Cultivating amnesia …

… Forgetfulness: the dangers of a modern culture that wages war on its own past. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

O’Gorman does not make the point, but the current fad for destroying statues (of Confederate generals in the US or imperial figures in the UK) is also a rite of penitence and purification. Yet history never does stop or begin anew. The French Revolution gave the world the Terror, the Napoleonic Wars and the restoration of monarchy. Similarly, destroying statues will not correct past or present wrongs, only polarise society and exacerbate social conflict. The iconoclasts perform the ritual to impress on themselves and the world their superior righteousness.

 The business about early Christianity could use a bit of nuance. Christianity took over a lot pagan feast days, and churches were often built on the site of pagan temples.