43. Examining history makes us better people insofar as it helps us to understand our
3 P: N& }0 }& @# Cworld. It would seem, therefore, that history would also provide useful clues for dealing
0 P. B8 A) t8 W1 S3 k" s9 y/ [with the same social ills that have plagued societies throughput history. On balance,
$ ?0 p2 Y& I2 U* Chowever, the evidence suggests otherwise.! l1 W, r3 n! Y# S! Q
Admittedly, history has helped us learn the appropriateness of addressing certain ( J# |0 t- ^' L+ O" p1 `) V
issues, particularly moral ones, on a societal level. Attempts to legislate morality 8 ^9 R7 C6 \$ T: j) c" @
invariably fail, as illustrated by Prohibition in the 1930s and, more recently, failed
# e+ r# K- K5 o$ Q6 H6 r. \1 zfederal legislation to regulate access to adult material via the Internet. We are slowly
9 H* O* e, I$ Z) x0 {learning this lesson, as the recent trend toward legalization of marijuana for medicinal
/ F, Y0 k8 ~1 d& ypurposes and the recognition of equal rights for same-sex partners both demonstrate./ ~7 W/ I! H- f# b
However, the overriding lesson from history about social ills is that they are here ) }( Y! y' G+ q( h3 j7 ]
to stay. Crime and violence, for example, have troubled almost every society. All 9 d$ ~- c; R8 G- e% a+ f
manner of reform, prevention, and punishment have been tried. Today, the trend appears . q# r3 z8 [% h0 o) l
to be away from reform toward a "tough-on-crime" approach. Is this because history
8 N7 Z6 V! ?% a0 G1 Wmakes clear that punishment is the most effective means of eliminating crime? No; % I _$ c9 c5 t
rather, the trend merely reflects current mores, attitudes, and political climate. Also
) C) b; e1 l; w+ N6 qundermining the assertion that history helps us to solve social problems is the fact that, 7 f2 | s1 Q/ \+ A$ J( a" r4 D
despite the civil-rights efforts of Martin Luther King and his progenies, the cultural gap
: K, ?) o) n7 Q0 `! L5 q, Ttoday between African-Americans and white Americans seems to be widening. It seems ( C4 Z/ g9 L* w' X6 G! g
that racial prejudice is here to stay. A third example involves how we deal with the
/ o# ?* C! L1 Fmentally ill segment of the population. History reveals that neither quarantine, nor : P) h. y7 Q- R* i9 }( ~
treatment or accommodation solves the problem, only that each approach comes with its
1 p2 C: @! f7 r& u4 G6 d# H( u/ K, \own tradeoffs.
( U7 K9 M. s7 w& h6 z& P To sum up, while history can teach us lessons about our social problems, more
+ G$ G x6 j4 g# `* [often than not the lesson is that there are no solutions to many social problems—only
( J* P+ ^) k% Z# t$ E5 malternate ways of coping with them. |