This morning, I heard a strange phrase on the top of the hour news from the ABC Radio News that left me wondering: what in the world is a Sister Souljah moment? I googled it and learned that it is a phrase that dates back to 1992. Where have I been? Actually, I remember the Clinton years - I turned off the radio and television for 8 years until he was no longer our president.
The recent news of a poll by today’s historians didn’t make as much news as I had hoped it would. Where was the analysis by pundits? The poll’s premise - that today’s historians could pass judgment on President Bush’s legacy 8 months before he leaves office - was ridiculous. The only good analysis I could find was from an openly anti-Bush historian who did a really great job of explaining his concerns about this poll:
On the recent poll:
We have gotten ourselves into such a state in this regard that most historians no longer even see any problem here—they no longer see a principled distinction to be made between our present politics and our historical judgments. Indeed, I suspect few of my colleagues see anything wrong with this kind of poll, and think I am out on some fringe somewhere with my concerns. And I fear I am. That is the real tragedy of it: this conflation of politics with historical scholarship is so commonplace that old-fashioned historians like me have become fringe characters by stint of our unwillingness to move along with the postmodern crowd.
Simply put: it is foolish to think that historians can offer an historical judgment on the Bush presidency (even a tentative one) while that presidency is still in motion. We cannot short-circuit the processes of historical research and scholarship and produce anything remotely related to valid historical judgments.
He also wrote back in 2006, after a similar poll:
Historians have both a right and a duty to try to influence public policy in ways they think desirable. As public intellectuals, they can and should speak out about Bush Administration policies. But they cannot pretend that, qua historian, they are giving us a professional assessment of the presidency of George W. Bush, while that presidency is still in motion. It is a form of intellectual dishonesty to pretend that the discipline of historical analysis currently certifies—as a matter of learned scholarship—that Bush can be judged, even tentatively, as among our worst presidents. A historians can say—as a political liberal—that she disagrees with Bush policy in a number of areas, and she expects these policies to turn out badly. But she cannot play the coy game of pretending that this is the objective assessment of the history profession—no matter how many historians are polled in similar gestures of the same arrogance.
Source: The Follies of Instant History: Another Meaningless Poll of Historians and Should Historians Try to Rank President Bush’s Presidency, both by Larry DeWitt on George Mason University’s History News Network
Last Sunday our pastor illustrated his sermon with the story of the well-known Christmas Truce of 1914. He carefully related the story of a very temporary and fragile truce in which the soldiers enjoyed songs, sweets, gifts and sport. Here is one soldier’s account:
This will be the most memorable Christmas I’ve ever spent or likely to spend: since about tea time yesterday I don’t think theres been a shot fired on either side up to now. Last night turned a very clear frost moonlight night, so soon after dusk we had some decent fires going and had a few carols and songs. The Germans commenced by placing lights all along the edge of their trenches and coming over to us—wishing us a Happy Christmas etc. They also gave us a few songs etc. so we had quite a social party. Several of them can speak English very well so we had a few conversations. Some of our chaps went to over to their lines. I think theyve all come back bar one from ‘E’ Co. They no doubt kept him as a souvenir. In spite of our fires etc. it was terribly cold and a job to sleep between look out duties, which are two hours in every six.First thing this morning it was very foggy. So we stood to arms a little longer than usual. A few of us that were lucky could go to Holy Communion early this morning. It was celebrated in a ruined farm about 500 yds behind us. I unfortunately couldn’t go. There must be something in the spirit of Christmas as to day we are all on top of our trenches running about. Whereas other days we have to keep our heads well down. We had breakfast about 8.0 which went down alright especially some cocoa we made. We also had some of the post this morning. I had a parcel from B. G’s Lace Dept containing a sweater, smokes, under clothes etc. We also had a card from the Queen, which I am sending back to you to look after please. After breakfast we had a game of football at the back of our trenches! We’ve had a few Germans over to see us this morning. They also sent a party over to bury a sniper we shot in the week. He was about a 100 yds from our trench. A few of our fellows went out and helped to bury him.About 10.30 we had a short church parade the morning service etc. held in the trench. How we did sing. ‘O come all ye faithful. And While shepherds watched their flocks by night’ were the hymns we had. At present we are cooking our Christmas Dinner! so will finish this letter later.
Dinner is over! and well we enjoyed it. Our dinner party started off with fried bacon and dip-bread: followed by hot Xmas Pudding. I had a mascot in my piece. Next item on the menu was muscatels and almonds, oranges, bananas, chocolate etc followed by cocoa and smokes. You can guess we thought of the dinners at home. Just before dinner I had the pleasure of shaking hands with several Germans: a party of them came 1/2way over to us so several of us went out to them. I exchanged one of my balaclavas for a hat. I’ve also got a button off one of their tunics. We also exchanged smokes etc. and had a decent chat. They say they won’t fire tomorrow if we don’t so I suppose we shall get a bit of a holiday—perhaps. After exchanging autographs and them wishing us a Happy New Year we departed and came back and had our dinner.
We can hardly believe that we’ve been firing at them for the last week or two—it all seems so strange. At present its freezing hard and everything is covered with ice… Wikipedia
I could see it all in my head, though I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a photo or movie on the topic. Our pastor then launched into commentary on families coming together at Christmas, intending to lead into how Christian families can enjoy peace all year long. I nearly laughed out loud at a mental picture of those WWI soldiers transposed onto modern day family members. How true that is! Family members call a truce for the holidays. They buy gifts, light up their houses, decorate a tree, make Christmas sweets and gear up for that silent battle disguised with forced smiles and careful positioning. I was so aware of those unspoken battles this Christmas and it made it easier for me to prepare, tolerate and enjoy. I still don’t think my pastor meant to paint a picture of families at war - yes, even Christian families - but it stuck.
Is the collapse of the 35W bridge the worst disaster in the history of Minnesota? I feels like it now, but what does history tell us? Ian Punnett posed that question this morning and here are some listener responses:
1918 Cloquet fire
Armistice Day blizzard
As bad as the bridge collapse is, the Anoka tornadoes of May 1965 have it beat. Growing up here, I heard stories over and over of the terrible tornadoes in 1965. Once in a while, my parents would point out something that had been damaged by those tornadoes, which affected more than just Anoka apparently. I think those tornadoes still hold the “record” for death and destruction. Here’s a little info:
The worst tornadoes in Twin Cities history occurred forty-two years ago, with five tornadoes sweeping across the western and northern portions of the 7-county region, and a sixth tornado just outside the metropolitan area. Four tornadoes were rated F4, one was an F3, and the other produced F2 damage. Thirteen people were killed and 683 injured. Many more would have been killed had it not been for the warnings of the U.S. Weather Bureau, local officials, and the
outstanding communications by local radio and television stations. Many credit the announcers of WCCO-AM with saving countless lives. It was also the first time in Twin Cities history that civil defense sirens were used for severe weather.
There were two photographs of tornadoes - the Deephaven tornado and the second Fridley tornado were both published in the Minneapolis Tribune. It is unknown whether anybody else took pictures of any of the tornadoes that day.
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