History Killers: Presentist Colonizers

Too Many Today Perceive the Peoples of Previous Generations as Savages

Aug 7, 2023

Fields like Colonial Studies examine the phenomenon of how empires historically cast indigenous societies as inferior (spiritually, intellectually, politically, technologically, etc.) to rationalize the displacement and subjugation of those very populations. Though the excesses of certain “studies” subjects have been well-documented and catalogued in recent years, there is nevertheless some level of veracity and soundness to this point about how empires defended policies of hegemony. As a matter of historical fact, it is indisputable that this practice was conducted by imperial powers for centuries, and excused on such grounds.

Ironically, some within those very “studies” fields, and many all along the political spectrum today, engage in a rather presentist form of colonialism by casting the people of previous eras as backward-thinking rubes. The worst tendencies of these earlier generations are highlighted and the best they had to offer are ignored and discarded. As a result of this intellectual cherry-picking, these previous generations and their most notable historical figures are cast-off with the same cavalier attitude--and rationalized through glaringly similar reasoning--by presentist colonizers as was done by the colonizers of old. The supposed backwardness of the undesirables legitimizes their erasure.

As a result of this intellectual cherry-picking, these previous generations and their most notable historical figures are cast-off with the same cavalier attitude--and this is rationalized through glaringly similar reasoning--by presentist colonizers as was done by the colonizers of old.

Without a doubt, the acts, policies, and sentiments of previous eras are not sacrosanct and deserve to be scrutinized and, where appropriate, condemned. That is a far cry, however, from rejecting all of the art, literature, knowledge, and wisdom offered by some of those very same earlier generations/peoples/civilizations.

Lessons of the past are sacrificed on the altar of presentist self-aggrandizement and the valuable wisdom of historical individuals are rejected wholesale. What exactly is the logic or sense at play here? Do the participants of this exercise even know?

The supposed backwardness of the undesirables legitimizes their erasure.

Like any individual human being, groups of people in any given era are flawed, contradictory, and enormously hypocritical. They are not pure, and their moral progress is counterbalanced and betrayed by their simultaneous moral failings. This is true of every generation, every civilization, including our own. Are we to expect, to desire, to accept that future generations ought to dismiss the advances of our own time because not every person, not every policy, not every idea will prove to be tenable or correct?

Is throwing the baby out with the bathwater to be interpreted as a morally and intellectually elevated form of assessing history? Or is it what it more clearly appears to be(?): a form of intellectual laziness and moral posturing that rationalizes not knowing anything about historical events or historical figures.

It is time to reject presentists and their brand of colonialism. A new day is dawning. One where condemning people of a particular era or generation will justifiably be seen as another iteration of misguided and illiberal group-based prejudice.

The response to presentist colonialism should thus be the same as the response to other forms of bigotry: an assertion that it is the expression of narcissistic condescension and petty small-mindedness.

[James M. Masnov is a writer, historian, and lecturer. His book, Rights Reign Supreme: An Intellectual History of Judicial Review and the Supreme Court, published by McFarland Books, is available here. His first book, History Killers and Other Essays by an Intellectual Historian, is available here.]