presentism
presentism
presentism
all of you are presentists
none of you are free from contemporary bias
the people were astonished at his doctrine!
presentism
presentism
all of you are presentists
none of you are free from contemporary bias
the people were astonished at his doctrine!
Tangential: the "they'd never use the bomb on German" always baffles me considering that Bomber Command brute forced the effect of an atomic device over German cities every night for just over two years
i suppose its' cultural exchange for a lot of young left-wing americans to discover Chinese Bomber Harris Thought
January 16, 2025 at 1:20 AM
presentism
presentism
presentism
all of you are presentists
none of you are free from contemporary bias
the people were astonished at his doctrine!
presentism
presentism
all of you are presentists
none of you are free from contemporary bias
the people were astonished at his doctrine!
There were slaver nations and enslaved nations. There is no reason why they would have thought of themselves as collectively African or Black. That is presentism — the presentism that the right loves to indict actual historians with.
2/
2/
May 24, 2025 at 2:18 PM
There were slaver nations and enslaved nations. There is no reason why they would have thought of themselves as collectively African or Black. That is presentism — the presentism that the right loves to indict actual historians with.
2/
2/
"science used to be called natural magick" is rank presentism. Most people called it natural philosophy and you know that.
May 13, 2025 at 11:30 PM
"science used to be called natural magick" is rank presentism. Most people called it natural philosophy and you know that.
The Medieval Academy conference panel in "Big Balls and Bohemond: Presentism and the Study of Medieval Megalomania"
The OIEAHC conference panel is "Broadsides, Ballads, and Big Balls: Famous Media Feuds in Early and Late American History"
The AHA conference panel is "Big Balls, Catturd, and Skeets on Tweets: The History of the Present, Farce or Tragedy?"
June 5, 2025 at 9:41 PM
The Medieval Academy conference panel in "Big Balls and Bohemond: Presentism and the Study of Medieval Megalomania"
you can transcend the "nostalgia vs presentism" thing by just describing what you want today out of things specifically
October 20, 2025 at 1:57 PM
you can transcend the "nostalgia vs presentism" thing by just describing what you want today out of things specifically
presentism. short-termism. myopia.
January 7, 2026 at 7:16 AM
presentism. short-termism. myopia.
Nixon was, in many ways, a liberal president. (Executive authoritarianism? How about court-packing and Korematsu?)
Social media and American political discourse is mired in presentism.
Social media and American political discourse is mired in presentism.
By the way (I was born after Kent State, so my point still stands 😂), Kent State happening under Nixon isn’t a rebuttal. Nixon is the nearest modern analogue we have to executive authoritarianism in the U.S., which is exactly the concern being raised.
January 8, 2026 at 4:43 AM
Nixon was, in many ways, a liberal president. (Executive authoritarianism? How about court-packing and Korematsu?)
Social media and American political discourse is mired in presentism.
Social media and American political discourse is mired in presentism.
I mean .. apart from anything else there are loads of jobs where presentism and long hours are the norm, and somehow we all manage not to go around drunk.
April 26, 2026 at 6:25 PM
I mean .. apart from anything else there are loads of jobs where presentism and long hours are the norm, and somehow we all manage not to go around drunk.
New publication on @ipragmatics.bsky.social, out now and available open access:
My work on the digital language ideologies of generative AI, in particular the "AI is here to stay" construction and its connections to presentism, techno-optimism, and tech bro culture
My work on the digital language ideologies of generative AI, in particular the "AI is here to stay" construction and its connections to presentism, techno-optimism, and tech bro culture
Presentism as a digital language ideology in generative AI discourse
This paper gives a critical discourse-analytical account of presentism as a digital language ideology. It outlines how this ahistorical understanding of sociotechnical change centering the here-and-no...
benjamins.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:55 AM
New publication on @ipragmatics.bsky.social, out now and available open access:
My work on the digital language ideologies of generative AI, in particular the "AI is here to stay" construction and its connections to presentism, techno-optimism, and tech bro culture
My work on the digital language ideologies of generative AI, in particular the "AI is here to stay" construction and its connections to presentism, techno-optimism, and tech bro culture
All good history is a prophylactic against presentism.
no one likes historians because every time someone says “oh this is unheard of”
historians are all like “well actually”
and fundamentally it just doesn’t sound as impressive if you have to say
“in these slightly precedented times”
historians are all like “well actually”
and fundamentally it just doesn’t sound as impressive if you have to say
“in these slightly precedented times”
April 17, 2026 at 8:20 PM
All good history is a prophylactic against presentism.
You could always freak out about presentism.
April 12, 2025 at 6:12 PM
You could always freak out about presentism.
👀 Funded PhD @ Coventry University:
Uses and Abuses of the Past: the Role of Presentism in Cultural Memory.
'The inquiry ... will select and investigate a series of objects or sites to explore the use of history as a tool for debating contemporary social and cultural issues' tinyurl.com/4zksy84y
Uses and Abuses of the Past: the Role of Presentism in Cultural Memory.
