• The reason bubbles: the truth: extension of the battlefield

If we were white from Alabama, if we lived in the 50s and if we traveled on the Rosa Parks bus, what would we have done? Would we have protected her? Would we have faced whoever harassed her? We all like to think so, but it will be difficult to prove it. Would we have been on the right side of history?

The expression "the right side of History" has become a phrase made inevitable from the political discussion of our time. Sadiq Kahn, the mayor of London, has just used it to disqualify Donald Trump. Before, Barack Obama used it in 38 speeches to refer to terrorism, climate change, Angela Merkel's foreign policy, the Crimean war, social security, LGBTI rights ... He measured everything in that balance. Earlier, Bill Clinton used it in 21 speeches and also Ronald Reagan made his own version: "[Communism will remain] in the ashes of History." And another right-wing leader, Margaret Thatcher , spoke of the "wrong side of History" to refer to apartheid in South Africa. Long before, President Roosevelt used it to enter World War II and promote his anti-racist policies.

Someone else? Yes: Joaquim Torra justified his Government's challenge to laws and justice by saying that his attitude places him "on the right side of history."

"The phrase 'the right (or wrong) side of History' is used for long-term trends in which many factors converge and gain a lot of support, so it seems inevitable that they have a journey," he explains in an email sent from Harvard Steven Pinker . «In my book In defense of enlightenment (Planet) I give many examples, including the extension of the rights of women, ethnic minorities, homosexuals, the abolition of slavery or human sacrifice ».

The problem begins when the phrase is used so often that it begins to create paradoxes. For example: this spring, Vox magazine asked 400 wise men what realities of 2019 will be seen with shame in 2070, which will remain on the "wrong side of History." The answers were predictable: eating meat, consumerism, sex trade ... The classic claims that we consider progressive. The trouble of the survey came when Karen Swallow Prior, an American philosopher specializing in ethics, replied that our free or semi-balanced abortion will fall on the side of shame.

Is there any way to refute such an opinion, no matter how conservative it seems today? Do not.

"I don't say it for sure, but I think the phrase comes from Arnold Toynbee, who was a social democrat historian very close to Marx," explains Pedro Fraile Balbín, Professor of Economic History at the Carlos III University. «Because, in reality, the idea refers to Marx and Hegel, obviously. The Old Mole passage already speaks of the right side of History ».

For those of us who don't know so much about Marxism: Old Mole is the ghost of Hamlet's father. Hegel used it in some obscure comparison and Marx made it the great metaphor for Luis Bonaparte's 18th Brumaire . The Old Mole represents "the spirit of History", a principle of order that secretly directs humanity towards a necessary destiny of emancipation. «I think that has been Marx's great success: to establish lines that separate right and wrong. On one side those who carry the historical light and on the other, those who have no conscience for themselves, ”explains Fraile Balbín.

It was seen coming: the right side of history is, among other aspects, the literary warmth of an idealist thinker of the nineteenth century . Does that mean that it does not serve to judge reality, to act morally?

«It is a colorful phrase and with that it has already won a lot. Such a distinction can only be made if we attribute a meaning to History: a good side by which one advances and a bad side that makes us go back or deviate. In that sense, the phrase is modern and would have delighted Odo Marquard or Ferlosio. If we tune a little, it raises the problem of determining who decides which is the right side and which is the wrong one. Of course, nobody claims the bad side , everyone thinks they are in the good side. Intuitively, we identify the right side with the progress of progressive causes, of rights expansion, ”explains Manuel Arias Maldonado, Professor of Politics at the University of Malaga and author of the essay Sentimental Democracy .

And he continues: «In reality, it is mainly a rhetorical resource in the hands of political or communicative actors, in support of themselves or against their rivals. In practice, the right side of the story is verified a posteriori: triumphant values ​​draw the road map ».

More opinions: «To me, the phrase sounds like laziness to consider the complexity of points of view that must be reconstructed to obtain, not the truth, but a more complete vision. I compare it with Rashomon, ”says Alicia García Ruiz, Professor of Contemporary Philosophy at the University of Barcelona and author of the essay Prevent the world from falling apart (Cataract).

"History," continues García Ruiz, "has no 'right sides' but, rather, victims of good intentions that accumulate on both sides. Attention, it is not relativism that I am expressing here: there are causes that incite us and they should do so to take sides, but precisely I quote the expression 'right side' because that is the question. This side does not exist absolutely. It is necessary to determine it in each historical moment and in that it consists of having the capacity of judgment, moral and political ».

Now, a hypothesis: the history of the twentieth century seems easy to read morally today: apartheid, totalitarianism, sexual liberation, workers' rights ... It is clear who we are going with. Does not the validity of "the right side of History" express a longing for the old clarity lost in a world that has become confusing?

«To say that everything is very complex is becoming a form of simplification. Of course everything is complex, when it was not. What is a problem is that this complexity is answered in dilematic terms: 'yes or no', 'we and them', ”explains García Ruiz. «I think it is this closing operation of reasonable doubt and dogmatism that characterizes our time. Wanting to settle instead of solving ».

“The example of apartheid is interesting,” continues García Ruiz. «The right side of history does not exist absolutely, but must be determined at every historical moment. This means two things. First, that doubting does not imply not taking sides but forcing oneself to clarify the reasons for doing so. Secondly, to understand that this takeover means that what once has an emancipatory sign can later become a source of oppression. The responsibility is to always be alert watching reversals, because they will force us to judge constantly. There is no other ».

Juan García-Morán, Professor of Law Philosophy at UNED also takes the example of South Africa: «Morality is socially and historically conditioned, which gives rise to a certain relativism. Through the ages or in different societies we have not valued the same facts as slavery, child labor, non-equal rights of women, gender violence or apartheid mentioned. But just as nobody argues that there is scientific-technical progress, we can also talk about moral progress . The law as recognition of the oppressed groups is the proof. Only that this progress is not guaranteed, you may suffer regressions to the previous state of affairs. Hence, to protect it, it is necessary to watch over it ».

Juan García-Morán was the editor in Spain of The End of the History of Francis Fukuyama and through that thread he claims the "idea of ​​enlightened roots" that defends the moral and emancipatory improvement of civilization. It is the same track that can lead from Nietzsche to the pragmatic optimism of Steven Pinker himself. "It seems to me that it is a verbal tic, more than anything else," ends Pedro Fraile Balbín.

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