Points i Ponder - History
* In most cases, as we pass down a snippet of history from one generation to the next, what we essentially hand down is a set of second-hand prejudices. Again in most cases, these can neither be verified nor dispelled, but can only be digested inspite of their one-sideness.
* They say 'History is always written by the Victor'. But more often than not, there is always an alternative history running in the back alleys in the form of personal accounts or diaries, official / unofficial correspondence, or individual research. However, most of this barely ever makes it to the limelight. (Thus contributing to point #1). History is therefore, mostly written by the more powerful, the one with the louder voice and more allies.
* Man, by nature, is fascinated with power. And power walks in the shadows of destruction. From the days of the first Egyptian Pharaoh to the present pseudo-democratic states, history repeats itself with uncanny perfection. The same interest-driven rulers, political coups, shrewd back-stabbers, threatened scholars, illicit liaisons, have expertly cloned themselves through the ages. Lessons lost in history?
* But in The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (by Milan Kundera), Mirek says: 'The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting'. Public attention is a capricious mistress. And her servants in media have long learnt the tricks of keeping her satisfied. Everything is sensationalized, some hullabaloo follows, and before long a brand new event takes over the memory of the masses. Is it any surprise then, that pieces of the past raise their head evey now and then as "new" eveidence is uncovered? A dynamic history where the past is rewritten only in a present where it is "safe" to do so?
* It is perhaps just as well too! It is clearly in the interest of all that we forget easily. That we are able to re-look at events and places and people with fresh young eyes. When the beauty overshadowed by the blood shed is finally revealed. Because we forget, we forgive. But what about those who don't forget? Those victims who suffered the pain and cannot forget. Will they ever forget? Will they ever forgive? What is "to forgive" anyway?
* And then there are those parasites who feed off history. Who are in powerful positions and capable of stirring public memory by just a wave of the hand. To gain support and cause riots. I wonder if history has a word for them. If it does, I'm sure its a bad word.
* They say 'History is always written by the Victor'. But more often than not, there is always an alternative history running in the back alleys in the form of personal accounts or diaries, official / unofficial correspondence, or individual research. However, most of this barely ever makes it to the limelight. (Thus contributing to point #1). History is therefore, mostly written by the more powerful, the one with the louder voice and more allies.
* Man, by nature, is fascinated with power. And power walks in the shadows of destruction. From the days of the first Egyptian Pharaoh to the present pseudo-democratic states, history repeats itself with uncanny perfection. The same interest-driven rulers, political coups, shrewd back-stabbers, threatened scholars, illicit liaisons, have expertly cloned themselves through the ages. Lessons lost in history?
* But in The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (by Milan Kundera), Mirek says: 'The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting'. Public attention is a capricious mistress. And her servants in media have long learnt the tricks of keeping her satisfied. Everything is sensationalized, some hullabaloo follows, and before long a brand new event takes over the memory of the masses. Is it any surprise then, that pieces of the past raise their head evey now and then as "new" eveidence is uncovered? A dynamic history where the past is rewritten only in a present where it is "safe" to do so?
* It is perhaps just as well too! It is clearly in the interest of all that we forget easily. That we are able to re-look at events and places and people with fresh young eyes. When the beauty overshadowed by the blood shed is finally revealed. Because we forget, we forgive. But what about those who don't forget? Those victims who suffered the pain and cannot forget. Will they ever forget? Will they ever forgive? What is "to forgive" anyway?
* And then there are those parasites who feed off history. Who are in powerful positions and capable of stirring public memory by just a wave of the hand. To gain support and cause riots. I wonder if history has a word for them. If it does, I'm sure its a bad word.