History is a selective construction by high-status narrators
Evidence
To better understand historical value, we first acknowledge that the “past,” as the historian Eric Hobsbawm explains, is “a particular selection from the infinity of what is remembered or capable of being remembered.” This means history, in its broadest sense, is a “formalized social past” that can never be an exact mirror of previous experiences. History is constructed, and the authority to construct is not equally distributed. Our collective memories are shallow, and we rely on a particular set of high-status historians, archivists, journalists, politicians, and religious leaders to lay out the most important moments of the past by means of compelling narratives. History is, thus, not the stories we tell about ourselves, but a connection of moments that specific well-positioned, high-status individuals choose to highlight and perpetuate. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 641
Categorization
- recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
- XREF: connects to: Status is zero-sum and cannot rise for everyone at once — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 73; Historical writing reflects the historian rather than the past — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism: A Critique of…, 301; Historical events only reach audiences after being transformed into narrative form (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- Founding myths substitute fabricated narrative for genuine history to serve ruling classes
#exemplifies(0.90) - Historical writing reflects the historian rather than the past
#expands(0.80) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 301 - Genre codes transform real history into naturalized myth selectively
#exemplifies(0.80) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 791 - Historical events only reach audiences after being transformed into narrative form
#expands(0.72)