Who controls the historical record?

[Old and In the Way]

I was just ruminating about the huge chasm of "reality" that our country seems cleaved on. We here at DU, to a greater degree, see the advent of Bush Republicanism to be the dark threat to real democacy and social justice. Our polar opposites at the FreeRepublic, of course, have thrown in their chips to cover this pResident with the 'American Flag' (registered trade-mark of the Republican Party, pending). What we see as war crimes and lies to the American people are accepted as necessary moves in the 'War on Terror' (registered trade-mark of the Republican Party, pending) in the defense of this country.

So who gets to control the historical record? Them? Or us?

I think we do.....because the rest of the world agrees with our interpretation of this criminal administration.

[Turn CO Blue]

1. Do you mean that the world outside our Murikan borders

matters? (Gasp!)

[leftofthedial]

2. the survivors (nt)

[mrdmk]

3. The people who write the history, no different in the past as in the

present nor in the future!

[Old and In the Way]

5. But who are those people?

It's fair to say that Bush Republicanism and their coordinated media message spins our recent past history in their most favorable light. But, in terms of the rest of the world, a far more critical lens is used to report news/events and shape public opinion. Over time, can both competing histories be sustained?

[mrdmk]

12. The people in power

i.e. Those in control of money, media and government.

[rman]

16. There are many versions of history,

which ones you'll come across depends on how deep you dig.

Given that "they" own the mass media and given that the media are an important source for historians, it follows that they do write much of history as it is popularly known.

[proudbluestater]

18. Dear Old and in the way, that is such a SAD moniker!

The Repukes only control the message in the good old US of A. Look outside our borders and you will see that the world is on to this administration.

In the end, I think the world's view will be the one that wins out. Because that view is the TRUTH.

[Old and In the Way]

20. Think Bluegrass......that should put a smile on your face!

I agree, World history trumps national history.

[idiosyncratic]

4. I used to have a wonderful book about the teaching of history

I sure wish I still had it. Somewhere in my past seven moves it went missing.

Anyway, it was all about how the teaching of history changes with the times. Fascinating.

One would think history would be static. It isn't. It keeps getting reinterpreted.

[JoshK]

6. For the most part, history is written by the victors. n/t

[signmike]

7. What shows up in "The History Books" is always

controlled by those in power. Rich, old men. In this country it's rich, old white men.

[Old and In the Way]

8. Can the rich old white men control it, though?

The internet has made it nearly impossible to control the news distribution and framing.....and it is a threat to their version of history.

[charlie]

9. So far, the rat bastards are doing alright

Seems like there'll always be enough people with a desperate NEED to believe in American exceptionalism that they'll swallow lies, knowing full well that it's bullshit.

I'll say this, though -- God Bless the Internet. The widespread adoption of the Web happened at exactly the moment we needed it the most. As bad as things are, I tremble to think of how utterly boned we'd be without it.

[Pithy Cherub]

11. No they can not because history belongs to all of us.

What is read is chosen by the people of the time. Iconoclastic thinking takes much longer to take root but once it does, it is impossible to stop. Galileo was only acknowledged to be correct in 1992 by the Church. Hence, the white guys are fighting hard but no longer control all of the levers. Let's give them some more vegetable oil for their grip gloves...

[rman]

17. the net does have a positive effect but it's not a major force

(yet).
It's a threat allright but their control is strong enough so that only a tiny minority knows what's really going on. Though i do get the impression that many people who don't know are rather sceptical of the media, politics and business.

[illflem]

10. The Bible

is an excellent example of history rewritten in order enforce a certain view of the past that leans towards an specific agenda.
And it's been happening ever since...

[proud patriot]

13. Those who gather information and remember it

I hope DUers Play a big part in helping furture
generations to see what we did to fight the destruction
of the U.S. Constitution .

[Historic NY]

14. Oh they will twist it to their advantage but in the end the truth.......

usually comes out.....of course they might be doing a lot of shredding to cover up things.

[Lizzie Borden]

15. According to Orwell:

He who controls the present, controls the past.Hewho controls the past, controls the future.
1984

[NVMojo]

19. well, back in the old days, newspapers were the permanent archive

of the life of a community. One of the newspaper's I used to work at ...was family owned, Republican, but an old family newspaper ...they always bound each year's worth of newspapers at the end of the year into a large book and it was donated to the local museum.

The owner's wife who was part of the publishing team told me that ...about how a newspaper is part of archiving history.

Kinda worries me now when I think about the new Mainstream Media ...

[kodi]

21. frankly, we are facing the end of history as we know it.

the imprimatur of the ruling class on a specific version of past reality has been chipped away for several decades now and what remains as "history" can no longer be considered history in the historical sense.

the gate-keepers of history are superfluous once a critical mass of information dissemination is achieved. once there, the masses swarm over the walls and take the facts as they see fit and fit the facts to fit their own needs.

[Debs]

22. I wish I could be more optimistic that history would give a true picture

But tell me what you learned about the invasion of the Dominican Republic in history class? About the Phillipeans? The overthrowing of the democraticly elected governments in Brazil and Guatemala? About the Pullman strike of1894 or about the year of the great upheaval 1877 when railroad strikes changed the labor dynamics of the country and National Guard armories began to be built in all railroad towns across the country? What is history saying about who killed John Kennedy? Overall I am not optimistic I am sorry to say