Information from history can help us grow by making us review our past wins and losses. Yet throughout our history information destroyed or distorted. 

The current world is very  focused about what’s first instead of what’s correct, leading to a fake news climate. This has brought emphasis on why taking a look at the past and researching topics is better than agreeing with everything you hear. 

Anti-vax groups, instead of looking at what is already historically and scientifically proven, look to papers that have been disproven and showcase old world ideologies that don’t work. This has caused direct harm to the elderly, children, and people that are in anti-vax families. According the C.D.C. cases of measles in the U.S. went from under 100 in 2017 to 349 cases in 2018, with most cases being related to children that are too young to take the vaccine.

Another example of how history can help us avoid past mistakes is how the Nazis destroyed their history, and like Anti-vax groups, also spread misinformation about ideas that could -and did- lead others towards harm. This shows that the destruction or distortion of history and facts is a direct cause of harm to people who aren’t informed on past events such as the burning of the Library of Alexandria, or the mass destruction of museums and holy sites by ISIS leading to direct loss of information and life.

Without history we would not have the same capability to learn and adapt. It gives us the ability to choose which paths not to take and helps us prevent from regressing back to old mistakes. For us to continue advancing we need to continue the preservation of history and stop the distortion of facts that have already been proven wrong.