[saiya-jin]

Maybe that's my own perspective only, but I prefer my own memories to be exactly as I felt while experiencing them (which is far from easy!). Then, and and only then, true long-term lessons can be learned from one's past (well, that's my attitude, feel free to disagree here).

If we keep painting past as rosy garden with only few carefully selected facts and rest is bent/invented as needed, we will keep repeating same mistakes and not reach our potential, be it on personal or society level.. which is the land of say not-so-clever people. sure we can aim higher than that

[woodandsteel]

>If we keep painting past as rosy garden with only few carefully selected facts and rest is bent/invented as needed, we will keep repeating same mistakes and not reach our potential, be it on personal or society level.

That is the key point. We study the the past so we can make intelligent decisions going forward. When each new regime re-writes the past to promote support, it short-circuits this process.

An honest understanding of the past is especially important for China because of grave problems in its present political philosophy. It is said to be Confucianism, but it isn't. So for instance, education today does not focus on the traditional Chinese subjects, but modern Western ones. The present Chinese political political philosophy is a strange blend of marxism, traditional ideas, and modern liberal ones.

The problem is that Confucianism was designed for an agrarian society, but China has become a modern industrial one. So for instance filial piety, which is the foundation of Confucianism, made sense when you had large farming families that stayed in the same location for many generations, but not with the individual mobility and much smaller families typical in industrial society. In this and many other ways, Confucianism is simply out of step with modern realities.

Confucianism came about through extended discussion starting with basic realities and principles, and the same sort of process lead to modern Western political philosophy. Today the Chinese need to go through a similar process, but my impression this sort of thinking is suppressed by the government, and what we get is just what the latest president happens to think. I think that is going to lead to a lot of bad decisions.

[Aelinsaar]

I agree with you, but if you really practice what you preach, then you know how difficult what you're suggesting can be on the individual level, never mind the group level. It's painful to sit with unvarnished reality and analyze it, analyze yourself, and try to think from new perspectives. Most people probably could do it if they tried for long enough, but it's too difficult and sometimes painful to maintain under times of great stress.

In the national case, you also have to have each subsequent generation share your conviction, and any break in that will taint the record.

[saiya-jin]

sure, it's a limit we will probably never achieve, but we should at least try to do so, not because it's easy, but because it's right thing to do (damn, now i sound like some sort of preacher)

[Aelinsaar]

Actually you make a lot of sense, and don't seem preachy at all. Passionate, but not preachy.