The end of history?

One of the problems that the USA currently has is the rather recent, and increasing, insistence upon viewing history as nothing more than a buck-passing blame-game. Too many people (including, or perhaps even especially, those to whom we turn to receive information about the world beyond out own front doors) are closing their minds before opening their mouths, and once side-effect of that is an ever-diminishing comprehension of the fact that history is supposed to be based upon the facts of events, NOT solely upon the opinions of those who are looking back at those events.

Sometimes, history is revised as new facts come to light, however, this is far different from the increasingly-common revisionist "history" that selects only the facts that support this or that agenda or political platform. Although objectivity is difficult to achieve, the open mind has no difficulty spotting an all-out abandonment of any attempt at objectivity.

Unfortunately, facts tend to speak quietly, whereas opinions and agendas and platforms tend to be communicated at a volume that'd drown out a 747 at takeoff. In the also-increasing competition among the media to pump out sensationalism and lurid details faster and faster, the noise level is approaching an incoherent roar.

We see this screamed blame-game at its most absurd in the arena of politics. The various factions' elected so-called "representatives" and self-proclaimed "pundits" hack and slash at one-another in a wild melee, ignoble would-be gladiators seeing who can soak the sand with the largest quantities of the "enemy's" blood, while the crowd bellows its approval like a giant herd of cattle in synchronized heat. The rare individual who realizes that this contest is merely a meaningless distraction speaks up either to no avail, or at the risk of drawing the hoard's anger (since nobody likes to be told that their unbridled passion or fury is misdirected).

What is the solution? I wish I knew. The Roman gladiatorial fights-to-the-death seemed to only be stopped when Rome itself finally crumbled from within. One has to wonder whether this nation is on a similar downward spiral, albeit at a greatly accelerated rate, as the voices of reason are out-shouted by the howls of the antagonists and the roared cheers and jeers of self-mesmerized spectators.