Historical revisionism

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{{cquote|Interpretations of the past are subject to change in response to new [evidence, new questions asked of the evidence, new perspectives gained by the passage of time. There is no single, eternal, and immutable "truth" about past events and their meaning. The unending quest of historians for understanding the past&nbsp;— that is, "revisionism"&nbsp;— is what makes history vital and meaningful. Without revisionism, we might be stuck with the images of [[Reconstruction]] after the [[American Civil War]] that were conveyed by D. W. Griffith's ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'' and Claude Bowers's ''The Tragic Era''.|||James M. McPherson<ref>[https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/revisionist-historians-september-2003/ Revisionist Historians] by James M. McPherson (September 1, 2003) ''Perspectives on History''.</ref>}}

'''Historical revisionism''' is a practice in historiography in which [[historian]]s reinterpret [[tradition]]al views of causes and effects, decisions, explanations, and [[evidence]]. It is said that "history is written by the winners". Thus, it is instructive to look at history with a critical eye. As such, revisionism is an accepted and important part of historical endeavor — it serves the dual purpose of constantly re-examining the past while also improving our understanding of it. Indeed, if one accepts that history attempts to help us better understand today by better understanding how we got here, revisionism is essential. Only idiots take history wholeheartedly as indisputable [[fact]]s.

Issues arise, however, when a historian presents a revisionist thesis, such as "[[America]] was founded by a [[International Jewish Conspiracy|radical Zionist cabal]]" or "[[Communism]] had its origins in Picasso's Blue Period", and do not back it up with anything ''resembling'' credible facts. They may even deny the credibility of those facts (see the section on {{sl|denialists}} below) or ignore contradictory evidence (it was Picasso's ''Rose'' Period that was plastered with anti-[[capitalist]] messages, not the Blue). This happens very rarely, but when it does happen it usually gets much more publicity than "boring" [[academic]] revisionism. This second type is often shading into outright [[pseudohistory]], especially considering that much of the claptrap in this genre (as seen from the examples below) is generated by people who have no professional credentials or experience as historians and don’t apply anything remotely resembling the tools used by actual historians (most importantly an understanding of historiography, as well as [[History#Historical method|an attempt to fairly assemble and evaluate facts via source criticism]] in particular and [[critical thinking]] in general).

"Historical revisionism" is often used as a [[snarl word]], implying that the practice is inherently bad or equating it with [[Historical revisionism#Denialists|negationism]].{{efn|This isn't necessarily done intentionally, since someone may simply have confused the two phrases.}}

Historical revisionism bears a close resemblance to the term "'''retroactive continuity'''" (or '''retcon'''), primarily used in serialized literature or fiction sequels in which the sequel revises preceding works in the series. The practice of retcon in fiction is at least as old as [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]' Sherlock Holmes detective series of the 19<sup>th</sup> century.<ref name=friedenthal>''Retcon Game: Retroactive Continuity and the Hyperlinking of America'' by Andrew J. Friedenthal (2017) University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 1496811321.</ref>{{rp|25}} The terminology for this practice within literature only dates back to the 1980s,<ref name=friedenthal/>{{rp|6}} but it has been used previously within [[theology]] in 1973.<ref name=tupper>''The Theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg'' by E. Frank Tupper (1973) Westminster Press. ISBN 0664209734.</ref>{{rp|100,221,222,297}} Whereas retroactive continuity within fiction can be viewed as benign, within theology it appears to be a [[euphemism]] for the unsavory type of historical revisionism:<ref name=tupper/>{{rp|100}}
{{cquote|Pannenberg’s conception of retroactive continuity ultimately means that history is not basically a product of the past: "The essential nature of the future lies in the unpredictable new thing that is hidden in the womb of ‘the future."}}

==Origin of term==
Following [[World War I]], "revisionism" first came into use to denote the views of those who wanted to revise the 1919 [[Treaty of Versailles]] as unfair to [[Germany]] given the new evidence emerging. This movement primarily grouped together [[progressive]] [[sociologist]]s and historians associated with the ''New Republic'', ''[[Nation magazine|The Nation]]'', and the ''Christian Century''. It aimed to debunk wartime [[propaganda]] (especially as it related to drawing the [[United States]] into the war) and the question of sole German guilt for starting the war. Groups with other views on the Treaty of Versailles, the so-called "Salvagers" and "Bitterenders", wanted to keep the treaty as it was.  

