eli5: what do people mean when they say we should not judge historical figures by modern standards?

Question

eli5: what do people mean when they say we should not judge historical figures by modern standards?

In: 0

Answer 1

We shouldn’t judge historical figures for being racist, sexist, etc, when it was the norm back then. To use a modern view of bigotry and to say something like “Thomas Jefferson was racist because he said x and did y!” Is to ignore the context of which they lived where behavior like that was normal.