How so?
Is it your view that pointing out that effort is required to obtain knowledge is "condescension?"
Who, exactly, was I condescending to? I'd be really interested to know, since that wasn't even a consideration to me.
In fact, I even make reference to this:
>A such, please don't take my comment as a personal attack, it's not. The sentiment you express isn't unusual or surprising.
Perhaps your confusion lies in my repeated use of the pronoun "you," which in this context refers to general humanity rather than any particular person (and most certainly not OP).
It's unfortunate that you (in this case, I specifically mean the poster to whom I'm responding) chose to ignore my argument because of some invented negativity.
Thank you for sharing your point of view. I appreciate your feedback.
The central point of your original comment was that there is extensive historical information available connecting us to our past but one has to put in the effort to discover it. You provided links to support your point.
This point could have been made succinctly. Many of the sentences with italics come across as preachy even though you probably didn't intend to. They were also unnecessary to get your point across.
[0] Fall of Civilizations https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR7yrLMHm11X6-M_usCj5...
Thanks for the recommendation. I'll check it out.
>The central point of your original comment was that there is extensive historical information available connecting us to our past but one has to put in the effort to discover it. You provided links to support your point.
That was one point I was attempting to make. I further wanted to make it clear that such resources are more available to more people than they ever have been.
However, the central point I was attempting (apparently unsuccessfully, in your case) to make was that history is not, and never has been, all that important to most people, that our media and culture actively discourage any interest in history; and that feeling a "disconnect" from history is neither unusual nor a recent development.
Again, I appreciate your feedback, as I already know what I think and want to say, but (obviously) don't know how others will interpret what I do say.
Edit: Clarified several points.
Has it occurred to you that "our disconnect with ancient history" isn't as widespread as you may think?
In fact, I was rather taken aback by your assertion:
>I honestly feel like if Europe didn't have the Early Middle Ages (~500-1000AD), we would feel pretty connected to all the history that happened before in the same way that we feel pretty connected to Copernicus developing Heliocentrism or Columbus arriving in the New World.
A connection to anything requires the effort of making that connection.
And history is no exception. If someone feels disconnected from history, it's incumbent upon them to engage and connect with it.
I'd point out that for pretty much all of recorded history, it's only been those with power and wealth that have had the leisure or need to become literate, let alone to study history.
That's changed to a certain extent but most folks, even in modern times, give little thought to history, and have little interest in it.
As for "Western" culture, there's a great deal that's known and a huge amount of scholarship has and continues to be done around it and its history. If you put even a tiny bit of effort[0][1][2], you can gain great deal of knowledge about history.
Should you wish to expend more effort, there are literally thousands of books, academic papers and treatises which provide enormous insight into our history.
And if you're really interested, you can make a whole career out of the study and exposition of history.
As such, I'd say that any "disconnect" from history is rooted in a lack of interest or even a modicum of energy expended in "connecting" with it.
Our current culture and educational systems seem to deprecate and devalue history, even recent (the last 50 years or so) history. That's a shame IMHO.
Please don't take my comment as a personal attack, it's not. The sentiment you express isn't unusual or surprising.
The solution to such a "disconnect" is to access historical information and cultural narratives. Such access is, I'd argue, more available to the lay person than ever before.
I'd also note that the "disconnect" you mention, while seemingly related to mass communications and its focus on trivia and current events, isn't anything new or profound. Rather, it's related to a lack of interest among most people.
Whether that lack of interest is based on a lack of leisure time, a discouragement of such endeavors by our media and educational systems and/or other factors, it's that lack of interest that causes such a disconnect -- and that's easily remedied.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1U_8A7q8La1VfEa-HJif...
[1] https://www.edx.org/learn/western-civilization
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_decline_of_the_West
Edit: Improved clarity.