"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."
When I was growing up, the history classes that I attended in school presented history as fact. History was set in stone and you could only the present.
Nowadays, being a self pronounced scholar of history, I see those early classes as an overview. I know that history is not set in stone, that what we once thought of as fact was merely perspectives, generally by the victors. Coupled with forensic archeology, history is showing new and exciting perspectives about a great many things we once thought were fact. It's caused us all to question and debate what history typically presents itself as.
Even now, in the news, society can't agree on one particular perspective of just about anything. It reminds me of opinionated journalism. It's the type of reporting that has the smallest amount of fact and the largest amount of opinion. If someone a thousand years from now found pieces of our society and were to come across this type of journalism, would they get an accurate picture of our society and world? Could future history reconcile us as what Fox News would say we are?
Why that may be a shocking thing to think of for some, it's actually the basis of most of our history. No silly, not Fox News. History being written by the victors leaves very little for the truth unless it fits with the victors views. Without ways to verify events that happened, myths, legends, stories and hearsay can become just as real as anything else. History repeats itself again and again. Take out the technology and everyday events that happen in the here and now have been going on since the dawn of time:
We are born, we die. We wake up, we go to sleep. We love, we hate. We eat, we crap. There's been infidelity, martyrdom, musicians, armies, artists, charity, beer drinking contests, stressing about weddings, kids giving their parents grief, oppressive parents and the list goes on and on. It's all been done before. To find something truly unique in this context is rare.
The quote I led into this with is from Winston Churchill. He didn't care too much about what history would say about him because he planned on winning. If the Nazi's had won, Churchill would have been seen in a far different light.
So it's not to say that everything you read about history isn't what happened. Just have some perspective on the perspective.
When I was growing up, the history classes that I attended in school presented history as fact. History was set in stone and you could only the present.
Nowadays, being a self pronounced scholar of history, I see those early classes as an overview. I know that history is not set in stone, that what we once thought of as fact was merely perspectives, generally by the victors. Coupled with forensic archeology, history is showing new and exciting perspectives about a great many things we once thought were fact. It's caused us all to question and debate what history typically presents itself as.
Even now, in the news, society can't agree on one particular perspective of just about anything. It reminds me of opinionated journalism. It's the type of reporting that has the smallest amount of fact and the largest amount of opinion. If someone a thousand years from now found pieces of our society and were to come across this type of journalism, would they get an accurate picture of our society and world? Could future history reconcile us as what Fox News would say we are?
Why that may be a shocking thing to think of for some, it's actually the basis of most of our history. No silly, not Fox News. History being written by the victors leaves very little for the truth unless it fits with the victors views. Without ways to verify events that happened, myths, legends, stories and hearsay can become just as real as anything else. History repeats itself again and again. Take out the technology and everyday events that happen in the here and now have been going on since the dawn of time:
We are born, we die. We wake up, we go to sleep. We love, we hate. We eat, we crap. There's been infidelity, martyrdom, musicians, armies, artists, charity, beer drinking contests, stressing about weddings, kids giving their parents grief, oppressive parents and the list goes on and on. It's all been done before. To find something truly unique in this context is rare.
The quote I led into this with is from Winston Churchill. He didn't care too much about what history would say about him because he planned on winning. If the Nazi's had won, Churchill would have been seen in a far different light.
So it's not to say that everything you read about history isn't what happened. Just have some perspective on the perspective.
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