The Edition: Power play
Best of the Spectator
The Illusions of Nostalgia and Historical Memory
Nostalgia serves as a deceptive memory tool, distorting individuals' recollections of the past by emphasizing emotional warmth over objective reality. While periods like the Cultural Revolution in China were marked by oppression, many still yearn for those times due to emotional connections that relate more to present discontent than an accurate historical viewpoint. This phenomenon is not unique to any one culture; people often romanticize less favorable times, reflecting a common tendency to idealize personal past experiences, particularly childhood. Such nostalgic feelings focus on the simplicity and emotional neutrality of youth, overlooking the complexities and difficulties of those eras, which might have also been fraught with political tension and hardship.
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