After the rise of [[Hitler]] in the 1930s, this sort of revisionism became a moot point, the other terms were forgotten, and revisionism acquired its current meaning&nbsp;— applicable to any subject.{{cn}} For a while in the middle 20<sup>th</sup> century, the term suffered from redundant overuse ([[Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor "revisionism"]], "revisionism" about the [[Joe Hill]] and Sacco/Vanzetti cases, etc.). The distasteful connotations of the term appear to date from around 1979 when negationists such as [[Willis Carto]] appropriated the term and began calling themselves "[[Holocaust denial|Holocaust revisionists]]". Henceforth, historical revisionism has sometimes been used as a snarl word, and accusing someone of peddling revisionist history became a cheap way of [[Handwave|brushing them off]] by implying they are of the same ilk as the Holocaust deniers. This is unfortunate, given that historians continually discover new facts and re-tell historical narratives, making revisionism a legitimate practice and a continuous process: in a sense, saying "revisionist history" is redundant to just calling it "history".

==Types of revisionists==
A majority of revisionist historians do very legitimate work; however, just as [[science]] will always have to deal with [[pseudoscience]] and [[economics]] will always have to deal with [[Ayn Rand]] and [[Murray Rothbard]], historiography must deal with its share of [[denialist]]s, negationists, and [[fringe]] authors.

===Legitimate types===
====Group-oriented====
Much historical revisionism involves the re-examination of historical periods and events from the point-of-view of a specific group, such as women, [[African Americans]], [[Native Americans]], the [[working class]], etc. Revisionists taking this approach feel that the traditional views have ignored or downplayed the role a particular group played in events&nbsp;— early [[Reconstruction]] historiography (for example) largely ignored the economic and [[social]] gains of freedmen, focusing on the [[Bullshit|"plight"]] of [[the South]]ern whites. Examples of this type of revisionism include:
* Robert Harvey, former assistant editor of ''[[The Economist]]'', author of ''A Few Bloody Noses'', a [[British]]-based interpretation of the [[American Revolution]], which stresses the [[American Indian Holocaust|oppression of Native Americans in the conflict]].
* Eric Foner, author of ''Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877'', who argues that while African Americans did not attain full equality during Reconstruction, it represented a "foot in the door" of [[equality]], and was the precursor to the [[civil rights|civil-rights]] movement a hundred years later.<ref>''Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877'' by Eric Foner (1988) Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-015851-4.</ref>

====Cultural====
All writers of history, and historians, are influenced by the historical ''[[zeitgeist]]'', the "spirit of the times":
*Rampant [[racism]] in late 19<sup>th</sup> century America was the reason the then-contemporary {{wpl|Dunning school|Dunning school}}{{efn|no, not that [[Dunning-Kruger effect|Dunning]].}} of Reconstruction historiography all but ignored Black people, for example. Thus, when [[cultural]] attitudes undergo dramatic shifts, historians also seek to re-examine history from the new cultural perspective.
*Carl Oglesby, whose ''The Yankee and Cowboy War'' frames 20<sup>th</sup> century U.S. [[politics]] as a power struggle between two competing [[Aristocracy|aristocracies]], one based in the north and east in banking, Wall Street, and preparatory and Ivy League social networks; the other in the south and west in [[Fossil fuel|oil]], real estate, energy, and high technology.
*Philip Jenkins, left-wing historian, author of ''A History of the United States''. Originally [[British]], now claims American citizenship. Focuses on the influence of the far-right in his studies; tends to attribute [[wingnut]] [[Red Scare|conspiracy theories]] for much of the American social failures from 1950 onward.

====Economic====
Just like there are economic historians, there are revisionist economic historians, such as:
*Charles Beard's enormously influential (but still controversial) 1913 book ''An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States'' argued that the economic situations and interests of the [[US Constitution|Constitutional Convention]] attendees greatly influenced them.<ref>[http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?id=26'' Review of McGuire' s ''To Form a More Perfect Union'', The Independent Institute]</ref>
*''A Monetary History of the United States'', by [[Milton Friedman]] and Anna Schwartz, presented much of American history from a "[[monetarist]]" point of view.

