'History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren't there. '
George Santayana
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Read the following article on the BBC website. www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17515305
It gives examples of 5 long held truths about the Titanic that were actually myths formented by Hollywood. Napoleon Bonaparte commented that 'History is a set of lies agreed upon' whilst Mark Twain also noted that 'Half of writing history is hiding the truth'.
Is History a pack of lies? Are films helpful to a historian? Consider other 'lies' throughout history and whether or not in the classroom History teachers like myself are wasting your time. Can you belive what we tell you?
Remember to keep it clean- anything deemed offensive will be deleted.
Happy posting!
Mr A
Mr A! This is completely off at a tangent do but remember giving us (your Braeburn yr11 history class) login details for http://www.activehistory.co.uk? Is there any chance you can email me them at pmavji@hotmail.co.uk, or was I just having a really weird dream and you don't actually have login details for the site? Thanks, Priyesh.
ReplyDeleteI think that it's important to know the undisputed facts eg. the fact that the Titanic did sink. However, because we are encouraged to make inferences based on these facts eg. the fact that there were bars between third class passengers and the decks where the life boats were leading to an inference that the bars were meant to ensure the first class passengers had more chance of getting to safety than the third class we can create opinions but we present them as facts when in fact they are just inferences.
ReplyDeleteTo anonymous, whether the Titanic did or did not sink can not be argued, however the issue is that with history there tends to be a misconception of the truth. For example, most people think and would clearly state that women and children were the first to be put on the life boat, whereas it seems practical and satisfying in the movie, in reality more men survived than women & children. In a way I agree with what you have stated, but history loses its finesse due to the fact that some of the well known "facts" are passed on verbally, and like a rumour it spreads rapidly with more alterations occurring, until it is hard to differentiate between the true event and lies. This is what has made history seem as if it intends on hiding the truth. However that is just my opinion.
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