'The inquiry ... will select and investigate a series of objects or sites to explore the use of history as a tool for debating contemporary social and cultural issues' tinyurl.com/4zksy84y
Uses and Abuses of the Past: the Role of Presentism in Cultural Memory
This project explores the concept of ‘presentism’ in cultural representations of the past.
tinyurl.com
March 1, 2025 at 12:03 AM
👀 Funded PhD @ Coventry University:
Uses and Abuses of the Past: the Role of Presentism in Cultural Memory.
'The inquiry ... will select and investigate a series of objects or sites to explore the use of history as a tool for debating contemporary social and cultural issues' tinyurl.com/4zksy84y
Uses and Abuses of the Past: the Role of Presentism in Cultural Memory.
'The inquiry ... will select and investigate a series of objects or sites to explore the use of history as a tool for debating contemporary social and cultural issues' tinyurl.com/4zksy84y
this is actually a thing that acts as a minefield: our images of the past are largely formed by, almost totally defined by, cultural works within living memory. All our stock images of e.g. the 1860s are from no earlier than 1930. There's not just a suffocating presentism but an insidious one
more people ate food prepared outside of the home in the past than now. Especially in cities, it's just not the norm for most calories to be prepared oneself; many nourishing foods were quick to spoil, slow to prepare, and frequently adulterated
September 21, 2026 at 5:50 AM
this is actually a thing that acts as a minefield: our images of the past are largely formed by, almost totally defined by, cultural works within living memory. All our stock images of e.g. the 1860s are from no earlier than 1930. There's not just a suffocating presentism but an insidious one
"Mandela war born before and died after Apartheid" is one of those things that presentism makes it hard to understand but it in itself a vital lesson in the impermanence of all things
Lots of despair at our current conditions, but I think it's handy to remember that Mandela was born before Apartheid and outlived it. However bad things are, all things end. And sometimes you get the pleasure of destroying the evil thing yourself.
Mandela and ANC are quite possibly the most successful political movement of the 20th century, and almost certainly (IMO) the most successful ideological aftershock of the Atlantic Charter (whose principles were crucial to the early foundations of the ANC!)
June 12, 2026 at 3:07 PM
"Mandela war born before and died after Apartheid" is one of those things that presentism makes it hard to understand but it in itself a vital lesson in the impermanence of all things
I saw Goody Proctor doing presentism.
February 17, 2024 at 9:56 PM
I saw Goody Proctor doing presentism.
Presentism be kicking yalls asses and it makes a lot of things almost impossible to discuss in an honest way
May 8, 2026 at 9:02 AM
Presentism be kicking yalls asses and it makes a lot of things almost impossible to discuss in an honest way
This is exactly why I'm obsessed with studying "presentism" — how every generation thinks they're the enlightened ones looking back at those foolish ancestors. Plot twist: we're someone's foolish ancestors.
March 2, 2026 at 3:08 AM
This is exactly why I'm obsessed with studying "presentism" — how every generation thinks they're the enlightened ones looking back at those foolish ancestors. Plot twist: we're someone's foolish ancestors.
"they knew that the baby boomers existed."
Sad to see @liberalcurrents.com support this sort of presentism.
Sad to see @liberalcurrents.com support this sort of presentism.
July 12, 2026 at 5:53 PM
"they knew that the baby boomers existed."
Sad to see @liberalcurrents.com support this sort of presentism.
Sad to see @liberalcurrents.com support this sort of presentism.
this is always a sin of presentism, the sense that we are the last generation and everything will either be heaven or hell after us
it really doesn't help that a lot of people are clearly operating under the impression AI will be the last technology and the first to AGI will be winner takes all. bad first impression plus bad continuing impression
February 20, 2025 at 4:22 AM
this is always a sin of presentism, the sense that we are the last generation and everything will either be heaven or hell after us
Presentism plus rich-country centrism.
January 6, 2026 at 7:50 PM
Presentism plus rich-country centrism.
So much presentism.
Christian Democracy is moribund now, so people forget what a dominant force it was in post WW2 Europe.
November 8, 2025 at 6:13 PM
So much presentism.
The use of reenactors and AI generated images is driving me nuts
Like, the shots of American tents - most soldiers didn’t fucking have tents.
The presentism is stronger in this documentary than any I’ve ever seen in a Burns documentary
Like, the shots of American tents - most soldiers didn’t fucking have tents.
The presentism is stronger in this documentary than any I’ve ever seen in a Burns documentary
November 22, 2025 at 2:24 AM
The use of reenactors and AI generated images is driving me nuts
Like, the shots of American tents - most soldiers didn’t fucking have tents.
The presentism is stronger in this documentary than any I’ve ever seen in a Burns documentary
Like, the shots of American tents - most soldiers didn’t fucking have tents.
The presentism is stronger in this documentary than any I’ve ever seen in a Burns documentary