...is this just another questionable remark?

We're supposed to remember that we've played this before, right? George Santayanna and "the lessons of history" and all that?

(Why am I reminded of that old party game that dealt with a pair of scissors being handed around a circle of players, with the comment "I receive them crossed (or uncrossed, as appropriate) and I pass them uncrossed (or crossed, as appropriate)" and it's not about the scissors at all but the legs at the time of receiving or giving ? )