If history relly does repeat itself tahn shouldn't we be able to see things coming?

Question

What are we beeing blinded by?

Answer 1

history repeats itself, and will be repeated, until the lesson is learned..^_^

Answer 2

Many people who study history or have lived long enough to see it happening again try to warn others.

Example: If we get involved in this war, we will end up in a quagmire - just like Vietnam. We have already been in Iraq longer than we fought in World War II - and we are on our way to being there as long (or longer) as we were in Vietnam.

I am not arguing the point of the war or whether or not we should be in Iraq, I am saying that this is the most recent case of history being repeated on a world-wide scale - because of political decisions and, perhaps, not learning that people really don't like it when another country invades them.

History repeats itself on smaller, personal scales also. Children of alcoholics often are prone to alcoholism - children who are abused, often abuse their children. I am not suggesting this is always the case, but it happens often enough to validate the theory that history - personal and national - can repeat. Once the cycle is broken - history can be re-written. The first child in a family to finish college generally has children who finish college - success is more likely.

We are blinded when we forget the lessons of the past (both national and personal), when we are arrogant enough to believe we are smarter than those who have gone before, and therefore can't fall into the same historical traps, and when we believe we can do the same things in the same way over again and achieve different results (actually, that is the definition of insanity).

We can see many things coming - we are intelligent beings, for the most part. I believe that when we don't see catastrophe about to strike - it's generally because we have decided not to look at the signs that are flashing the "Danger" warning. When we decide that today is more important than tomorrow; when we decide that our generation is more important than the generations to come - we are blinded by self-interest (national, corporate and personal).

Answer 3

Your premise is false. Nothing ever truly repeats itself in its exact form, and it's impossible to pinpoint exactly predict what will occur in the future, only speculate.

Some people just never learn from past mistakes and will most likely succumb to such erroneous behavior, causing the same kinds of problems that once occured in the past. They are simply blinded by either their own ignorance, stubborness to change, or both.

Answer 4

No, because the phrase doesn't say that it will repeat itself in the same pattern or even in the same exact way, obviously we are in a different area with different people, infrastructures, economies, governments, etc. The concept may repeat itself, but the entirety, obviously not. For instance, some sociopathic leader may arise, much like Hitler, and punish all Chinese peoples by putting them in concentration camps and torturing them to death because he thinks their race is a gross and useless one (not that they actually are). Of course, we would associate this event with Jewish holocaust and the leader with Adolf Hitler, but the exact event isn't reoccuring.

Answer 5

It is fun to say! Let's face it; while many things may go around and around, happening over and over, the DETAILS are always different! E.g., peoples of two nations may have fought each other with clubs and rocks, then advanced to spears, then to bows and arrows, and finally to guns and bombs, same battles over and over, but always different.
Besides, humans never seem to learn from their mistakes.
For proof, consider: 60 years ago, people in Bangladesh were starving to death by the millions; today, they are starving to death by the millions!
History repeating itself, but people did NOT learn their lesson!

Answer 6

our ego and desire to be in control.
oh - desire. that's a big one, too. we want what we want and don't pay attention to the signs that should tell us not to do something.

while we have historians and scientists that study things like geology, weather, and human behavior (society, wars...), we, as humans, tend to go after what we want. we don't listen to the warnings that these scientists give because we want to drive our cars, fill our garbage cans, use factories that dump toxic waste in billions of tons per year... not only that, but we (especially as americans) believe that we can do anything we want and overcome anything. so we get this huge ego that we are the dominant force on earth and we go ahead and do whatever we want... therfore, history repeats itself and we don't learn a thing from it.

Answer 7

History never repeats itself in exactly the same way.

Answer 8

Yes this was pointed out to Pres. Bush by the war vets. before he went into the Middle East. We keep saying that there should never be a war again, and we soon forget that we promised ourselves the aforementioned.

Answer 9

that's kind of the point of the expression...

Answer 10

Gosh, you would think so.*