The Permanent News: The historical context

The Permanent News: The Oft-Omitted Context for "New" News Stories

When news readers or viewers had a capacious memory of public affairs in years past, often cemented by the daily habit or reading newspapers, a reporter could assume that the reader or viewer had a command of the context in which the “new” news events were taking place.

This is no longer the case.

Talking to a friend of approximately my age today, I said we are living in times which are similar to what it must have been like in Berlin in 1932 and 1933 as the fascists rose in political power until the Adolf Hitler became Chancellor on January 30, 1933 and the Nazis consolidated their grip on dictatorial power on March 23, 1933 with the passage of the Enabling Act by the Reichstag.

No sooner had I said this than I realized that few of my fellow citizens today would be able to understand the reference much less grasp its implications for what is going on today as Donald Trump and his fascist Republican Party exercise power after his inauguration on January 20, 2025.

So, suddenly it seems, we are brought face to face with the consequences of the failure of the last few generations to educate their children about the occurrence and significance of important historical events.

But today, who among those who have received such an education feels the imperious need to restore such study to the requirements for the education of a civilized participant in our democracy? Where are their voices?