The new blog series

I take a perverse pleasure in destroying illusions whenever I have the opportunity. I've decided to begin a new blog series; Uncooked, devoted to revealing facts about events in our history and our present that typically go unknown. I know a good deal about history but I'm by no means a historian. While I collect my historical knowledge from a variety of sources I urge anyone reading my Uncooked series to take the initiative to fact-check what I write about. My information comes from many sources and, like much historical information, it is often wrong, but perhaps less wrong than the high-school history books we grew up with or the nonsense regurgitated to us through the television. Hopefully, at least, it is more thought provoking.

The sad reality of the information we have at our fingertips is that it is often inaccurate, filtered through bias eyes, or an outright lie. As time goes on it becomes difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. While the fact that World War 2 occurred is inarguable, the political and cultural events leading up to that profound event grow more distorted with every passing day. There will undoubtedly be a day when one historian argues with another about the real events that lead up to World War 2.

Today we know that Christopher Columbus landed in America in 1492. This event lead to the eventual colonization of North and South America. These events certainly occurred but the details of their occurrence have become obscured by time. How long did Columbus' voyage take? Where did he land? Historians can make reasonable guesses as to these facts but can not be 100% certain about the information they pass on to us and future historians. This is not fault of theirs, it is the nature of human memory to fade or change with time. Photography and video is an invention of the modern era but somehow I doubt these inventions will help generations third and fourth removed from ours be any more accurate about our current history than we are about our grandfathers.

My goal with this blog is to help people to understand that the world we live in today is shaped by the world of yesterday and, hence, the world of tomorrow is shaped by the world of today. People are not perfect and, as a result, the world we live in today is not perfect. Our idols, our fathers were human, just as we are. George Washington was both a hero of the American Revolution and a slave owner. His dark side does not diminish his light. Abraham Lincoln waged a civil war, in part, to end slavery but also held views so racist you might hear them repeated at a KKK rally. The world is not always a pretty place and our fathers are not always saints. One can not look into the light side of those faces without also looking into the dark.

 

First post coming soon.

Tagged with: history, lie, misconception, think, truth, Uncooked