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To: dtletters@telegraph.co.uk |
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Dear
Sir/Madam,
History is rather like the
daily "news" in that there is virtually an infinite amount of
it, as well as a multitude of perspectives to view it from.
One has to be very
selective. But who does the selecting?
Understandably, dear
editor, you want to choose the history and the perspective
"we" view it from, just as you do with the news, but these
times are coming to an end.
In the new age that is
dawning (made possible by modern technology and the desire for
a more enlightened society) increasing numbers of people will
make use of their access to information and
freedom to select their "own" news and
history, and the perspective(s) they wish to view them from, and thus assume their "own" identity, rather than one
assigned to them by the powers that be.
The reason we are
struggling with a shared sense of national identity is because
we no longer have one. It has been undermined, on the one hand
by mass immigration (why should black and Asian Britons be
particularly interested in or wish to identify with 2000 years
of "hideously white" British history, which is not their
own?), and on the other, by increased self-awareness,
access to information, and the
freedom to think and decide for oneself, rather than be
dictated to by authority.
Instead of being told who
we are and where we belong by the powers that be, in future,
the more intelligent among us will decide these essential
matters for ourselves.
Leader: "The classroom is where history matters most" Article: "Lessons from the past show history has a future"
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