Zinn Importance of History
Essay by review • February 24, 2011 • Essay • 385 Words (2 Pages) • 1,540 Views
When I was reflecting on question one, a couple of things came to my mind. Number one; the genesis of the word history, was it his-story? Number 2 is it not a form of ideological control?
Henry Kissinger from his book; A World Restored says "History is a memory of the state". Kissinger being the poster child of world dominance and imperialistic policy was speaking from the prospective of the elite. This is a very dangerous idea from a man in control of foreign relations, during the nuclear age. So what is the benefit to misrepresenting history? I think the prophetic George Orwell sums it up by his famous quote "He, who controls the present, controls the past. He, who controls the past, controls the future." It is a grand conspiracy to shape the minds of the masses. Even today we can see how dangerous the world has become with wars and economic oppression, all based on what we know as lie, IE: "Weapons of Mass Destruction".
This brings me to ideological control. The number one best seller 'The Holy Bible' says "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:24). I feel this is an indoctrination of a defeatist attitude. It promotes the class system and the acceptance that when you are born into poverty you are destined to remain, and overcoming it is a sin. This has been put in place to the benefit of the elite. After all, if you look on the cover of the most popular version, it says The King James Version. Did he partake in rewriting history? Absolutely! His ideas are used to control the masses.
History is a lie that the masses all agree upon. As the old saying goes "there are two sides to every story", even Zinn agrees that he has a stake in the righting of history. The Latin phrase for such things is, Qui Bono or who benefits?
As far as answering the question, why is this important to me? It is very important to me in the fact that the masses often forget deception. It better grounds me in a world filled with lies and deception.
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