History is reliable

Issue: As you are studying for your history final, Paige announced that this was pointless because history is not objectively true as it has been written by the winners.  How would you respond to Paige.


Response: The first thought that comes to my mind is the Holocaust. Indeed a terrible period of history but nonetheless recorded by both sides, German and Jew. There are eyewitness accounts from the soldiers as well as the tortured inmates. To say that these documents come from the same side, the supposed "winner's side" is inaccurate. These novels, and articles, and testimonies are indeed historical evidence are proof against the statement that history is written only by the winners.


That is the first though that comes to mind, but the second is much more concrete; Archeology. The proof in archeology is unbiased and can be used to explain major wars, culture, and even daily life. This evidence comes without the edits of modern culture thus without the political or social agenda that written history comes with.


The notion that history being written by the winners and thus being automatically unreliable does not follow. There are many times when a man wins a contest and retells his story in vivid detail to explain the hardship he had to overcome to get there, or the greatness he exhibited while achieving success. The stereotypical 'fisherman's story' is not always the case when someone retells an event. Actually most people like to be as detailed and accurate as possible to preserve the significance of the event. They may have a bias but that does not mean they are out to tell a lie.


Lastly the fact that the retelling of history may include a bias should not disqualify it. In fact nearly everything that we learn is taught from a certain perspective. Are our teachers all unreliable? Every instruction we are given has a bias. Are our parents unreliable? And every spoken word will show the presence of a particular worldview. Are we ourselves unreliable? To exclude everything that may have a bias is to exclude learning as a whole and discredit even yourself.
Another point to is that a bias does not