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Another great quote along these lines, from near the beginning of section IV: > Early in life I had noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newsp

Another great quote along these lines, from near the beginning of section IV: > Early in life I had noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper, but in Spain, for the first time, I saw newspaper reports which did not bear any relation to the facts, not even the relationship which is implied in an ordinary lie. I saw great battles reported where there had been no fighting, and complete silence where hundreds of men had been killed. I saw troops who had fought bravely denounced as cowards and traitors, and others who had never seen a shot fired hailed as the heroes of imaginary victories, and I saw newspapers in London retailing these lies and eager intellectuals building emotional superstructures over events that had never happened. I saw, in fact, history being written not in terms of what happened but of what ought to have happened according to various ‘party lines’.

hindsightbias 6y ago
That’s how I feel about a lot historical wiki entries on anything pre-wiki and post my self awareness. What we saw or were taught are not referenced because they’re in books or not linkable. So the only truths are what is on the internet.
archibaldJ 6y ago
This reminds me in Japanese museums you can see paintings depicting Japan’s involvements in WW2 as a noble effort to liberate Asia. And meanwhile in mainland China everything about how the current party comes to power would inevitably be in rose-colored lenses if you look through the official sources. This makes one skeptical if all these historical war-related events that we still have records of actually happened as described. And as a Chinese I started to doubt how much things recorded in Shiji from 84BC (aka “The Records”, and has been called a "foundational text in Chinese civilization”) was actually true. I guess such is the dilemma of postmodernism.

hindsightbias 6y ago

That’s how I feel about a lot historical wiki entries on anything pre-wiki and post my self awareness. What we saw or were taught are not referenced because they’re in books or not linkable. So the only truths are what is on the internet.

archibaldJ 6y ago

This reminds me in Japanese museums you can see paintings depicting Japan’s involvements in WW2 as a noble effort to liberate Asia. And meanwhile in mainland China everything about how the current party comes to power would inevitably be in rose-colored lenses if you look through the official sources. This makes one skeptical if all these historical war-related events that we still have records of actually happened as described. And as a Chinese I started to doubt how much things recorded in Shiji from 84BC (aka “The Records”, and has been called a "foundational text in Chinese civilization”) was actually true. I guess such is the dilemma of postmodernism.