Why should we study languages
We study languages to conquer brown people, pit them against eachother, and order slaves around
We study other languages because there are ideas that can be captured with one word or phrase in one language but require a paragraph or a book to describe in another language.
We study other languages to interact with the most intimate and formulated thoughts of a people.
Why should we study mathematics
We study mathematics to develop more systematic and precise ways of killing brown people and stealing.
We study mathematics to interact deeply with a certain kind of “truth” that can be encapsulated with logic and symbols. We study mathematics because it is one of the only kinds of truths that can be systematized.
Why should we study literature and art
We study literature and art to gatekeep and exclude those who do not read a specific language
Literature, poetry, and art encode the most intimate thoughts, fears, hopes, aspirations, and dreams of a people. They are the most concise representations of the intellectual and spiritual heights reached by a people.
Why should we study history
We study history to weaponize every bit of knowledge we can and to discover exploitable weaknesses of other people,
just as the British were very interested in Plutarch’s descriptions of oil bubbling up from the ground in Kirkuk as they
would invade Western Asia.
We study history because every that has happened is currently happening. To quote one spicy historian, John Henrik Clarke, the relationship between a people and history is the same as the relationhip between an individual and her mother. History tells a people where it is, where it has been, where it can/must go, and what they can/must be.
Conclusion
One might retort that this is overkill and that I cannot possibly have evidence of this. The 800+ American military bases around the world are the only scoreboard I could ever need.