History as we know is one of the most impactful factors in defining how our society is evolving. We learn it from schools and go on learning for many years. It used to be one of the most boring subjects for many. People had issues memorizing dates of wars, births, deaths and events happened centuries ago.
It’s always great to learn from the past. We learn it from school books, newspapers, magazines and most recently from internet. History has given us plenty of knowledge, about people, traditions, discoveries and also about wars, politics and countries. It gave us pride as well as guilt.
History might give us knowledge about past events, but many have questioned its authenticity. It has been manipulated for various reasons by almost every civilization. In old times, after major wars, books and manuscripts of previous events glorifying losing side were destroyed and rewritten. Many kingdoms used history books to spread their propaganda. Modern countries manipulated it under the pretext of nationalism and added information which was suited to them. Similar to the “truth”, history has 3 versions: the one I read, the one you read and the one actually happened.
In the times of fake news, some people have tried to create fake history too. It’s questionable how much we should believe in it. We cannot recollect past events in our own lives accurately. So it is difficult to accept events happened centuries ago to be exactly as they are being told.
History gives us hooks to cling on to past. But sometimes overdose of past isn’t good for the future.
1 Comment
Very nice!