Over the last few years the world has become a bit topsy turvy but it feels like acquiesce to the truth is leading us more and more into a world where people’s fantasy replace everyone else’s facts.
Definition of Fact
A think that is known or proven to be true.
Definition of Alternative
Different from the usual or conventional
When I was growing up we didn’t have alternative facts and had I come up with anything like that, it would have been given another definition by my parents. That definition would have been probably called a lie.
It doesn’t really matter what my parents would have thought of any creative word play as a child but what does seem to be more concerning is moving further and further away from facts. This is true of a lot of issues that are currently taking place in the United States. It is embarrassing that the American politicians cannot keep their jobs without “coloring” the facts to kiss up to their constituents.
However, is it worse that simply repeating some falsehoods during a single presidency has convinced a relatively large number of people that they are true.
With enough repetition even questionable information becomes familiar. This is a pretty amazing feat to convert adults beliefs but just imagine what you could do if you were starting with a more malleable person with less overall knowledge – such as a child.
Nation State alternative facts
We will get a chance to see exactly how this plays out as China appears to have made the decision that Hong Kong was never a colony of Britain. This is actually a pretty bold change to erase approximately one hundred and fifty years of colonial rule from 1842 until 1997. This small bit of historical revisionism will be changed in the high school textbooks. Actually, it is pretty much the perfect age to introduce this type of information. Old enough to take the information seriously but not old enough with enough experience to critically question it. It is curious if all facts will be erased from history or just the main facts. Chinese President Jiang admitted in the handover speech that Hong Kong had been a colony.
It is possible that the Chinese government believes that white washing history might make the local population more controllable. Perhaps the idea that Hong Kong had more freedoms under British rule than they enjoy under their own government might not sit well with the population. I suspect that the old politicians in China are terrified that there could be another Tienanmen square style incident. The popular uprising that occurred from 2019 to 2020 were perhaps a canary in the coalmine of worse things to come if not dealt with.
1984 by George Orwell
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
