2006-10-23 22:33:28 · 14 answers · asked by FrontPagePlanners 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
You are so very right! This being said, I think that History is but the product of our attempts to understand the past.
2006-10-23 22:43:50 · answer #1 · answered by ptblueghost64 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
History is a compilation of data gained from witnesses interviewed, discovered letters, diaries, photos, newspapers, etc; a variety of artifacts - coins, statues, mosaics, paintings, etc; bodies and other previously animate entities; and much more collected so far subjected to scientific studies. This information is recorded and interpreted by scientists, anthropologists, philosophers and more.
These analyses are made based on the individual skills of people, the technology of the time, what prior knowledge it is was based on and their general understanding of language.
Some people manage to be objective and some go so far as to warp or skew the information for personal gain.
Yesterday's truism of history can refuted by tomorrow's new discovery and technology.
A little scepticism of history is a good thing. To can all of it is unwise. Revisiting history is a useful tool. It can provide answers and further questions about wars, injustices and other unsavoury things. It is hoped we shall learn from these things and not repeat them.
Fortunately, there are also examples of exemplary behaviour, inventiveness, creativity, great servitude to humanity and other wonderful things. The world would be a better place if the positive examples could be continued towards creating a more enlightened; physically and spiritually enhanced world.
The main area we can attempt control and clean up is ourselves and own backyard.
If more people do not make a sincere attempt towards such a positive outcome, WE may be "history" as a race - and the planet as well!
2006-10-24 10:40:32 · answer #2 · answered by April M 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends greatly on the type of history that you are looking at. For example, with the coming of the Spanish to the Americas.
What as written about the Aztecs were written by Cortez's men. For example, it was written that the Aztecs were hostile and attacked them thus resulting in the Spanish attacking and destroying their city.
But how can this be true? After all, the Aztecs thought that the Spanish were Gods that the prophecy spoke about, why would they attack them?
Perhaps the Spanish just wanted an excuse to attack so that they can raid them for all the gold that they have.
History is sometimes distorted, depending on who writes it and when it was written.
Another example would be the bible, when parts of it was written YEARS after the events occurred, who's to say that information did not get twisted along in its journey?
2006-10-24 08:59:22 · answer #3 · answered by Poetic Templar 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Even winners die eventually. The history was written while they were alive as 'winners', when they died and became 'losers' as you say, they strangely lost their ability to write history.
Archaeologists discovering previously unrecorded graves would argue that dead people can in fact write history by being discovered when previously they were unknown and therefore they were not written about in the history books .....until they were found, dead.
2006-10-24 05:49:14 · answer #4 · answered by methamphetamine_symposium 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
History WAS written by winners - not were.
And who says? Who says that those alive are the winners.
Also aren't good history writers supposed to be unbiased?
And dead people leave things like diaries and books and what they've done etc.
Your question is kinda daft.
So maybe think about it before you ask for everyone to answer it for you!
2006-10-24 05:46:06 · answer #5 · answered by plush 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You really need to pick up a history book now & then. Losers frequently write their version of events and frequently skewer information to their advantage. Dead men and women tell tales; diaries, letters, dates in a ledger, their very corpses can reveal lots, have you not seen an episode of CSI? History is a accumulation of infomation filtered through a variety of sources; books, newspapers, data from registers & lists, forensic evidence such as corpses, the dregs of a firepit, the fossilized sh*t of a cesspit. History is a crudely cohesive blend of facts mythology fallacy and fantasy. And thus it is forever fascinating.
Peace
2006-10-24 05:50:45 · answer #6 · answered by JVHawai'i 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Victors in wars always get to write the history books.
Why did we ally ouselves to a known butcher in Joe Stalin? Nations face similar dilemmas. The Roosevelt administration formed a strategic alliance with Joe Stalin, a known butcher of millions of his own people, to fight Adolf Hitler, a man they considered to be a greater threat. That difficult decision determined the survival of the free world.
Some people call us liberators, others conquerors, martyrs, fanatics, heroes, or just plain nut cases....its' all relative. Write the history and call them what you like.
Thanks to the information age and the internet, that argument is not as powerful as it used to be, now we can see the history written from all sides.
2006-10-24 12:20:25 · answer #7 · answered by Its not me Its u 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no.
history IN THE MANUALS is written by the winners. however, if you are truly interested you can find alternative sources of history. then you can judge what all of them are saying and make up your own mind.
history is facts. the historical books are opinions on those facts. you have to see what they all have in common and that will be your historical truth.
2006-10-24 10:32:43 · answer #8 · answered by ilya 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
History is a documentation of the past.
2006-10-24 09:49:04 · answer #9 · answered by mimi 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
History: Something that never happened, written by someone who wasn't there.
2006-10-24 07:25:49 · answer #10 · answered by Goddess of Grammar 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