What Most of us get Wrong With Characterising History

The Other Versions of a Story! 

4 to 5 min read

A Few Examples of How We Redefine The Facts!

Pocahontas...

The little truths we cling to are the building blocks of our world, but when we really test them, they're not always authentic. Let's just say, Pocahontas, for example, the Walt Disney  princess who, by marrying John Smith, brought Native Americans and European colonists closer. She was, in all truth, only a child of around ten years of age when she met Smith. Historically, Pocahontas played a very minor role in any of the developments that the big screen makes out, for example, she didn't marry Smith, but John Rolfe instead in 1614. 

Pocahontas engraving

Kingdom of Heaven: Relatable Heroes and Honour Dynamics...

This really is an awesome historical film! Balian of Ibelin is a peasant, a french blacksmith, who is taken by his repenting Crusader father and taught to fight, and then, they all go to the holy land where he pretty much single handedly saves Jerusalem before bedding Sybilla, sister of King Baldwin IV! Only issue is that it's all wrong: First off, Balian was born into the Christian Crusader nobility in Jerusalem, he was a trained military leader. It was highly unlikely that he mounted the monarch's sibling either, but yes, he was part of Jerusalem's defence, but he had lots of help! He would've simply blended in as one of the other heroic knights. 

Good Guys and Bad Guys: Concentrating on World War II Camps... 

When we talk about the US liberating concentration camps in the second world war, very few know that America used their own camps to imprison Japanese and Japanese-American citizens! Of course, they also took German and Italian Americans, given espionage and sabotage fears. US anti-Japanese propaganda featured deliberately racist cartoon caricaturization, which exaggerated and demonised Japanese features and moral character; the same was done to Jewish people in Germany by Nazi’s! Likewise, incarceration was also entirely dependent on race. 

Conditions inside the US camps were harsh with limited movement, echoing the racist regimes the allied forces were fighting. The US used the term ‘internment camps,’ which was much like rebranding the kettle, calling it the ‘water boiling device’. The ten internment camps, once stretching across the length and breadth of the country actually ended up getting quite a few people into some real hot water.

Well, there's more, have you ever heard of a Gulag? That was a corrective forced labour camp for anyone in, or around Russia deemed a threat to Stalin's politics. Anyone could do a stretch; ethnic minorities, religious folk, wealthy peasants (Kulaks) who would not surrender their land and animals to the regime. To be fair, you could find innocent people and criminals alike inside those labour camps. Why? Communist paranoia. 

Above all, between the 1920s and the 1950s, millions served pointless sentences and over a million individuals died. It’s not surprising how the most notorious of all concentration camps eclipsed the others; in reality, however, it was a dark side of humanity itself that had emerged. It was not limited to politics or nationalism or culture, but a human born evil!

From Dogma Breath to Holy Molars: A Theory About Divinity And Jesus Christ... 

Jesus Christ is never portrayed as an eye sore, but rather a man infused with the beauties that divinity might bring. Themes common in Greco-Roman culture such as Platonism, Aristotelianism and mythology later ended up in the words of Greek biblical writers, Christian Gnostics and Church Fathers. 

The Church began depicting Jesus with the essence of godlike qualities, look at Achilles of the Illiad, for example. Today, we see nearly all Christian scriptures are written in old Greek, and the ‘god in human form’ thing is abundantly clear — Alexander the Great influences? All Christian themed movies use attractive actors, well . . . I suppose there’s always an exception. We have to forgive whoever decided to cast Robert Powell, we all drop the ball from time to time! 

Could The Following be a More Realistic State of Events?:

Our Jesus Christ comes from the Greek, Iesous Christos, which referred to a Palestinian man who would have been known as Yeshua Ben Yosef or Yeshua ben Pantera, or maybe Yeshu Rabban (Jesus the teacher). The divinity of a person in early first century Judah usually signified being on some kind of mission for God, being in service for or holding a special relationship with Yahweh—Elaha, or Elohim in Aramaic or Hebrew, even Allaha. 

God is an English word from Proto-Germanic ǥuđán, phonetically: goo- than. Unlike Greco-Roman culture, some Jewish Aramaic speaking people were prophets or teachers. Divine presence was not a set of physical characteristics. This means that Yeshu was physically a regular person, in other words; he was not a chiselled divine biological specimen or a greek demigod figure. Elaha was an unseen quality. If Judas was paid to signal him out to the authorities, it was because Jesus was an unremarkable, 'everyman,' a Joe Bloggs, and not easily recognisable.

