I'm sick of it.

Most people don’t know the history of their very own country & are completely indifferent towards understanding it.
At the same time, pop-culture has never been that much composed of historical references as today.

What is going on?

a thread

History is one of the favorite topics at school.
It’s number 1 in France. Number 3 in the US.
Mysteriously, this interest disappears with time. Why?

Institutions failed.
History books are too academic. The form isn’t serving the substance.
Teachers are boring. Not all of them, but even when they’re pretty good, you’d still prefer playing Fortnite or watching Netflix, rather than attending a history lesson

While we’re really good at telling stories about Ancient Egypt or Greece, we’re not when it comes to the French Revolution or the Industrial Revolution.

+ what increasingly matters is knowing dates & facts.

= The more a kid grows, the less she cares.

Society failed.
History isn’t valued enough. Revealing the truth, understanding the consequences, & respecting the memory isn’t appreciated enough.
Kids love History. Still, do you have a single historian amongst your friends? Maybe one if you’re lucky.

The only thing that seems to value history is pop-culture. The price is the truth.
People watch Vikings, but don’t visit Trelleborg.
They play Assassin's Creed Odyssey, but they have no idea how Ancient Greece was formed.

What happens when I search for “Vikings” on Google:

Even though these references play an important role in stimulating interest, they’re not substitutes for learning.

Where does the reality lie & the fiction end?
Well, hard to know. You’re not a historian.
You take what people tell you for granted at that's normal.

The worst thing is how much these pop-culture historical references are used as propaganda tools.

- The US saved Europe & the World from the Nazis.
- Robespierre was an asshole.
- The Roman Empire was civilized. “Barbarians” were just good for raping & killing.

Don’t misinterpret my words. I love TV-shows & movies about historical events. I just think it shouldn’t act as a supplement to learning & can be dangerous to a certain extent.

Learning History could be more accessible & attractive.
Reading Wikipedia pages or 1000 pages long books to learn about a period isn’t quite optimal.

Some documentaries & YT channels about History are doing very good jobs, but consider these limits:

- Documentaries often come from the TV & look for visual sensationalism.
- YT videos will help you learn quick facts, but you won’t get the context of what you learn.

History podcasts are probably the most promising format to learn history in 2020.
Still, they lack storytelling and are not so far from history lectures people aren’t fond of.

How could they get better?