Over the years I've come to realize the importance of history in understanding the present because on a macro scale the past really does repeat itself, over and over and over. So IMO, the more you know of history, the easier it is to make sense of the present, weed out reliable media sources, avoid being swayed by propaganda or agendas, etc. The sad fact is that humans have changed very little over the last 100 years. Well, at least we're consistent.