Burke: Big or small, we’re making history; make it count
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, August 9, 2023
By Tom Burke / Herald columnist
Hip-hop music turned 50 last week. Since its 1973 birth in New York’s Bronx, it’s been a major influence affecting culture, dance, language and fashion, and delivering powerful messages, such as rapper 50 Cent’s 2014 lyric, “I hate a liar more than I hate a thief. A thief is only after my salary, a liar is after my reality.” (Hmmm…know any “liars” trying steal our reality?)
But, like the “inventions” of opera, jazz, swing, be-bop, the blues, bluegrass, rock-n-roll, soul, country, and a-tonal music it’s “minor” history. Sorta like the invention of the hot dog, the bundt cake, mini-skirts, mullets, Monopoly, baseball’s pitch clock, white-wall tires, and the Sears, Roebuck catalog.
Sure, they are all worthy of being labeled “historic;” but have they fundamentally altered the course of human existence?
And it’s important, I think, to distinguish between relatively “minor” historic events and the “big” history which does fundamentally change the basic track of life. How else can we place current events in their proper perspective and evaluate their ramifications.
So, gentle reader, what do I call “big” history?
Well, of course the start of Hinduism around 4500 BCE, Buddhism in 400 BCE, Christianity in 30 CE, and Islam in 622 CE count as “big.”
And the end of Greece’s Golden Age with the Spartan Lysander’s victory over Athens at Aegospotami in 430 BCE; or the 1,100-plus-year rule of the Roman Empire stretching from 625 BCE to 476 CE counts.
Then there’s the circa 1008 “Age of Invention” when printing, paper money, gunpowder, the clock and the compass were all invented by the Chinese; the Ming Dynasty (1350-1650) when China extended its influence world-wide; the Moghul Empire’s (1526-1720) ascendency in India, and the 1949 Communist Chinese revolution.
Or Europe’s Dark Ages, the Renaissance, the Gutenberg Bible, and the Industrial Revolution symbolized by the 1760 invention of the steam engine; or the invention and use of the atom bomb in 1945.
Of course there’s more, including the Norman conquest of England in 1066; the demise of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) empire in 1453 and the ascendency of the Ottoman Turks; the year 1492 when Columbus sailed to the New World, the Moors were expelled from Spain, and Ferdinan and Isabella banished the Jews from their kingdom. Plus Vasco de Gama’s rounding the Cape of Good Hope and his voyage to India in 1498, Martin Luther’s schism from the Catholic Church in 1517; the first slaves brought from Africa to the New World in 1526; Edward Jenner’s introduction of the first vaccine (against smallpox) in 1796; the opening of the Suez and Panama canals (1858 and 1903); plus the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903, the American Revolution, World War I, World War II, and the Cold War.
All of these events changed the fundamental course of human history.
That’s not to say “little” history isn’t important. England’s Magna Carta in 1215; Europe’s Black Death circa 1346, and the birth of Shakespeare in 1564 profoundly influenced European history. Just as Lewis and Clark’s voyage of discovery, the 1849 Gold Rush, the 1855 Point Elliott Treaty symbolizing the theft of a continent from its indigenous inhabitants; and our Civil War all profoundly influenced North American history.
Now, you may ask, why the history lesson? Why look back and not ahead? What about the war in Ukraine; Trump’s travails; climate change and global warming; wildfires in Canada as well as in the U.S., Spain, Portugal, Greece, Algeria, and Sicily; the Supreme Court ethics crisis; the coup in Niger; the battle for women’s health rights; the insurance crisis, leprosy panic, book-banning, and revisionist history curriculum in Florida; women’s World Cup soccer; and Barbenheimer?
Share of mind, that’s why the history lesson.
Years ago I managed advertising for some East Coast fast food chains (Roy Rogers and Hardee’s) and we fought McDonalds and Burger King over “share of gut.” One can only eat so much food and the goal was to win as much “share of gut” as possible.
But today, for me, it’s “share of mind.” There’s only so much “history-in-the-making” one can keep track of. Which is where the division between “big” and “little” history enters. Ya gotta prioritize.
So today, I try to limit myself to an in-depth focus three “big” historic trends and three “little” ones, keeping my eye on local events and everything else in case something blows up.
The big stuff:
• Climate change;
• The world-wide drift to fascism especially that of Trump, MAGA, and white Christian nationalism;
• Ukraine, Russia, and NATO.
The smaller stuff:
• 2023 local elections (I’ll wait ‘till 2024 to focus on 2024)
• Preparation for The Big One;
• The Supreme Court.
Now as they say on the interwebs, “YMMV” (your mileage may vary); so maybe you’ll find other priorities.
But please, pick something, anything, and read, listen, watch. And not Fox News, the Wall Street Journal or Truth Social.
Because “fake media” and non-MAGA news outlets aren’t “the enemy of the people;” but are what 50 Cent was warning us about; liars trying to steal our reality.
The “big” history we are living today is the war for liberty, equality, and democracy being fought against the wanna-be despots, racists and fascists.
And whether the specific battle is an attempted presidential coup; a woman’s right to choose; the destruction of our environment; the fight for national survival; or free and fair elections, what happens today will affect the course of history for tomorrow and for generations to come.
As Abe Lincoln said, “We cannot escape history.”
Slava Ukraini.
Tom Burke’s email address is t.burke.column@gmail.com.
