The Death of History
For the benefit of Mr. Kite
There will be a show tonight on trampoline
Messrs K. and H. assures the public
Their production will be second to none
And of course Henry the Horse dances the the waltz
--Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite,
The Beatles
_____________________
History used to be something that Ranger believed was, at minimum, a reflection of truth albeit told by the victors (or the losers), but that may not be the reality.
As we are witnessing unfolding daily, history is like pipe smoke, blown about by the winds of chance. There is history, revisionism, and outright lies posing as history. When the history of the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©) is told, it will fall in the latter category.
Historians can detail the physical wars utilizing news stories, unit histories and OPLANS to discuss the realities, but what about the weight of issues that are cloaked in national security and classified secret? So much of the PWOT © falls in that realm: Secret budgets, prisons, black sites, black funds, torture and assassination -- programs cloaked in levels of secrecy/security, surrounded by lies, guarded by liars.
The history of the PWOT © will be a glorious lie that will never approach a modicum of truth. Like Al Franken wrote, it will be lies by the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.
That is a thing to consider.
Labels: lying liars, PWOT, U.S. history, war on terror
posted by rangeragainstwar at 7:08 AM
2 Comments:
history, by its very nature, tends to be very subjective. it is impossible to view events, in the past, or as they are happening without viewing through the prisms of culture, class, ethnicity, and experience.
as an exile, thucydides could not view the peloponniesian war without bitterness and disgust with the athenians. although they gave us a lot to be disgusted with, squandering many chances to either negotiate a peace or win a complete victory over and over again.
and despite the many failings of the athenians, it is hard to admire the thuggish, anti-intellectual, regimented slave economy of sparta.
one of the reasons the athenians kept themselves in the game was their spirit and commitment to democracy. with all the shortcomings of democracy (one cannot forget that it was majority rule that executed socrates) it is an agile form of government that is able to shift gears, change directions suddenly. that's something a dual monarchy like sparta was unable to do. that's why their vaunted phalanx was unable to cope with the innovations of epaminondas, philip of macedonia and finally, the romans.
a good resource for applying scientific method to the study of history is carrol quigley's the evolution of civilization.
it provides a structure and framework for distilling the lessons from the liquor of fact.
Sometimes I think that history gets distorted simply because no one really cares about getting it right; even when there is an "objective "right".
I read this (on CNN) this morning: "KABUL, Afghanistan - A local Afghan leader says coalition forces shot and killed civilians on Thursday night, a claim disputed by the NATO-led force in Afghanistan.
Nasrutullah Arsala, head of the provincial council of Nangahar province, told CNN on Friday that troops killed nine civilians in Kushkak, a village in the Surkh Rod district of Nangahar, in eastern Afghanistan.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said Afghan and international troops traded fire with insurgents during an operation in Surkh Rod that left a Taliban sub-commander and other militants dead. The NATO-led command says evidence shows that civilians were not killed.
News of possible civilian casualties enraged locals. They staged a demonstration and tried to enter the district governor's compound. Police confronting the protesters shot and killed two civilians, Arsala said."
What the fuck?...over........"We don't kill civilians and if any civilians insist that we do, we'll kill them."
How do they print this shit with a straight face?
If such insane current events can blatantly slip through the public's BS filter, then how much more so events that took place way back in the past?
avedis
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