Bret Devereaux

The short response to this is, of course, "my house, my rules" but I write things that way for a reason, so let me explain. One thing you learn very quickly when teaching is that student attention varies a lot - they tune in and out at unpredictable times. 2/14

That also goes also for reading. Some paragraphs are read closely. Some are skimmed. Some are skipped. You have little control over which ones. So if there is some important qualifier that you need to be in mind each time something comes up, you need to repeat it. 3/14

Sure, in an academic article, or a carefully edited short piece for a traditional publication, you can get away with saying something once and then assuming the reader will carry that with them. Because there are you are *arguing* a single key point, not teaching a topic. 4/14

But what I am doing with the blog is fundamentally teaching - I don't assume a lot of background knowledge or training. Establishing general familiarity with the facts is at least as important as presenting a specific interpretation (= argument) about them. 5/14

And readers don't consume a 7,000 word blog post the way they consume a 1200 word article or a peer reviewed piece of scholarship. They get distracted, fade in and out, bookmark it to pick it up later or skip posts in a series. Like teaching. 6/14

Consequently, I can't just leave some small note at the beginning that reads "Of course we all know slavery was very bad and its conditions were very harsh and so we don't need to bring that up ever again" and then never mention that on the blog when the topic comes up. 7/14

Doing that in a lecture setting is *exactly* how you get papers written about Sparta where the student has forgotten the helots exist and spends all five pages talking about the utopian equality of the system which only applies to c. 10% of the population at most. 8/14

Admittedly, this repetition also helps with the known tendency of the internet and especially twitter to snip some single passage out of context. But the main point here isn't defensive writing (if it was, I'd have footnotes). The point is proactive teaching 9/14

So yes, if there is some crucial bit of context that is often forgotten (think of how many people tour lovely Southern plantations without ever really thinking about what a plantation is or how it works), I am going to hammer that context *every*time.* 10/14

Because as any teacher will tell you: if something is important and you need students to remember it, repeat it as frequently as you can, with as much emphasis as you can. Make it a catchphrase, a mantra or if appropriate, a running joke - then they'll remember. 11/14

So yes, slavery was bad, the lives of pre-modern women were badly constrained, their labor was important, warriors suck, Clausewitz is important (drink!), farming was hard, people believed their religion, being poor != being stupid and people share their society's values. 12/14

All of that said, I cannot help but note that the topic that seems to particularly aggrieve these folks is that first one: slavery was bad. And they do seem aggrieved - as if reading that is a minor irritant which, when it occurs too many times, rubs them raw. 13/14

To which I would urge a touch of introspection: why does the statement of such a clear truth (brutal systems of oppression are bad) come with the gadfly's sting? When the truth is uncomfortable, the wise reshape themselves, because the truth will not change. Do that. end/14