Are we doomed to repeat it? A conversation about History

To many people it seems like the last 25 years have been "different" historically. Old norms seem to have been abandoned and differences magnified. Or is this just more of the same old story? Tonight we will be discussing history and how it intersects with "truth".

1. When you were taught history in high school, did you question if what you were told was valid? Why or why not?
2. When travelling, many people visit historical sites, buildings, and monuments. When travelling to historical sites, do you know or even consider if there are controversies related to them such as: where is the story of the loser in the material? Or was this site built on the backs of slaves? Why or why not?
3. For a historical battle, do we need to consider the story of the losing side? Why or why not?
4. Will your own family history be documented in some format? If not, does that worry you?
5. Can there be such a thing as "historical truth". Why or why not?
6. What evidence is sufficient to confirm an account of an historical event? Artifacts, generational memory and stories, written accounts? Why?
7. In your opinion, how biased are written accounts of history? Why?
8. Do you consider The Bible to be an historical document? Why or why not?
9. How much of history that is readily available to you is ethnocentrically (mostly Caucasian) focussed? How does this affect you (if at all)? Why?
10. Do you think that an oral history loses some validity over long periods? Why or why not?
11. Do you think we embellish the history that we are proud of and bury the history of which we are ashamed? Why or why not?
12. What constitutes "revisionist history" to you? Why?
13. How can we know if the history we are studying currently is revisionist history?
14. Is it valid to give a name to a period of time? Take, for example, World War I: do you think that that war, which took place primarily in Europe, is properly named? Were there other times where other areas of the globe might also have considered their territorial conflicts to have been a “world war”? Why or why not?
15. Do you think we overly romanticize history? Why or why not?
16. If we were taught no history in schools or elsewhere, how do you think we might be different as individuals and as a society? Why?
17. Why is there so much debate about even very recent history? For example, the Holocaust, 9/11 or the war in Gaza.
18. The phrase, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it” by George Santayana suggests that if we learn history, then we won’t repeat it. Do you think we have learned from history? If so, how have we changed our behaviour? If not, why not?
19. Does learning about the history of different cultures and people make you a more empathetic person? Why or why not?
20. What, to you, is the essence of history? Why?
    *** BONUS QUESTIONS ***
21. Who, in your opinion, is the most important historical figure in all of history? Why?
22. Is it appropriate to gloss over the flaws of historical figures in order to use them as positive role models? Why or why not?
23. Would you want to have a biography written about you? Why or why not?
24. Should history be a mandatory subject in schools? If so, from what age to what age? Who should establish the curriculum? Why? If not, why not?
25. How do the four images in the title picture for tonight's topic make you feel? How important is emotion to our understanding of History?

Special thanks to Donna for both proposing this topic and providing the lion's share of the questions!

I hope that you will join us for this discussion.
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Given the success of this format we are going to be continuing to gather via Zoom. We will be allowing up to 30 participants for this meeting and, after a brief introduction, we will be splitting off into virtual "tables" of six.
As long as you have RSVP'd before 5:30PM on the day of the event you should receive an email from Robert prior to 6:30PM giving you the Zoom meetup credentials.
*** PLEASE NOTE ***
If you are a member of Table Conversations and you didn't receive an email announcing THIS Table Conversations meetup then you likely won't receive the email with the Zoom information on the evening of the event. Please confirm that your Meetup.com profile is configured correctly by carefully following the step-by-step instructions in this link: https://www.meetup.com/tableconversations/events/270360456/
Otherwise, since I don't control Meetup's mail system, if you are not receiving notifications please contact Meetup.com for assistance.
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* Room opens at 6:45PM (often earlier) for socialization
* Discussion starts at 7:15 and finishes at 8:45ish
* Keep talking until dawn!