====Marxist====
[[Marxist]] revisionists use [[social class]], the social relations of production, and economic conditions as their main lens, and see these as the primary catalysts for social change throughout history, as [[Karl Marx]] himself did. Marxist historians are not necessarily [[communist]]s, though most tend to be left-leaning. One major flaw of Marxist history is that its [[hypotheses]] are often not provable or [[Falsifiability|falsifiable]], since it asserts that historical figures and events were influenced by socio-economic factors which may not have been apparent at the time:
*Marxist historians of the [[Reformation]] and post-Reformation eras, particularly Christopher Hill, have argued that many of the [[grassroots]] [[Puritan]] movements emerging in this time, such as the proliferation of spontaneous [[religious]] sects during the [[English Civil War]] and Interregnum, were actually expressing social and economic frustrations. These movements' [[revolution]]ary criticisms and demands were couched in religious terms, since [[Christianity]] was the dominant [[worldview]] through which all ideas were expressed and, according to Marxist theory, the movements' leaders and members would have been unable to express their discontent in [[secular]] terms.

Revisionism has another meaning in Marxist circles, which means misusing the ideas of Karl Marx and abandoning his true [[ideology]]. [[Irony|Interestingly]], the term is usually used by people who misuse the ideas of Karl Marx and have little to no understanding of his ideology.

===Unsavory types===
These examples fall into two general genres. One is often referred to as "triumphalism", which is the attempt to use history to create a [[Passion Play]]—type [[morality]] tale to extol the virtues of an ideology or a group (such as [[American exceptionalism]] or Christianity). This is sometimes given the pejorative nickname "Whig history" or "Whiggishness" in reference to triumphalist histories pushed by British Whig{{efn|The predecessors of today's [[Liberal Democrats]], making this a [[real world]] example of [[liberal bias]].}} politicians in the early 20<sup>th</sup> century. The other is almost the polar opposite of triumphalism and could be called "depravitism" or [[Degenerate|"degeneratism"]].{{efn|A historical example could be the {{wpl|fin de siècle}} style of history in the late 19<sup>th</sup> and early 20<sup>th</sup> century.}} It seeks to blame any number of (current) ills on some historical [[scapegoat]] and uses [[fear mongering]] about a looming [[apocalypse]] to scare its adherents into line, typically with [[Propaganda|rosy]] [[Nostalgia|nostalgic]] stories of the [[good old days]]. One example is the hatred of the [[Age of Enlightenment]] among some religious [[Fundamentalism|fundamentalists]], whose Passion Play version of history depicts it as a latter-day parallel to [[original sin]] and the [[Middle Ages]] as a [[golden age]].

