Will History Teach Us Nothing?: Highlights

Will History Teach Us Nothing?
by Christiane Amanpour, 6/10/96

On April 16th I visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. I wandered through the dreadful documentation of that time 50 years ago, events we grew up believing would NEVER AGAIN be allowed to happen. . . .

I stood in the Holocaust museum and knew that history teaches people nothing, that we are condemned to repeat it over and over and over again. Jews in Europe, Moslems in Bosnia.

In war it is the reporters duty to confront the lies, not simply to repeat them as slaves to some misplaced notion of objectivity. In Bosnia the international community clearly labeled one side (serbs) as the aggressor and another (moslems) the victim. But reporters reflecting that situation were accused of lacking objectivity.

The question of objectivity is paramount. What does it mean? Does it mean treating all sides equally? I do not believe so, I believe it makes giving all sides a fair hearing. If you treat all sides equally, if you draw a moral equivalence between victim and aggressor then you are just a step away from being neutral, and when you are neutral you are just a step away from being an accomplice ... in the case of Bosnia ... an accomplice to genocide.

History teaches those who will learn.
by Peter Mikuliak, 6/10/96

History can teach us nothing if we gaze at her through a lense of pre-conceived opinions. If we are to learn from her, we must first liberate our imagination.

Listen to what one native resident and defender of Sarajevo said as he gestured toward a nearby hillside: "You see that area? The Chetniks used to shoot at us from there. Now the Serbs are gone and Moslems have taken their place. But these Moslems are not from Sarajevo, they are from the villages. We expect them to begin shooting at us soon."

Or listen to what one high-ranking official of the government in Zagreb said, who is not a native of that city: "Why is the international community forcing us to live with people with whom we do not wish to live?"

An important aspect of this war -- and one which has been largely unanalyzed by journalists -- is the war between city and countryside. This dimension is also rooted in local history. Urbane and erudite city-dwellers, whether Serb, Croat or Bosniak, have despised and humiliated those who live in the villages and countryside. And rural peasants, whether Bosniak, Croat or Serb, have returned the favor with vengance. As one defender of Mostar said, "The persons who destroyed our Old Bridge were not from our city."

Ms. Amanpour protests, "In Bosnia the international community clearly labeled one side (serbs) as the aggressor and another (moslems) the victim. But reporters reflecting that situation were accused of lacking objectivity."

Perhaps reporters "reflecting that situation" should rather be accused of viewing the war through the same lenses.

What about this Nation's settlement?
by Keith E. Mixer, 6/10/96

In no way do I condone what is occurring in Bosnia. But viewed from a historical perspective, the Serbs treatment of the Muslims is strikingly similar to European colonizers treatment of Native Americans. I'm sure that these indigenuous tribes fought amongst themselves before the Europeans came, but they they did not go around systematically killing, rounding each other up, and placing them in designated areas where they remain today, in concentration camps or on reservations. Of course, those concentration camps are in no way similar to the Nazi death camps or the slaughter that is going on in Bosnia today. But maybe they were, after all, the victor writes history.

The Historical Nature of Mankind
by E. Todd Kvamme, 6/13/96

On the contrary, Ms. Amanpour, I feel that history has taght, and will continue to teach, one foundational truth. It has taught us that the fundamental nature of mankind is depraved. In the face of that depravity, every man and woman of every nation, color and creed are exposed as needy and morally wanting at their very center.

There are many things that men and women have developed to fill this deepest void. The seizure of power is not the least of these things. Power over people, power over land. And when power is sought for personal rather than corporate reasons, then the outcome is destined, at its best, to be oppresive, and at its worst to be like that in Bosnia.

Events like those in Bosnia force men and women to face the horror of their own depravity. I must face mine. You, as well, must face yours. And then a choice must be made. We either ignore the truth about ourselves and live under the false belief of "basic human goodness", or we embrace the truth and cry out like the Apostle Paul, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?"

Pauls answer to this question is "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Indeed, despite the many terrible acts that have been done by people in His name, the Christ given to us in the Bible remains the only answer to the greatest dilemma that mankind will ever face.