DesertFox
03-29-2006, 01:18 AM
Jay Ambrose
Scripps Howard News Service
28 Mar 06
Hillary Clinton recently did it, I learned on reading a newspaper article.
She's hardly the only one, but when she said that Republicans seeking some tough measures dealing with illegal immigration were "on the wrong side of history," I found myself suddenly wondering whether this expression is growing in popularity or I am just noticing it more. Either way, I think those who use it are on the wrong side of careful thought, and ought to cut it out.
What does it mean to say someone is on the wrong side of history? Something like this, as best I can tell: History is moving discernibly and inevitably in a uniform, progressive, good direction, and if you hold to ideas or purposes contrary to that direction, you will find yourself more or less discarded, left by the wayside, a fossil of an era that was happily wiped out.
Though my scouting about indicates conservatives may use the expression as often as leftists, it clearly has deep roots in the thinking of Karl Marx, who supposed there was an economically determined class struggle the consequences of which were clearly predictable.
More (http://www.freeconservatives.com/vb/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=9)
Scripps Howard News Service
28 Mar 06
Hillary Clinton recently did it, I learned on reading a newspaper article.
She's hardly the only one, but when she said that Republicans seeking some tough measures dealing with illegal immigration were "on the wrong side of history," I found myself suddenly wondering whether this expression is growing in popularity or I am just noticing it more. Either way, I think those who use it are on the wrong side of careful thought, and ought to cut it out.
What does it mean to say someone is on the wrong side of history? Something like this, as best I can tell: History is moving discernibly and inevitably in a uniform, progressive, good direction, and if you hold to ideas or purposes contrary to that direction, you will find yourself more or less discarded, left by the wayside, a fossil of an era that was happily wiped out.
Though my scouting about indicates conservatives may use the expression as often as leftists, it clearly has deep roots in the thinking of Karl Marx, who supposed there was an economically determined class struggle the consequences of which were clearly predictable.
More (http://www.freeconservatives.com/vb/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=9)