We forget that History comes from the Greek word Inquiry, which had an accent mark before the “I” or “iota” which mean that the “H” sound should precede the pronunciation. Almost, immediately, we see an attempt to codify rather than inquire, despite the spirit of the original endeavor. Understand that the original historian, Herodotus, who wrote the Inquiries, largely conducted a preservation of folk tales in his attempt to order the past in a discernable form.

Rusty’s exploration of the “goal directed” nature of the mechanization of progressive “history” which was supposed to be an act of inquiry, yet had a Utopian goal, casts a shadow of doubt upon the font of our interested chronology. Such schools of subject shaping history, lack an explorative chronological aspect and cloak the subject with assumptions to be employed in the future as corrective and interpretive tools, rather than as data-mining tools or folk-record preservation. For this reason, as someone untrained in the use of these historic models, I prefer to study journals, advertisements, legislative records and memoirs under the light of climactic conditions and the ever-present tide of human events.

Nice soliloquy, Rusty. I couldn’t imagine taking such a subject on verbally without a discussion partner.

I have found that the placement of events in time, that is a chronology, in the eldest Sumerian style, is a good foundations for such an inquiry into where we came from, what ground we have traversed, and how we got to this place.