History Repeats
I was once working on writing a short play in which Mark Twain was a character. I only wanted the character Mark Twain to say things the actual Mark Twain said, or were attributed to him.
I got a book of Mark Twain quotes as part of the research. The play went nowhere, but one quote has stuck with me. “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” This is a hip hop sentiment if ever there was one.
Now that I’m spending more time in San Francisco I’ve started to look into the city’s history.
One story, one that would make a great hip hop musical, is the life of Emperor Norton I. He was a real estate guy who, through his own bad judgement, lost everything.
He sued to regain his previous prominence, but lost in court repeatedly. In September 1859 he declared himself ‘Emperor of the United States.’
While most of the country ignored his claims, some people treated him seriously. When he died in 1880, ten thousand people attended his funeral, out of a population of two hundred thousand.
Sound Familiar?
I’ll leave it up to you to decide if this story from the 1800s has any parallel in our current political situation,
if in other words, history is repeating itself.
I don’t. But I do think it rhymes.