Revisionism

sa

As more facts about past events come to light, it becomes necessary to re-evaluate them taking the new information into account. All history is constantly being reviewed. It is a natural process. It is an important process. The only way to judge the future is to accurately compare current trends and events to those of earlier times. It has been said that the good thing about experience is that one can recognize a mistake when it is made again. So it is with history, the sum of recorded human experience. Historical revisionism is the process of changing the human record so that it more accurately represents events as they actually occurred. Often there is resistance to the process of bringing history in accord with the facts. The reason for this is history is not simply a record of events, but is also a resource from which a world view is drawn. A re- examination or re-evaluation of important historical events can be viewed as a threat to the political status quo and to interests upon whose power partially rests the established view of these events. It has also been said that historians have the power to upset everything. Vested interests take a dim view of having everything upset.