Re: PC thuggery :) Herstory/History

list James E. Hopkins wrote:

> It would be interesting to see oppressed groups write the Story and see=
 how
> differently the same events are viewed by those not in a position to im=
pose
> their views.
>
> Commonly held "history" among women, African-Americans, and American In=
dians
> differs greatly from what we learn here (USA) in school.
It certainly does.  Only a few months ago, PBS (the public televisionnetw=
ork in America)
broadcast a series about the Mexican War of
1846-48.  The popular view of the Mexican historians on it sublimely
disregarded the fact that General Santa Ana was a ruthless dictator
(who flagrantly denied the restless Texans the rights that had been
promised them under the Constitution of 1821) in order to make
stronger their case that the war was only one of the first of many wars
of American imperialism.

What this shows is that all history is a matter of interpretation, and th=
at
any one group is just as likely as another to superimpose its own beliefs
onto what really happened in order to bolster its own dogma; oppressed
groups aren't any better indicators of the truth than oppressors are just
because they're oppressed.  You're right:  we need to search for the trut=
h,
but don't look for it in any one group just because they're that group.

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Tom Wier <twier@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: Deuterotom
Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."

"S=F4=F0 is gecy=FEed / =FE=E6t mihtig God manna
cynes / w=EAold w=EEde-ferh=F0."
 _Beowulf_, ll. 700-702
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