====Wingnuts====
[[Fox News]] had a habit of saying "history will be the judge" of the administration of [[George W. Bush]]&nbsp;— an interesting way of deferring responsibility for ''current'' events to a hazy future.{{efn|This is especially funny considering that the same people openly declared [[Barack Obama]] to be the worst president in U.S. history [[Double standard|before his term was even over]].}} [[Neocon]]s have written the implied history favorable to the Bush [[White House]], especially his main foreign policy ''[[Iraq War|faux pas]]''. American [[conservative]]s and [[reactionary|reactionaries]] have also long endeavored to rewrite history from the point of view of extremist American exceptionalism and [[Americentrism]]. Here are some examples:
*[[William Kristol]], editor of ''The Weekly Standard'', who is even now busily rewriting the history of the [[United States]]'s glorious successes in the Iraq War.
*In a more recent (March 2010) example (the "Texas textbook massacre"), illiterates [[Texas Board of Education|won the vote]] to revise [[Texas|Texan]] history and social studies textbooks to promote American superiority, the "free enterprise" system,{{efn|Because, they explain, you can't very easily say, "You free enterprise system supporting pig!"}} and "[[family values|Christian values]]." Considering Texas is the largest buyer of textbooks in the United States, this has had a big impact on history classes in schools across the country, if only the "Texas version" is available to smaller school systems.<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/13/texas-textbook-massacre-u_n_498003.html#s73765 The Texas Textbook Massacre: 'Ultraconservatives' Approve Radical Changes To State Education Curriculum]  (May 13, 2010, 05:12 AM EDT; Updated May 25, 2011) ''Huffpost'.</ref><ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13texas.html Texas Conservatives Win Curriculum Change] by James C. McKinley Jr. (March 12, 2010) ''The New York Times''.</ref>
*B.G. Burkett, whose book ''Stolen Valor'' is a complete rewrite of the conventional wisdom about the [[Vietnam War]]. According to the book: Agent Orange, [[PTSD]], homeless veterans, and [[anti-war]] vet groups are [[Not even wrong|all inventions of liberals trying to expand the welfare state]], most of the popular nonfiction on the war is riddled with [[Bullshit|fraudulent testimonies]], most atrocities attributed to U.S. troops [[willful ignorance|never actually happened]], and [[No True Scotsman|nobody is ''really'' a Vietnam vet]], even if they really were in Vietnam, unless they hew to his noxious brand of neoconservatism. This late-1990s book swiftboated [[John Kerry]] in this way several years before [[swiftboating]] was even a word.{{efn|[[Stopped clock|On the other hand]], he did expose a few deserving (and obvious) targets such as [[David Duke]].}}
*William Bennett, [[War on Drugs|drug warrior]], [[moral panic]] purveyor, and author of such works as ''America: the Last Best Hope'', which attempts to tell the story of America from the perspective of strong American exceptionalism, and the pretentiously titled ''The Book of Virtues''.
*The nonsense from wingnuts that a) [[Hitler and socialism|Hitler was a lefty]]; b) the [[Confederacy]] they used to ''love'' so much was [[Radical Republicans|liberal all along]]; c) [[Martin Luther King]] and the civil rights movement were conservatives; and d) George W. Bush kept us safe. [[Dinesh D'Souza|No]], [[Glenn Beck|seriously]].
*The [[Japanese American internment|Japanese internment]] camps were justified and right! See [[Michelle Malkin]] and her book literally titled ''In Defense of Internment''.
*[[Joe McCarthy]] and [[McCarthyism]] were right all along. See [[Ann Coulter]].
*The [[New Deal]] destroyed the economy, which, [[Bullshit|as every historian/economist knows]], would have picked up by itself much more quickly without [[FDR]]'s help. Also, [[Herbert Hoover]] was a [[Socialism|socialist]] disguised as a conservative (well, when your only tool is [[laissez-faire|a hammer]], all your problems look like [[socialism|nails]]).
*The [[New Left]] took over the Democratic Party and liberalism in general in the 1960s. A favorite for those who make this claim is that [[JFK]] lowered [[taxes]], proving that he was more conservative than today's liberals, even though it was primarily a [[Keynesianism|Keynesian]] demand-side cut, with the [[Supply-side economics|supply-side]] cut being considered secondary in importance.<ref>[http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history_lesson/2004/01/tax_cuts_in_camelot.2.html Tax Cuts in Camelot? JFK lowered taxes, but supply-siders wrongly claim he’s their patron saint.] by David Greenberg (Jan 16, 200411:00 AM) ''Slate''.</ref> Kennedy was also largely taking the advice of his economist when it came to taxes, and he personally preferred to use government spending to stimulate the economy, and he was ''more'' liberal on [[Universal healthcare|other]] [[Trade union|issues]] than many of today's Democrats. 
*[[Obama]] caused the [[Great Recession]], though it officially began a year before he took office and was over after his first six months. A variation: when it looked like Obama would win the presidency in 2008, the economy promptly tanked in response. This ignores the fact that [[John McCain]] was ''ahead'' up until the stock market took a nosedive; polls showed voters trusted Obama more to deal with the economy, and he pulled out in front to reflect this.
*The [[American Civil War]] wasn't about [[slavery]], it was about [[states' rights]]&nbsp;— never mind that the Southern states at the time specifically named slavery as a primary motivation for seceding. See "[[Lost Cause of the South]]" for a fuller account of Civil War–related revisionism.

