Skip to content

Our Digital Dust

Reflections on three fathers' experience and lives for our kids

April 30, 2017 The Revisionist History of Revisionist History

admin April 30, 2017 1 Comment

Most of the time I hear someone use the term “revisionist history” it’s used in a negative connotation. This has become ever more the case in the past decade as people discuss the Clinton economy, the Iraq War or 9/11. It has come to mean an alteration of the truth of history in order to present a more optimistic or pessimistic version of historical events. However, the origin of the term does not carry that connotation. It was meant to counter the embellishments applied by storytellers (not historians) when writing about historical figures–storytellers such as Parson Weems who fabricated the story of George Washington and the cherry tree or John Smith’s yarn about his relationship with Pocohantas.

Not long after the Treaty of Versailles ended WWI, historians discussing the documentation of that conflict determined that Germany should not bear the entirety of blame for the global conflict that was supposed to end all other wars. In reality, the Allies significantly contributed to the causes that led to Germany’s aggression and the our written history should not be so subjectively one-sided. The result was a decision to “revise” the written history of that conflict. History transitioned from a cold expression of dates and “facts” to a living, evolving conversation about events and the reasons behind them. The act of revising history evolved over the next couple of decades until historians generally devised a construct that suggested looking at historical events through four different lenses: political, economic, racial and sexual

Here are a few things we might not know about if it wasn’t for revisions history: Sally Hemmings, Malcom X, Tuskegee Airmen, Japanese Interment Camps, the Trail of Tears, and more.

Interesting fact: The following brands/products were created by Nazi Germans: Volkswagon, Hugo Boss clothing, Siemens, and orange Fanta. True, orange Fanta was created because the Coca-Cola plants in Germany could not produce Coca-Cola after the trade embargo so a Nazi German Coca-Cola employee created the recipe for orange Fanta in order to allow the plant to produce something. Also, did you know the that wholesome, international company IBM actually developed the technology that allowed Nazi Germans to keep track of Jewish prisoners in concentration camps? I didn’t, but I’m revising my understanding of history.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Uncategorized

One Comment

  1. Bob Hale says:
    April 30, 2017 at 8:02 pm

    Fuzzy memories feed revisionist history, too. 🙂

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

April 2017
M T W T F S S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
« Mar   May »

Recent Posts

  • Lent, Life, and Liberty
  • February 15, 2021 – Dingo Dogs, Moose, and Retirement
  • February 10, 2021 – Sweetness
  • Stop Me If You’ve Heard This Before…
  • January 24, 2021 – Carpe Annos Singulos (Seize the Year!)

Recent Comments

  • ROBERT HALE on February 10, 2021 – Sweetness
  • Bob Hale on Stop Me If You’ve Heard This Before…
  • June Hale on January 3, 2021 – We are back for 2021!
  • June Hale on January 3, 2021 – We are back for 2021!
  • Bob Hale on Welcome to a New Year?

Archives

  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • April 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017

Our Twitter Feed

Follow @@ourdigitaldust

Digital Dust
@ourdigitaldust

  • We have a new post at #ourdigitaldust! New post: Lent, Life, and Liberty https://t.co/ZaH7BcXQ2u
    about 1 week ago
  • We have a new post at #ourdigitaldust! New post: February 15, 2021 – Dingo Dogs, Moose, and Retirement https://t.co/CA7u1k9ejn
    about 2 weeks ago
  • We have an updated post at #ourdigitaldust! Post Edited: February 10, 2021 – Sweetness https://t.co/mhcyfJNaNt
    about 3 weeks ago
  • We have a new post at #ourdigitaldust! New post: Sweetness https://t.co/mhcyfJNaNt
    about 3 weeks ago
  • We have an updated post at #ourdigitaldust! Post Edited: Stop Me If You’ve Heard This Before… https://t.co/SgIcjSPXk8
    about 4 weeks ago
  • We have a new post at #ourdigitaldust! New post: Stop Me If You’ve Heard This Before… https://t.co/SgIcjSPXk8
    about 4 weeks ago
  • We have an updated post at #ourdigitaldust! Post Edited: January 24, 2021 – Carpe Annos Singulos (Seize the Year!) https://t.co/RUSFg3hOVa
    about 1 month ago
  • We have a new post at #ourdigitaldust! New post: January 24, 2021 – Carpe Annos Singulos (Seize the Year!) https://t.co/RUSFg3hOVa
    about 1 month ago
  • We have a new post at #ourdigitaldust! New post: A New Day https://t.co/TyMm5AMnEp
    about 1 month ago
  • We have a new post at #ourdigitaldust! New post: Welcome to a New Year? https://t.co/xdeWTPs78Q
    about 2 months ago
Copyright © 2021. Our Digital Dust
Powered By WordPress and Silver Quantum