History is Repeating Itself

“The only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.”

-Georg Hegel

The above quote is only partly true, at least to me, as history repeats itself only by those that haven't learned from history.

Every major changes in society was met with opposition. If we look at the civil war, in the US, there were those that wanted to end slavery and those that wanted to keep it - both parties believed, strongly, that they were correct in their beliefs.

In 1885, smallpox was ravaging the world until a vaccine came out that greatly reduced deaths by the disease. The vaccine was opposed by some even as many were dying from it. 

Fast forward to 2022, 2 years in a pandemic, and you have a group of people opposing vaccine mandates even though they've proven effective against COVID. If you speak to anyone who's against the vaccine you'll realize that they have a strong belief in their views.

History is repeating itself but only because some haven't learned from it.

What I find most annoying is when the opposition believe that what ever they're doing is for the greater good. That, somehow, they're misconception of reality will bring forth greater liberties than ever before if they were to succeed in their endeavors. It's very difficult for me to understand how someone fighting to continue slavery, for example, ever believed that his cause was the right one. What experience did he go through in order to believe that he has the rights to own another human being? What experience have people gone through in order to believe that vaccines, or social distancing endeavors, don't help fight off infectious diseases?

History is repeating itself because not enough people have learned from it.