====Moonbats====
*The openly neo-[[Stalinist]] [[Communist Party of the Russian Federation]], the second most popular political party in [[Russia]] as of today, argued that [[Stalin denialism|Stalin was a great man and only did what was necessary]]. Indeed, their website refers to the development of the [[USSR]] prior to [[World War II]] as "peaceful".<ref>[http://cprf.ru/party-program/ Party Program] ''Communist Party of the Russian Federation''.</ref> [[Horseshoe theory|Like the GOP]], they are very apologetic towards any wrongdoings their nation may have committed, especially while it was under the control of their [[Vladimir Lenin|revolutionary]] [[Leon Trotsky|heroes]].
*Attempts to downplay the brutality used against [[Muslim]]s during the [[Bosnian War]], such as claiming it doesn't really qualify as [[genocide]] or that it was a legitimate act of self-defense.
*Attempts to downplay the brutality used against [[Serbs]] in the former [[Yugoslavia]], such as claiming it led to a [[human rights]] victory instead of more [[ethnic cleansing]].<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/mar/21/kosovo-template-for-disaster-libya Kosovo: a template for disaster] by David Gibbs (21 Mar 2011 16.18 EDT) The Guardian''.</ref>
*While rare, there are those who claim [[South Korea]] started the [[Korean War]], or that [[North Korea]] had no choice but to declare war to protect itself from the South.
*Denial of the [[Cambodia#Khmer Rouge rule and genocide|Cambodian genocide]] and the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge under [[Pol Pot]], by [[Noam Chomsky]] and others on the far left. The logic here goes: [[Vietnam War|American imperialists are doing bad things in Southeast Asia]]; the Khmer Rouge are anti-[[imperialist]]; [[Two wrongs make a right|therefore they must be the good guys!]] (To his credit, Chomsky later recanted and acknowledged genocide had happened; however. he believes the recently revealed evidence actually supported some of his prior views and that 1.2 million were killed by the Khmer Rouge and the other 800,000 were killed by American bombing.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3IUU59B6lw&t=338s Noam Chomsky - The Atrocities in Cambodia] (Jul 9, 2016) ''YouTube''.</ref> Excavation of mass graves indicates at least 1,386,734 were executed by the Khmer Rouge, and outside of those graves, 2.18 million were killed by the Khmer Rouge overall<ref>[http://www.mekong.net/cambodia/deaths.htm Counting Hell] by Bruce Sharp (April 1, 2005) ''Mekong Network''.</ref> and "only" between 30,000 and 500,000 were killed in the U.S. bombing of Cambodia<ref>''Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the 20<sup>th</sup> Century'' by Benjamin Valentino (2005) Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801472732.</ref>{{rp|84}}<ref>''The Killing of Cambodia: Geography, Genocide and the Unmaking of Space'' by James A. Tyner (2017) Routledge. ISBN 1138254282.</ref><ref>[https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP4.HTM ''Statistics of Democide'', Chapter 4: Statistics Of Cambodian Democide: Estimates, Calculations, And Sources] by Rudolph Rummel (1998) LIT Verlag. ISBN 3825840107.</ref> so Chomsky's statistics are still wrong). Following this evidence, leftists have acknowledged that the Khmer Rouge was [[evil]]; however, there is a common belief that the [[CIA]] had a role in it.

