Here at the museum, we address the ongoing struggle our society faces between two important rallying cries:
It’s important to recount the horrible things that we have as human beings said and done. We should never forget the Alamo, American Slavery, Women's Suffrage, the USS Maine, the Holocaust, the World Trade Center, and so many others. Why? In some cases, we remember to understand the price of progress, or to commemorate those unjustly lost in tragedies. In other situations it’s because, as the philosopher George Santayana famously said, “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”
Our culture is rife with books, movies, paintings, and songs that the dominant white (mostly male) culture has in the past created using language, images, and ideas that disparage minority groups and women. But now we know better. We have matured as a society. We cringe when reminded of who we once were — so much so that we want either to erase some works from our memories or to "update" their content so that they no longer resemble what they once were.
How can we "never forget" our past if we also choose to pretend it never existed? Or to cover it up? Here at Pituey.com, we do not want to relive the past. Or repeat it. The museum operates on the following beliefs:
Therefore, we want to remember those pieces of art – whether they were songs, movies, paintings or books -- for what they actually were at the time to hopefully learn about our past from them.
We think that's a good way not to repeat our past, and instead to move forward. We hope you enjoy these articles and learn with us.