Great Quote about History: The News

I maintain two truths about understanding history:

1. No event is exactly the same--applying theories is useless since the more one learns about a particular time period, decade, day, the more complex it gets.

2. Human nature doesn't change all that much.

One of my go-to time periods--a time period that fascinates me--is the Reformation, specifically in England. I tackle the Reformation here.

The latest book on the topic, The Blazing World: A New History of Revolutionary England, 1601-1689 by Jonathan Healey, includes a passage about news. Yup! With the printing press, news was becoming popular but since there was so much news and so much "fake news," newsreaders needed to be discerning:

"In a world in which reputation and honour counted for so much, the position of the tellers was critical--were they gentry, merchant or vagrant? Neighbor or stranger? Man or woman? Adult or child? It was easy for news to be concocted in bad faith and then fed to eager and indiscriminant consumers."

Insisting on a one-size-fits-all theory would try to paint the past as infinitely worse or better than our time. But, in fact, they were much like us! 

Which means that the higher-ups fussed that the "people" were being mislead: 

"Such was the concern in elite circles that it was seriously suggested that the government should set up its own gazette to counter bad news...Whether the government could ever hope to control the views of the people is highly doubtful. Nor were they helped by the fact the early seventeenth century also saw a torrent of satire" (60-61).

Sound familiar?! 

So, regarding #1 above, history doesn't repeat itself...but human nature certainly does!