There is a term that describes people who think that all history began the day they were born. In other words, they think that we have always had income tax, always had social security, women and black people have always had the right to vote, etc. Their only frame of reference for political or historic events is what they grew up with, and are unable to grasp that things have not always been this way. Any ideas?
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In other words, you're asking for a term for people who have no history education. – Hot Licks Jul 02 '16 at 22:45
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Not just no education, it's more of a mindset, like a mental block about earlier history. – CigarDoug Jul 02 '16 at 22:46
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5presentism: uncritical adherence to present-day attitudes, especially the tendency to interpret past events in terms of modern values and concepts. – Jul 02 '16 at 22:49
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In some countries, blacks always have had the right to vote (at least as long as whites & other coloured people have). – TrevorD Jul 02 '16 at 23:29
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Related: What is the term describing someone who has interest in only a narrow field. And several others. (Any 'answer' offering a duplicate answer, eg 'parochial' or 'blinkered', is liable to be downvoted.) – Edwin Ashworth Jul 03 '16 at 00:40
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Naive, probably. – NVZ Jul 03 '16 at 08:11
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This is similar to C. S. Lewis's idea of chronological snobbery. – Nathaniel is protesting Sep 08 '16 at 01:20
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1Seems to me that "ignorant" is the term you're looking for. Whether the ignorance is by choice or not depends on the individual/ – Hot Licks Sep 08 '16 at 02:02
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It's not an answer, but Billy Joel's song "We Didn't Start the Fire" lists a bunch of historical events...all starting in the year Joel was born. I remember this being remarked upon at the time, but don't recall any specific term being used to describe him. – 1006a Dec 10 '16 at 17:42
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A myopic view or myopic take on history. https://books.google.com/books?id=uR27jwEACAAJ&dq=%22myopic+view%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjk1oLi8erQAhWI5yYKHf1UBx0Q6AEIHDAA – Phil Sweet Dec 11 '16 at 00:34
2 Answers
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"Their only frame of reference for political or historic events is what they grew up with." :
sheltered –Urban Dictionary
A person who has been secluded from the darkness and evils of the world. Such as war, murder, suicide, abuse, cutting, rape, amputees, disease, drug abuse, gangsters and mafias.
A person who is sheltered is usually naive, likely religious, and does not know how the world works in reality.
Sheltering your children is a terrible thing and unrecommended. It promotes unawareness and makes them more vulnerable to be taken advantage of by corrupt, evil and manipulative people.
The majority of people in America are pathetically sheltered.
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'Sheltered' really does not work, as a person can be (and I think many are) exposed to all those things you list, but still remain ignorant of history. Conversely, a person can study history while still being sheltered. Many historians would probably fit this. – jamesqf Nov 07 '16 at 05:26
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The hyphenated word history-challenged (definition 2 below) or the phrase historically challenged (definition 1/2 below) should help here.
dictionary.com:
challenged adjective
1. a euphemism for disabled (usually preceded by an adverb): physically challenged.
2. deficient or lacking (usually preceded by an adverb or noun and used facetiously): ethically challenged; math-challenged.
Examples using "historically challenged":
alwayslearning
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