exhibit, the formaldehyde box, memories, concepts of afterlife, etc shape our reaction. These factors, regardless of our ultimate constructed meanings, is done in a dynamic interplay of of the abstract and concrete, semiotic and literal, knowledge, emotion, and environmental. Simply put, the shark in the Tate is art. The shark in the ocean is a threat.
So, how does context impact historical thought and understanding? Are ideas universal and does “meaning” remain static over time. One way to test this is in the way Americans references the Founding Fathers. The Spirit of ’76, incarnate in Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams, form a holy, nationalistic cohort canonized in American civil religion. From the present, citizens reference the Founding Fathers as holders of sacred truth and are lionized as paragons of republican/democratic/American virtues. Those who can position their opinions as closely as possible to the American patriarchs are blessed with righteousness convincing the congregation that in fact they know and are carrying out their plan.
This is historical spin doctoring and is a fallacy. There is no ultimate truth held by the Founding Fathers and claims to understanding their “real” meaning simplifies the complexity and variety of world views, political beliefs, social constructs, and economic models held in 18th century America. Even worse, decontextualizing ideas in the 1700 and 1800s by applying them at face value in the 21st century is naive. Moreover, it presents a static view of the past enabling us in the present to create a metric of historical authenticity. This “Mental Impossibility of Historicism in the Mind of a History Educator” recently came to my inbox from a very unlikely source.
The Massachusetts Council of Social Studies sent the following email out in March 2012. My reply is below. It wasn’t recognized, so I thought I would share it here. What do you think?
Thomas Jefferson
This is amazing. There are two parts. Be sure to read the 2nd part (in RED).
Thomas Jefferson was a very remarkable man who started learning very early in life and never stopped.
At 5, began studying under his cousin’s tutor.
At 9, studied Latin, Greek and French.
At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages.
Mt. Olympus, USA style. Will the pantheon ever expand? - Click here for more!
At 16, entered the College of William and Mary.
At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe.
At 23, started his own law practice.
At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
At 31, wrote the widely circulated “Summary View of the Rights of British America ” and retired from his law practice.
At 32, was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.
At 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence .
At 33, took three years to revise Virginia ‘s legal code and wrote a Public Education bill and the statute for Religious Freedom.
At 36, was elected the second Governor of Virginia , succeeding Patrick Henry.
At 40, served in Congress for two years.
At 41, was the American minister to France , and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams.
At 46, served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington.
At 53, served as Vice President and was elected president of the American Philosophical Society.
At 55, drafted the Kentucky Resolutions, and became the active head of Republican Party.
At 57, was elected the third president of the United States .
At 60, obtained the Louisiana Purchase , doubling the nation’s size.
At 61, was elected to a second term as President.
At 65, retired to Monticello .
At 77, constructed and had printed The Jefferson Bible
At 80, helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine.
At 81, almost single-handedly created the University of Virginia , and served as its first president.
At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, along with John Adams Thomas Jefferson knew because he himself studied the previous failed attempts at government. He understood actual history, the nature of God, his laws and the nature of man. That happens to be way more than what most understand today. Jefferson really knew his stuff. A voice from the past to lead us in the future:
John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the white House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement: “This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”
“When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe .” — Thomas Jefferson
“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”
“It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.”
— Thomas Jefferson
“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” — Thomas Jefferson
“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.” — Thomas Jefferson
“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.” — Thomas Jefferson
“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”
— Thomas Jefferson
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” — Thomas Jefferson
“To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”– Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.
If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property – until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”
MY REPLY
“Good Morning,
I was just at Monticello last weekend. I was confused because no one was mentioning what the 130 slaves were producing or growing for income. When I asked the tour guide what the slaves did, she explained that at Monticello the slaves worked the land to maintain Jefferson’s lifestyle. I was shocked. I thought surely this labor produced something for the market. I was told that Jefferson inherited his land and then never had to work in his life. It is great that he devoted his time to thought and invention and theory on a wide range.
When Jefferson died, his assets, including his slaves, were liquidated. = Click the cartoon for original website
But put it in context. The quotes in this post have a political bent on it and that is very sad and potentially dangerous. It is intellectually weak to reference the founding fathers as validity for contemporary actions and thought. Mount Holyoke professor Joe Ellis noted, when asked what would Washington think of the Iraq War, that George Washington wouldn’t be able to understand the conflict so seeking his wisdom isn’t a cause to consider.
Jefferson died in massive debt caused in large part byh is big government move of buying more land out west which devalued his own plantation. Any reference to labor and democracy in the quotes must be read and critiqued and contextualized. They were spoken by a man who owned slaves and in turn was afforded a charmed life.”
There are multiple lines here that should raise an eyebrow. If you hadn’t guessed, it was this quote that really got me:
“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”
Wow. The guy had slaves and the MCSS is celebrating this quote as anti-welfare or anti-big government statement?
Teaching and understanding context is important. Very important. And emphasizing this importance in education is needed more than ever as a factor that impacts our way of knowing. Call it meta-cognition. Call it 21st century thinking. Call it college and career readiness. Just don’t call the founding fathers to understand or judge the present.
