Slow History Extravaganza
9th June 2011
Mencius Moldbug is back with us after a long hiatus.
And there was much rejoicing.
So why not grapple with some slow history? Slow history, which is a lot like slow food but cheaper, is no more than the habit of reading old books, whole and unframed. By “old” we generally mean pre-WWII, or better yet pre-1923 (the copyright cutoff date). By “unframed” we mean: take the work seriously, without “deconstructing” or patronizing.
A process not much favored in the modern world, full of people to whom something that happened before they were born may be entertaining but is certainly not important.
When you read about the past, you say to the past: Past, I despise you. I want to read about you – to remind me how much better my world is without you. And of course, you make a nice undergraduate exercise for training future lawyers and MBAs.
When you read the writers of the past, you tell them: Past, I admire and cherish you. I want to meet you, answer your questions, fill you in on the whole wild world of 2011. I can’t do that. But I can read you – and I promise to treat you with the same respect I expect from my peers.
And that makes all the difference.