The myth component of history is basically influenced in its core by the primitive ways of knowing, which are what we see and what we feel, perception and emotion. These ways of knowing are extremely personal, and they vary in each person, depending on different social, cultural, geographical and economic factors. This makes every person in the world to have an opinion, which is somewhat biased by the previous factors mentioned. Then every person is going to see and feel a historical event differently, possibly altering the causes of this happening and suffering the consequences differently. And this is not limited to historical events, but it also includes the main component of history, which are the humans that made it. For example, us, Latin Americans, have an excessive commemoration and remembrance of our national heroes, outstanding them almost as god. Like the Great Man Theory explains, such men are a product of their societies, so some civilization may regard them as heroes, while others as villains, or others are mostly indifferent. Simon Bolivar is considered in Venezuela and in most of Latin American, the great liberator and the most influential character of the fight for independence. He is locally regarded as a hero, and as a charismatic, intelligent, wise, humanitarian and flawless human being. However, the communists, especially Karl Marx have described Bolivar as dictator, who constantly cheated and lie to cling on to power . These different opinions on a historically influential person are a product of emotion and perception. Venezuelans and Latin Americans in general have this perfect image of Bolivar because of his ideas and actions that lead to our separation form Spain, but that’s doesn’t mean he wasn’t a lying and cheating person who tried to cling on to power, because in fact, he was a dictator. Our emotions of gratitude, and our nationalistic spirit keep us from reaching the absolute truth about Bolivar. In the other hand, Karl Marx was also biased by his radicalized opinions about the bourgeoisie. He mostly bashed Bolivar because of his aristocratic origins and his authoritarian rule; Since Marx’s perception of upper class people is negative, he will undermine people that fall into that category. These possible alterations of facts, caused by perception and emotion, lead to the conclusion that History is actually part true, part false, therefore part myth.
Furthermore, since history is part myth, then it is part hope. These two statements are closely related to each other, because the hope component is the direct consequence of history being partially myth. The biases and the deliberate or not deliberate distortions of history give people room for doubt, whether the assessment of history is true or not. History is part hope because we hope and expect that first-hand information given to us is right, since for the most part are not contemporary to the vast amount of historical events. In the movie “Minority Report” there is a handling of historic variations and biases. The movie is about a police force that is able to predict the outcomes of crimes before they actually happen. Then they proceed to arrest the suspect, who technically hasn’t committed any crime, but the police force hopes that they are doing the right thing by preventing a crime; they hoped that the criminal was going to continue with his felony. Here, the police forces are hoping that the first hand sources, which are some sort of psychics, are true about the outcome of this crime, so they handle information about the future as if it was the past, as if it already happened. One could argue that there is just a single and universal truth, and that history should only have a reality component, but the different civilizations that have different assessment of history make History have many truths. Since history is somewhat more subjective than other area of knowledge, each civilization has a justified belief about the historical events that affect them. The pluralism in history makes us always hope that were told the right information. In the other hand, there are certain aspects of history that are indisputable, and we know that they are reality. Reality is in fact the major component of history, and the myth and hope part are just consequences of the emotions and perceptions of human beings in this world. The reality part of history is about the objective facts that have shaped humanity, without any interpretation. For example, an indisputable fact of history is that in 2008, the first African American President was elected to govern the United States. When we go on to interpret the causes and consequences of this event, myth and hope appear, because the assessment of history gives room to bias and pluralism. In history there is an absolute truth that can’t be violated by perception and emotion, it is simply real.
Reality, as well as myth and hope are part of other areas of knowledge. Take art for example. Art is a very subjective AOK, but it is always tangent to reality, since it’s mostly based on the artist’s personal experiences, and the real human nature. Many literary works are basically just recounts of reality, or a past event. However, most works of art, especially Literature are fiction, which is something not real. But fiction is directly related to reality through its writer or artist, who expresses concrete reasons or messages through its art, therefore, it is part myth. Finally, art is hope because of the purposes of the artist. We know that art is usually used to express a motif or message; it is a way to show opposition. Art has been used as a tool for activism and critique in recent and contemporary times, and the people the use art have the hope to make their message transcend through their art.
Even though history is not the most objective area of knowledge, it is as influential as any other, because in the big picture, biases, interpretations, distortion, inclusion of emotions and others, are all part of the integral study of history, in which we do not investigate the facts of the past only, but the perspective and behavior of the different civilizations of the world towards them. So in general, History is determined to be part myth, part hope and part reality.
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