can history ever be neutral?

Posted: 14 years ago

can the writing of history ever be neutral? what do u all think? is there anything called "a neutral standpoint of viewing history"?

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Summer3

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Posted: 14 years ago

This content was originally posted by: krystal_watz
can the writing of history ever be neutral? what do u all think? is there anything called "a neutral standpoint of viewing history"?

There are some persons who are very neutral and balanced but generally most people tend to be biased if they are affected in some ways or have inadequate insight or base it on rumours rather than facts.

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438673

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Posted: 14 years ago

This content was originally posted by: krystal_watz
can the writing of history ever be neutral? what do u all think? is there anything called "a neutral standpoint of viewing history"?

I don't think so. Historians might give their best shot in narrating the events without tainting them with their personal opinions, but some figures always get antagonized even in those narrations...so, no, i don't think there's anythin as a neutral outlook towards historical events. But then, we can always try. Perhaps by scrutinizing those firsthand accounts, documentaries, etc carefully, trying to understand the multiple dimensions they possess and draw the most objective conclusion out of it. But I doubt if it's still gonna be completely accurate.
What do you think, miss history major? :P

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441597

Posted: 14 years ago

This content was originally posted by: Midnight_Shade

I don't think so. Historians might give their best shot in narrating the events without tainting them with their personal opinions, but some figures always get antagonized even in those narrations...so, no, i don't think there's anythin as a neutral outlook towards historical events. But then, we can always try. Perhaps by scrutinizing those firsthand accounts, documentaries, etc carefully, trying to understand the multiple dimensions they possess and draw the most objective conclusion out of it. But I doubt if it's still gonna be completely accurate.
What do you think, miss history major? :P

yes, and add to it the fact that history is always written by the victors...so we often lose out on a neutral perspective.

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441597

Posted: 14 years ago

@summer:

can u name some historians who are "neutral" in ur perception?

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438673

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Posted: 14 years ago

This content was originally posted by: krystal_watz

yes, and add to it the fact that history is always written by the victors...so we often lose out on a neutral perspective.

History is always written by the victors? I wasn't aware of that.
If you talk about history text-books, they're most definitely biased. But you always have the option of sorting out the "puzzle" and creating a big picture of your own. You don't necessarily have to agree with the narrator's take on any event if you take the trouble to try to assess both sides of the coin carefully and then come to your own personal conclusion, y'know. It's silly on our part if we expect impartial facts from any piece of work.

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Summer3

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Posted: 14 years ago

This content was originally posted by: krystal_watz
@summer:

can u name some historians who are "neutral" in ur perception?

Frankly most men of learning who spend their time researching will be very fair and neutral as they have great pride.

But politicians and Government Officials love to change the facts like what they did in Japan about the second world war atrocities.

Even the simple Middle-east wars has various perspectives and views.

Historians should record facts and not opinions and cut out guess works, if there is any speculation then it should be correctly stated so. It is very difficult to record facts when a person is living in the country as the Govt. officials may not like it. Politics shapes history often enough.

Even newspaper reports are mostly biased in favour of the ruling govt in most countries as they fear being closed down. There are pros and cons here.

Here is Singapore is bound to be the same too.

Herodotus is claimed to be one of the greatest historians.

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nuomi.riceball

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Posted: 14 years ago

history belongs to the victor and can never be neutral. those who write history will always be bias by their point of view. it is only one side of the face, half of what we know.

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463523

Posted: 14 years ago

This content was originally posted by: Midnight_Shade

History is always written by the victors? I wasn't aware of that.
If you talk about history text-books, they're most definitely biased. But you always have the option of sorting out the "puzzle" and creating a big picture of your own. You don't necessarily have to agree with the narrator's take on any event if you take the trouble to try to assess both sides of the coin carefully and then come to your own personal conclusion, y'know. It's silly on our part if we expect impartial facts from any piece of work.

yeah, coz the losers arent around to write their version of history. eg, had hilter won ww 2, the nazis wld have looked lik heroes, not thugs n sadists. in fact the americans wld have been made out to be mass murderers fer droppin a-bombs.

another thing- a person's account ofsomethin can be unintentionally biased even when they want to be impartial. we each view events fm the narrow prism of our own experiences/ perspectives.

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Believe

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Posted: 14 years ago

This content was originally posted by: krystal_watz

can the writing of history ever be neutral? what do u all think? is there anything called "a neutral standpoint of viewing history"?-- Neutral=mistery...There is no neutral, only +ve and -ve,incidents in history...😊

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