Many ancient Jews enjoyed rich carb diets high in bread which causes tooth decay. With no dentist available, many first century people, including Jesus, would most likely have experience poor oral health and tooth loss!

Everything Has a History Not Just a Version of Events! 

These are but a few simple threads, pulled loose from a large woven tapestry waiting to be unravelled. I’m not a historian, but I do agree, it's vital to uncover knowledge and test our dogmas. Critical scholars and historians, thank you!  

Happy exploring everybody!

 

Why do You Think Badenoch Unite the Right and Deliver Change?

The Right-Wing's Flapping

Will Kemi Badenoch Bring Real Change to the UK or Fall to the Right-Wing Divide?

Kemi's new role as 'leader of the opposition' will require her to work after six in the evening and do some weekends. It really might weigh quite heavily on her. She'll have to play out her thick skinned, no nonsense reputation, persisting daily with true grit and the very honesty she espouses while surrounded by politicians! I mean, the woman has been heralded to unify the right-leaning voters under her vision of change. Regardless of all the conflicting opinions surrounding immigration and growth, Nigel Farage has said the Conservative Party no longer exists because it lost its identity. Kemi seems to agree. Will she be a compelling character for the right? Give it twelve months. 

Badenoch now plans to retake Tory voters who were allured towards Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats. This might not be easy. Unless she becomes the new Iron Lady of our age, tirelessly soldiering-on towards the results that will solve our key problems. Good luck.

But is she an Iron Lady?

If she opts for strict immigration controls instead of going too radical, it might appeal to some Leave voters and a few EU-friendly individuals. Others say she should have listened more closely to the Salopian raised Jenrick, who wanted to deport everyone! There's more than enough who are disapointed at the failure to capitalise on the opportunities Brexit was supposed to bring—she could reach out to them! Is this all bad? Is it a good thing? What do you think? You see, Kemi Badenoch's economic reform agenda proposals hope to roid-up our manufacturing, these proposals not only resonate with pro-Brexit voters, but overlap with a couple of Reform UK goals. We might all be presented with a Badenoch ‘Reform light’ alternative! 

What Battles Are to be Fought?

1. The European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) Commitment: there’s a strong sentiment among that ocean of people who marched peacefully under English and British Flags in recent protests. There are multitudes under the firm belief that despite European disfavour, risk of EU legal action or isolation from the continent; Britain should show strength by withdrawing from the ECHR. The enduring desire to retake control of our borders hasn't faltered. 

Leaving the ECHR is not an easy solution like Kemi Badenoch has made it out to be, if it was easy, it would have been done years ago! In fact, immigration is also problematic across the EU, who has its own return directive for third country nationals!  Are they any worse than we are? Look at the Italian Prime Ministers Albanian immigration camp, Polands use of live rounds and then there's allegations surrounding Frontex and the sinking of migrant ships in the mediterranean. 

British people have voted to reduce immigration and see the regulation of the country's borders. Badenoch’s reluctance to leave the ECHR will be an continuation of the debate. If she chooses to be too ‘iron lady,’ she will sink. 

2. Competition with Nigel Farage: This Brexit veteran established credibility on immigration issues. Immigration is his middle name! He has it cattle branded across his butt cheeks. Are we going to see Reform Light vs Reform UK? If so, would this yet again, delay the country taking control? Well, of course it will, it was rhetorical. 

Reform UK's Standing With Tommy Robinson And His Followers

Richard Tice distanced Reform UK from the ‘likes’ of Tommy Robinson and his ‘lot’ which could have been an ignorant reference to genuine vandals or crooks. We know Nigel Farage, like Robinson, has been a controversial figure. Tommy has a historical association with the Far-Right as well as his EDL activism, which today, still reflects a broad public perception of the man, rather than a purely factual account of his actions to date. Stigma is hard to shake. It sticks. 

Tommy Robinson, like Farage, has taken punishment. Reform UK knows it must to align itself with the wider voting landscape to win the big victory for the country. Moving beyond the culture wars, and commotion, what would the 52% who voted leave want? Reform UK fight in their corridors of power, while others take to media networks. Above all, the movement to reform the UK is the only directive. Will that be through Nigel Farage, Badenoch or someone like Nick Tenconi, supported by right-wingers betrayed by Tices political shibboleth?

Is This How Things Will Go?

For Badenoch to rally the right, it must be a profound task and an admirable success. She must own these complexities like a boss and mould the solutions. Yes, she might be an anti-woke figurehead, which is a bonus in this day and age, but do you think she can balance real bold policies without losing her broad appeal especially when addressing our deep enduring frustrations that fueled the Brexit vote? The gauntlet has been thrown down. 

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