Does history have any meaning? Who sets the Agenda?

 

Karl Popper

I left school in 1970. At primary school we were educated as little English imperialists and shown a map of the world. The teacher would say that all we could see that was coloured red, belonged to us. We were taught to be proud of Britain and its achievements. It was all about Edmund Hillary and Roger Bannister. 

I always had an interest in history, but it was all about Kings and Queens. We were told about Cromwell and King Charles 1 being beheaded. I remember being told about Arthur Thistlewood and the Cato Street conspirators and the Peterloo massacre.  Ireland was never mentioned. When I saw the film about Michael Collins, I was shocked when I became aware that British forces had in 1920, opened fire on a crowd of spectators at Croke Park, Dublin, who were watching a Gaelic football match. It became known as 'Bloody Sunday'. They killed fourteen and dozens were injured. We were never told that a British Prime Minister had been assassinated. I learned about Spencer Perceval in a pub quiz. Nor were we told about the massacre of Indians at Amritsar, in April 1919. 

The philosopher Karl Popper, points out that the kind of history that is taught in schools is really about the 'Great and Powerful'. The history of mankind is portrayed as the history of power politics, a history of international crime and mass murder, "where some of the greatest criminals, are extolled as its heroes." It was Popper's belief that history has no meaning until we give it a meaning. He wrote: "The realm of facts is infinitely rich and there must be selection...Why has the history of power been selected? Because men are inclined to worship power and those in power, want to be worshipped and can enforce their wishes." 

(Karl Popper, The Open Society and its Enemies).