If you're wondering how history works, how 'winners' get to tell the story that suits them, and build statues to it, then just look at the way the present works. The media, the first draft of history so-called, completely defaults to the status quo and sees what suits it
I mean, the number of things you have to elide, to erase, to forget, to fudge, to ignore, to rationalise away, in order to convince yourself that Scott Morrison is doing a good job and is just the well-meaning bumblefuck from central casting, is a masterclass in willed amnesia
From sports rorts, to the buggered up response to the bushfires, through to his comments about slavery, and his totally conflicted response to ending lockdown (sports good, protests bad): How do you convince yourself to ignore all that? To accentuate the positive?
But it happens.
But it happens.
Now multiply that by generations of govts doing everything from choosing who to build statues to, naming streets or rivers or mountains after, every law passed & speech given & pretty soon lie, deception, prejudice, a point of view is baked into the fabric of society & normalised
This is what people are trying to pull down. Not bloody statues.
They are trying to tell their own stories, build their own monuments, simply be recognised for their own experience and contribution.
But no: the status quo instantly commandeers the front page and says, NO.
They are trying to tell their own stories, build their own monuments, simply be recognised for their own experience and contribution.
But no: the status quo instantly commandeers the front page and says, NO.
We can barely tell the truth in the present, with video footage of the knee on the throat.
What chance does history stand?
What chance does history stand?
