History is but a Myth That Mankind has decided as fact.

History is but a Myth That Mankind has decided as fact.

by Liv | Published on July 20th, 2009, 10:55 am | Arts

So last night I watched Assume The Position with Mr Wuhl. I've seen bits of it before but It's absolutely brilliant. (See Below for Videos) There were two great quotes on the show I adored:

History is but a Myth That Mankind has decided as fact.

[paraphrasing]

and a quote from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance:

When Legend becomes fact, print the legend.

Besides the obvious historical and educational things that are really surprising from the show, more importantly it really goes to show you how little we actually know of things. More importantly the next time your neighborhood journalist ribs you for being a blogger, remember in the bigger picture of the world neither of your work is going to matter. It's the movies, and the books that will go down in history... that writes history. One day we might all believe that in the year of 2009, Chevrolet Camaros transform into robots.

I mean, if history isn't real, then what is? Furthermore, we put so much trust in Newspapers but yet I've seen Citizen Cane and know that it's a corrupt often biased industry (just look at Fox News). Perhaps bloggers are just a genuine as the real thing? Perhaps none of it really matters?

I think the History Quote: (History is but a Myth That Mankind has decided as fact) is really something that can cross outside of the "History" folder tab and into religion, or even science. It appears to me that as humans we are in general, faulty in our ability to reason rationally and remember the facts.

Anyhow here's a bit of History from Mr Wuhl:

America was founded on a constitution with a grammatical error in the first sentence:
"In order to form a more perfect union."

The American Patriotic Song Yankee Doodle was actually a British song that mocked Americans.

"We will rock you" a song played at every sports arena and cheered on by homophobic burly men is sung by Queen whose lead singer was Freddie Mercury a gay man.

Isn't history lovely?

[youtubevideo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJNVgCHLR-k[/youtubevideo]

I fail to see what the examples that you have given have anything real impact on our view of history. Other than being ok questions for jeopardy I don't see the point.

Certainly, we have developed a set of patriotic myths around our history. Such as the heroic exploits of George Washington or Abe Lincoln. But that's a far cry from the collection of facts and rigorous work of judging those facts that comprise actual "history."

Just watch it and you'll see what Liv means. It's an entertaining lecture with tons of coink-a-dinks and filled to capacity with irony. If at least to get a giggle. Here's a nod to that famous historical poser Paul Revere! :clap:

I just want to give Liv props for quoting a Jimmy Stewart film. :dance:

Sanjuro wrote:I just want to give Liv props for quoting a Jimmy Stewart film.

Yeah.. and the "transformers" mention was for just you... :text-datsphatyo:

The real historical facts can be a bummer. They can quench the patriotic fervor. A quick look backwards shows that our great, moral country stands atop the corpses of murdered millions and its influence was spread with wars started based on lies and propaganda. There is the genocide of Native Americans, don't forget to Remember the Maine, The Gulf of Tonkin Incident and WMD and all the dirty little death squads we trained and financed. Oh, and for some reason, the people we call illegal immigrants feel they are merely returning to their Native lands.

Yes, to a moral person, a rational person, patriotism seems like vicious tribalism. Let's teach real history.