The big lie

[Pervert]

Recent posts have raised questions about so much we take for granted as history. Between conspiracy theorists and holocaust deniers, those of us not in the know are left to wonder whether we're being gulled by the powers that be---whether what we accept as history is real.

There are two histories: what is known and what we think is known---generally perceived history, if you will. Talk about the Roman, and everyone thinks roads, baths, aqueducts etc---yet the Romans stole all those things from other civilisations. The fact that the Romans are associated with stuff they stole is proof that they hid their parasitic nature, and are seen as an innovative people.

Much of the 20th century is a blur of what happened, what we think happened and what others want us to believe. The present problems between the Muslim and western worlds have their roots in the first world war, if not before. Many of the present day countries and kingdoms were set up with the help of the British and French after that conflict. After the second world war, Israel seemd a godsend---an area of the Middle East we could rely on for an ally. No questions about the right of the Jewish people to declare a country somewhere that had not been theirs for millennia. Imagine the furore if rest of the world decided the native Americans should have their country back; or the Maoris in New Zealand, the aborigines in Australia. Yet we in the west were happy with the thought of a people coming home after 1900 years (not 200-300, in those other examples) and just taking over. Imagine if the Celtic people of the British Isles decided that those of Norse, Anglo-Saxon or Norman descent didn't belong here. How would that be received?

Hitler said the bigger the lie, the more people would believe it. The rehabilitation of Stalin, the communist monster, the paranoid mass-murderer, as "Uncle Joe" to the western press during the second world war is a fine example. But there are many other examples.

In the fervour of anti-Muslim hysteria, we've forgotten many things---or been encouraged to forget them. The west backed the despotic Shah of Iran, creating a situation where the fundamentalists could take over. As a result of the Iranian revolution, Britain, France and the US sold weapons and provided military aid and advice to the leader of neighbouring Iraq, a murderous gangster called Saddam Hussein. Oh, and we did the same for the heroic tribes people of Afghanistan fighting the invading Russians: the heroes that would later become the Taliban.

I'm pretty sure if we could take prints from all the major problem areas of the 20th century, the dabs of America, Britain or France would be evident in most of them.

Are we too hasty in dismissing conspiracy theorists? Is there some underlying pattern behind current affairs? A puppetmaster somewhere pulling various strings?

[mart]

Ehhhh?
Are you on the right planet let alone the right thread?

Mart