2 ms·

I am informed that "History is written by the victor" is bad historical thinking, one that people should not use in their arguments. Presently, the past is cons

by kiba 7y ago

I am informed that "History is written by the victor" is bad historical thinking, one that people should not use in their arguments. Presently, the past is constantly interpreted by people, 'winners' and 'losers', historians with expertise, and folks with an axe to grind.

inerte 7y ago
History is written by the victor needs to be complemented with "and also by the wealthy" - it was very expensive to learn, produce and store the media used for reading and writing. Then the wealthy could care less about the peasant 500 miles away, but patronage artists dealing with subjects of their interest. This is specially important if you want to know how people truly felt during big historical moments, and compare them with modern lifestyle. We know very little about most of humanity throughout history, their feelings and worries and suffering and if they slept in 2 phases or whatever. So we have records of those big events, and practically no clue what the hell regular folks at that time thought about them.
jbattle 7y ago
It's a useful/pithy/concise reminder that "history" is not objective and very very often is a story told by people with an agenda.
FussyZeus 7y ago
> I am informed that "History is written by the victor" is bad historical thinking, one that people should not use in their arguments Who informed you of this? The person who wrote the histories of given events absolutely matters. Time and again textbooks have had to be recalled and reprinted because of crazy amounts of slighted disinformation that amounted to little more than sexism or racism on the part of the original authors.
coldtea 7y ago
Tell whoever informed you that they are wrong. The past might be "constantly interpreted", but it's the winners of each period who make the re-interpretation...

2 ms·

I am informed that "History is written by the victor" is bad historical thinking, one that people should not use in their arguments. Presently, the past is cons

by kiba 7y ago

inerte 7y ago
History is written by the victor needs to be complemented with "and also by the wealthy" - it was very expensive to learn, produce and store the media used for reading and writing. Then the wealthy could care less about the peasant 500 miles away, but patronage artists dealing with subjects of their interest. This is specially important if you want to know how people truly felt during big historical moments, and compare them with modern lifestyle. We know very little about most of humanity throughout history, their feelings and worries and suffering and if they slept in 2 phases or whatever. So we have records of those big events, and practically no clue what the hell regular folks at that time thought about them.
jbattle 7y ago
It's a useful/pithy/concise reminder that "history" is not objective and very very often is a story told by people with an agenda.
FussyZeus 7y ago
> I am informed that "History is written by the victor" is bad historical thinking, one that people should not use in their arguments Who informed you of this? The person who wrote the histories of given events absolutely matters. Time and again textbooks have had to be recalled and reprinted because of crazy amounts of slighted disinformation that amounted to little more than sexism or racism on the part of the original authors.
coldtea 7y ago
Tell whoever informed you that they are wrong. The past might be "constantly interpreted", but it's the winners of each period who make the re-interpretation...