Even though it is slightly disturbing to realize everything we have been taught about history during our lives most likely came from some sort of biased source, it actually makes complete sense. It is amazing to me, truly, that we have surviving documentation of any ancient historical events in our modern world. The fact that we are able to preserve and utilize ancient manuscripts and learn anything from them is really impressive. Perhaps that is a vital aspect of “history” in general.
Everyone embellishes stories as they are told more and more- it is human nature. It is hard to even know whether or not a story someone tells you about their night last weekend is entirely true. Based on this logic, I can’t believe I ever blindly trusted history being taught to me. History is useful and important regardless of the exact “truth” of it, though.
The various perspectives seen in the essays we read this week say a lot about the society and time. Even though they have their own ideas and views of the world, they all account for an aspect of their world at that time. Maybe there is “truth” in all of these accounts regardless of their historical accuracy. We learn about individuals in this way and can actually piece together a lot of the differing thoughts to make a broader picture.
I suppose the point I am making is just that maybe it is unnecessary to qualify documents and writings based upon their accuracy alone. It has become apparent to me that you can truly learn a lot from them regardless.
Here’s my history story: Last night, after the football game that we (the vols) played amazing in, I went to the tin roof where there was miraculously no line to get inside. Then the bar tender came up to me and told me that i was the 1000 customer and gave me free shots all night. Then the band sang my favorite song just for me. I couldn’t believe how awesome the night was going, so I went to shell to pick up a chick sandwhich and got a lottery card. When i scratched it off, i’d won 5,000,000 dollars!!!!!…..
Did this happen?? All I actually remember is that I lost my id and my credit card; the vols almost lost; the line was so long at tin roof; when i screamed for the band to play a song for me the singer looked at me and said “no” into the mic…. But last nights history happened in my fairytale life. so its technically history right?
Point well taken. The thing is, though, if you wrote that down and someone published your journal two hundred years from now- it would be history! Not accurate, but still “true” in that people in our time do go out and win lotteries and have fun- just not actually you, that specific night. Maybe it says enough about our culture to consider it relevant regardless of its factuality? ?
I see a light at the end of this discussion’s tunnel: electronic media. With digital data storage, video, audio, and text alike can be preserved indefinitely. I think that the even further dissemination of digital data storage will cut down on a lot of biased history interpretation. When you have a high-definition video recording of an event, the smoke tends to clear. I truly believe that this is one area in which technology can save the world. Think about how many internet videos have sparked popular uproars: town hall meetings, kanye west, presidential speeches, etc. All of these would have been prime for biased skewering 50 years ago, but, in the 21st century, there’s no room for mythologizing. This is truly a wonderful thing.
History is written by the winners, and human biases will always exist. A historians job is to decipher the “truth” based on all the information they come across.