[Dan Miller (930430.1120)]
Rick Marken (930429):
That was a nice post on the troubles in Bosnia. Thanks for the
note on my post. Sometimes I let sarcasm get in the way of sincerity,
and the intended input becomes a disturbance.
An understanding of history is, in fact, a perception of history.
I use Herbert Blumer's words to remind myself of this. He is one of
my favorite dead sociologists. He had his flaws (big disputes with
Clark McPhail), but his idea of history was right on. He said that
the past is significant only to the extent that it is brought into the
present situation. We are not determined by history. It is a perception
(or more likely a set of them) that we may use as reference signals in
the upper levels of the hierarchy. Also, we may not use it.
I am reminded of when I first arrived in Canada to teach at the
University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. People kept asking me my identity.
I took their queries to mean what nouns do I use to describe myself
(self-perceptions). So, I would start with male, husband, sociologist,
and so on. I wouldn't get far before I was stopped. No, no, no. They
wanted my tribal identity. So, I thought about this. I could have said
that I was an American, but in 1974 (and still today) I was not closely
identifying with my perception of what that meant. I replied that I was
an Iowan, born and raised. This didn't work either. Nor did the American
tag. They insisted on knowing where my relatives came from before they
were in the Americas. Now, if I didn't identify with being an American,
then I sure as hell didn't identify with my German or Scotch ancestors.
It is nice knowing where my ancestors lived, but I am not them. For all
I know my parents made these stories up to affect the input on others.
If they did, then good going. It worked.
In Serbia it is not history, or culture, or religion, or ethnicity that
is _causing_ the slaughter. People are doing it. They are bringing
history, culture, etc. into the situation to rationalize their terrible
acts. They may really believe their rationalizations, but the fact
remains that their Slavic ethnicity or history of abuse by Muslims has
no deterministic bearing on these acts. These acts are constructed
purposively in the present by thinking (if not rational) actors. They
can choose to not do this, to discontinue their perceptions of history,
and they can do what millions of people did when they came to the U.S.A.
They can reinvent themselves and leave their wretched pasts where they
lie.
Later,
Dan Miller
millerd@dayton