today (just now in fact) i got a bit of a lesson in how history works.
It's selective
by those who write it down. they select what they think is important. they select who they think is important. some time ago when few people could read and write they could just make it up. Certainly word of mouth survives a certain amount of time, but soon that turns into rumour, gossip and myth. Nowadays you'd think with high literacy levels people at least have a method to check things and argue. But then there is this fabulous new medium called the internet. It stores information. Some true, some not so true. Anybody can now basically write about anything. Which is a good thing as it supports democracy. But then...there is also a lot of rubbish out there. I wonder whether at some point it will become impossible to distinguish between what's true and what's not quite so true (nevermind selection as much as outright lying). are people just gonna believe what they deem to be true or what is most suitable? but then again...most people do that anyway. makes you wonder though how much of history actually happened the way we think it did and how much is 'interpreted'.
why am i writing about this...today i got deselected...
2007-05-13 @ 00:17