The Truth About History

An essay I had to write for my Writing class a week or so ago. Thought I'd post it and give you guys something new to read, if you were interested.

Through the ages we humans have passed down, both orally and in writing, the history of things. But tell me, who determines the relevance and importance of these details? A smal detail that I might suggest as a remarkable point in history might not be seen as such in another person's perspective. Considering this, then, isn't history biased? 

 

It is my belief that there are different kinds of history: Personal History, Relative History and Factual History. Let me now elaborate on all of these.

 

Personal History

Personal History is the history of each person. Everyone's Personal History is different as no two people can experience the same event in exactly the same way. Personal History would be like the birthing of a child. The mother of said child would recall the event almost completely differently than the father of the child, the doctor, or anyone else there in the delivery room. True that they all might have a similar recollection of events; however, their personal details would differ based on their personal perspective.

 

Relative History

This kind of history is the history we are taught in school or read about in books or over the internet. Relative History is a bit less biased than Personal History; however, perspective is still an issue. We learn about the American Revolutionary War differently than the British probably recall the events. Therefore, our points of view on the events are biased for the fact that an American scholar most likely wrote our history books. You might now wonder what the difference between Personal and Relative history is. Well, the difference is that Personal History is only fully understood by the person experiencing their own Personal History. Relative History is information taught to a group of people where all share the same common knowledge of events.

 

Factual History

History that is factual is history in its unbiased form, as long as the evidence is given to support a claimare correct and unaltered. Remember that birth I meantioned earlier? That Personal History can be made Factual by simply taking out all of the commentary and bias and stating that such-and-such gave birth to so-and-so on this date at this time in this place. Correct me if I am wrong, but there isn't any bias there and the information given is completely Factual.

 

The same can happen with Realative History as well. Take out the bias and you're left with purely fact. Yes, the United States did win the American Revolutionary War and gained its independence. Can this be proven otherwise? Not as far as I know.

 

So, restating all that I just stated: history only becomes unbiased when it is made into pure fact. Pure fact is only given when all commentary and perspectives are stripped away and information is genuine and unaltered/ Now, I could very well be wrong about this, but these are my views on history. this is my definition and it is completely relative, as much of life is. Argue with me and disagree with me if you insist, but who is to say that I am wrong? Your views are just as relative as mine.

Reviews

[WayOath]

The mother of said child would

ha ha that made me think ADDAMS FAMILY...

Dood, i love that you have your own views..just give you a chalk board...or these days a mimio and you'll be off teaching this lol. yea, I see where you're coming from its as if your in the front of the room giving the speech...cough cough....even though i don't know you :). But yea, intriguing work...i like your view it makes me wanna have a new favorite comment.....essay....same difference lol

[Gathering_Stars]

Of course history is biased, history is written by the winner. In fact, in many cultures, important world events such as the Holocaust are basically erased from a their history. Although the internet is the most accesible remedy to this problem, it still exists.

I do like your last line, very witty : )