História e estupidez

"History and National Stupidity", de Arthur Schlesinger Jr., no número de 27 de Abril de 2006 de "The New York Review of Books". Um pequeno e luminoso artigo onde Schlesinger passeia pela noção de história, pela sua constante reescrita e defende a história como uma "necessidade moral" para um país com o poder dos EUA.
Citação: "History is the best antidote to illusions of omnipotence and omniscience. [...] A nation informed by a vivid understanding of the ironies of history is, I believe, best equipped to live with the temptations and tragedy of power. Since we are condemned as a nation to be a superpower, let a growing sense of history temper and civilize our use of that power. [...] Thirty years ago we suffered military defeat—fighting an unwinnable war against a country about which we knew nothing and in which we had no vital interests at stake. Vietnam was bad enough, but to repeat the same experiment thirty years later in Iraq is a strong argument for a case of national stupidity."

Post de José Vítor Malheiros publicado no blog "Em Revista", do jornal Público, em 16 de Maio 2006: http://em-revista.blogspot.pt/2006/05/histria-e-estupidez.html