It’s Called The Past For a Reason
I’ll be finishing up my history degree in a few months. I really shouldn’t be arguing my subject with people who’ve never had a reason to pick up a history book, but I was stuck with a buddy of mine for several hours a day for the better part of last year, and we got around to talking about pretty much everything.
At one point, for one reason or another, we got to talking about the Comanche Indians. I mentioned a common misconception, and he countered with a stereotype that he learned in grade school.
We went back and forth for a while, and I tried to reference books on the topic, but his response was always to restate the same stereotype and say, “I’m part Cherokee, so I know.”
Eventually, when he clearly had nothing left to say, he asked the most annoying question possible in that situation: “Yeah, well were you there?” How do you even respond to that?
I definitely wasn’t “there,” but neither was anyone else alive today, and accepting that argument would pretty much void all study of history. I pretty much gave up.
He’s not a dumb guy, but history is clearly not his field, and there was no way anything was going to come of the argument. Story credit: Reddit / FutureBlackmail