 | | | Subject: History
Posted May 30, 2004 by OPAL_ideas
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 | | Not being aboriginal to the Americas, nor to England, France, or other colonial peoples, may I add a few points regarding "History", as it relates to our understanding of where we now are and where countries like the United States and Canada have come from. (whew! )
"History is written by the winners." This is in the near term, and is often indistinguishable from propaganda.
There are further stages (sorry to those who feel I am rubbing them the wrong way): Some history is rewritten by the whiners. Some history is rephrased by the academics. Some history is rigorously backed up by reference to objective evidence.
Anhaga, I like your entry and don’t think it falls into any of the above. But it would be a fascinating project, don’t you think, to delve into the daily lives of the participants. Pontiac and his family, the French Jesuits who fomented the aboriginal rebellion, the “British” soldiers and their officers, the landscape as it was then, the technology that restricted communication, and the daily grind for survival that allowed only so much time to be spent on the luxury of warfare.
What does history tell us? Is it a comforting confirmation that we are here (I live in Essex County, the Canadian side of the Detroit River) because we are “supposed” to be here? What does that mean?
History continues to repeat and repeat through the ages and on every continent, I propose, because we are so good at advocacy – spinning the events to suit present exigencies, And because each “winner” is so good at co-opting the losers.
Digging like an archeologist through dried up dung-heaps does yield gems of truth. But, I admit, that is a very difficult task, agreeable to only a few individuals.
So, short of a rigorous pursuit of scraps of objective evidence, what is the real status of so many “histories” of events?
(Sorry - my nickname should, perhaps, be “Wet Blanket”, as I keep looking at things in a way that is out of phase with others around me.)
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| | | Subject: History
Posted May 30, 2004 by anhaga
This is a reply to this Posting
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2
 | | Thanks for the points, OPAL:
 maybe I misunderstand, but it doesn't seem to me that you're being a wet blanket. Your questions are valid, relevant and interesting questions. I'm not sure that I have an answer for any of them except to say that, yes, I think the project you outline would be very interesting (Anthony J. Hall at the University of Lethbridge is working on a project somewhat similar [but only somewhat] called "The Bowl with one Spoon"). I don't think good history tells were here because were supposed to be here; good history tells us here are the reasons we are here. That type of history can be written by either the winners, the losers or the whiners and still be good history.
Yes, digging like an archaeologist doesn't suit everyone. I've done it (Late Imperial Roman) and it does suit me.
How's Essex county doing? I used to live in Windsor. It was very nice except for its lack of winter.
And: So if my entry doesn't fall into any of those categories, where does it fall?
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| | | Subject: History
Posted May 30, 2004 by OPAL_ideas
This is a reply to this Posting
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4
| | Anhaga, you are a teaser! Of course, this forum doesn't allow for, nor expect, a treatise. So a fine entry like yours may push a potatoe or two off the couch to dig into the facts.
Windsor is warming. And smogging. Bush's latest environmental edict is allowing all the old coal-fired power plants to expand to any size they want, and to do so under their old pollution rules (cough cough).
As soon as somebody buys one of my scripts, I'm outta here! Victoria is nice.
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