The End of History?

[Benwahwah]

I posted this over at evilyoshida.com and thought you guys might be interested in reading it:

In 1992 after the fall of the Berlin Wall Francis Fukuyama claimed the following:

"What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government."

In this statement he claimed that Western liberal democracy was the peak of human ideological evolution, the most perfect form of governance that we can have. This is obviously up for debate.

However I also think that we are at the end of history as we know it, but for a different reason set out by Fukuyama. So please bear with me while I make my case.

For centuries we have studied history in the hope that we can learn from the past. This has been both beneficial and a hinder acne to our development. Beneficial that we have seen things that have come and gone that didn't work, so we were hopefully able to learn from our mistakes. However, the fact that history has always been written by the victors of wars has been a hinderance to our development as we are always going to get a biased take on this.

Until now though I feel that the biased slant of history that we have received has been of a low enough level that it has still been possible to discern what has happened.

In 1960's America there was the rise of the neo-cons. They aimed to control the output of everything that we see. In doing this they were able to steer the American population to a climate of fear. The threat of the Cold War and the ensuing Vietnam War ensured that the population was easily controllable.

This way of controlling the population has spread across the rest of the Western World. For the last 30-40 years the West has been involved in many different wars, on an almost continuous basis. Throughout this period they have been writing the history books and wiping out dissenting views of the world.

It is important to remember that the people who have been waging these wars are the masters of spin. So whenever 'history' is now being written we won't necessarily get a state of events that even resemble the truth.

No longer do we hear on the media of how the insurgents that the Western Governments are waging their war against were in fact put there by the powers that are now ousting them. Without this knowledge how is the mass population ever meant to learn from the mistakes that their forefathers have made?

It is for this reason that I think that History is now over. We can no longer trust what is being taught to us by the people in power. There are a few voices that seem like they are dissenting, and that very well may be the case. But the population at large seems to have lost the ability to view things critically. Blindly believing anything that is posted on the Internet.

With the advent of the Internet and things like social media and the cult of celebrity we have become sheep who are more concerned with taking selfies, worrying what each other is having for dinner, and the hopes and dreams of becoming rich and famous, whether we have any notable skills or not.

So to summarise, I think that History as we knew it is over. We are asked every 4-5 years to vote a political party into power. We never have enough information or inclination to truly make an informed decision. If we will never learn from our past mistakes how can we ever hope to avoid them in the future.

[greenseed]

i agree to a degree but the MSM that you speak of has been ever so slow to adapt to the internet age. It seems as if alternate sources, (vice,tyt etc.) whether they always tell the 'truth' or not, are the NEW media that may be more openly critical of the established order. A number of these alt media sites are undoubtedly psy-ops of some sort though so who knows................ good post though.

[Masato]

I still have hope that one day we will discover some great archive, or tap the akashic records, or have aliens come down and set shit straight for us.

It sounds like I'm joking but I'm not, lol

It is my growing and serious suspicion that ALL our 'known' history is all fucking wrong. History is written by the winners; those who controls the present control the past.

One day this Global Imperialism will also pass... this IS the history. But what will be remembered, and by whom? Who will write the story?

I always say there are 2 'Histories': The real one, and the recorded one. The difference between the 2 are usually vast.

Often real history cannot be explained, it can't be summed up in a story. There is simply too much happening, the story is too infinitely complex to be told. It is simply great changes of the Tao.

And who is anyone to define it?

[Som-Pong]

As a historian I agree. With the caveat that it's never been real. The greatest historian to have ever lived is Duiker. Bet none of you've ever heard of him?

[Masato]

Nope.

Give us a lesson, Uncle Pong!

[Som-Pong]

555 Megatherium is Uncle, not me :D Shit I'm only 30.
Duiker is the Imperial Historian of the Malazan Empire. Which is the greatest fantasy series ever written. His take on history also aligns somewhat with what Benny Hill wrote.

[Masato]

Benny Hill wrote about history?

[Benwahwah]

Benny Hill wrote about history?

I'm pretty sure he is referring to me.

The name Benwahwah has its origins in my nickname being Benny as I used to look like Benny Hill as a child.

[Som-Pong]

Hey mate, without the beard I reckon you'd still do. How's the weight loss going?

[Benwahwah]

Over the summer it went really well, I lost about 40 pounds / 18 kilos. Went back into a rut when I started Uni again but I've just started dieting hard again so hopefully the weight will stat shooting down again.

It needs to, because at the end of this academic year I am planning and expecting to be teaching abroad and I don't want to be paying for to plane seats!