====Denialists====
{{main|Denialism}}
[[Image:Yezhov.jpg|thumb|It's quite impressive that this could be done so well pre-[[Photoshop]].]]
{{cquote|Pretty decent guy if you got to know him, dude would give you the shirt off his back (well as long as you weren't [[Jewish]]). Adolf loved his [[dog]]s and wife, often times he around the holidays the family could be seen caroling and preforming other festive activities around [[Auschwitz]] day camp for the Jewish, unfortunately his plans for renovations to turn the camp to a water park were canceled due to his death too bad there would have been some sweet rides there|||''Urban Dictionary'' on Adolf Hitler, complete with grammatical errors}}
Legitimate historical revisionism acknowledges a certain body of irrefutable evidence that confirms that an event (such as the [[Holocaust]]) did occur. Denialism, on the other hand, rejects the entire foundation of historical evidence, and is closely related to {{wpl|historical negationism||.}} Here are a few examples:
*[[David Irving]], historian and Holocaust denier.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4733820.stm Holocaust denier Irving is jailed] (20 February 2006, 20:19) ''BBC''.</ref>
*[[Communist]]s, [[Fascist]]s, and other [[totalitarian]]s. In the [[USSR]], "history" was constantly edited to reflect the current Party line, while [[Nazi Germany]] had the ''Dolchstosslegende'', the idea that Germany had lost [[World War I]] because [[Jews]] had [[Stab-in-the-back legend|stabbed the country in the back]].
*During the early 2000s, the [[Japan]]ese government approved several history textbooks that downplayed Japan's own [[war crimes]] prior to and during World War II. It's no surprise that the [[China|Chinese]] and the Koreans (from both [[North Korea|North]] and [[South Korea|South]]) reacted strongly to this.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1257835.stm Japan textbook angers neighbours] (3 April, 2001, 11:49 GMT) ''BBC''.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050411023727/http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/10/china.japan.protest.media/index.html Japan protection call over protest] (April 10, 2005 Posted: 8:29 PM EDT) ''CNN''.</ref> (As historian Stephen Ambrose put it, "The Japanese presentation of the war to its children runs something like this: 'One day, for no reason we ever understood, the Americans [[Hiroshima and Nagasaki|started dropping atomic bombs on us]].'")<ref>''To America: Personal Reflections of an Historian'' by Stephen E. Ambrose (2002) Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0743202759.</ref>{{rp|112}}
*But apparently, that doesn't stop the Chinese government from [[Hypocrisy|doing the very exact same thing]] when it comes to fessing up to their own atrocities.{{efn|Good luck trying to learn about the [[Tiananmen Square Massacre]], Chinese cultural/demographic oppression of the [[Tibet]]ans, or the [[Uyghur genocide]] in Chinese government-approved history textbooks.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/06/international/asia/06textbook.html China's Textbooks Twist and Omit History] by Howard W. French (December 6, 2004) ''The New York Times''.</ref>}}
*Harry Elmer Barnes, a respected academic historian before World War II who did much to establish historical revisionism as a legitimate academic field&nbsp;— then lost his credibility and endorsed Holocaust denial.<ref>{{wpa|Harry Elmer Barnes#Holocaust denial}}</ref>
*[[Keith Windschuttle]], an Australian historian who disputed the notion of a settler colonial genocide against Aboriginal people.

====Intentionally distorted history====
{{hatnote|See also: [[History#Written by the victor; History as propaganda|Written by the victor; History as propaganda]]}}
History by its very nature has a [[bias]], but there are those who ''intentionally'' ignore current or new evidence:
* The start date of WWII: Much of the West is in a "let's just ignore the fact that Japan was going through Asia on a conquest spree from 1931 on and say the war ''really'' started in 1939 in Poland"–mode.{{efn|This is ''somewhat'' justified by the argument that these conquests constituted a series of Sino-Japanese conflicts, while other great powers did not declare war (similar to the [[Spanish Civil War]]). On that basis, one revisionist view sets the start of WWII around 1937 with the simultaneous {{wpl|Second Sino-Japanese War}} and {{wpl|Battles of Khalkhin Gol||,}} the latter of which drew in the Soviet Union, whose responses were tied into its relations with Nazi Germany, [[appeasement]] and the likelihood of war in Europe.<ref>''Nomonhan, 1939: The Red Army's Victory That Shaped World War II'' by Stuart Goldman (2013) Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1591143292.</ref>}}
* [[Columbus]] "discovered" America: [[Vikings]]? Who counts them? The same goes for the [[Native Americans]]. Oh, let's ignore the fact that Columbus died believing that all his trips had been to Asia while we are at it. 
* Sinking of the ''[[Titanic]]'': Replace Scottish Ship's First Officer William McMaster with a German named Peterson to show the people of the Third Reich how superior they are to the British and Americans.<ref>[https://titanic.fandom.com/wiki/Herr_Petersen Herr Petersen] ''Titanic Wiki''.</ref>

====Refighting lost battles to reset current political discussions====
As [[George Orwell]] succinctly pointed out in ''[[1984]]'', ''"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."''<ref>[https://archive.org/details/george-orwell-1984_202309/mode/2up ''1984''] by George Orwell (1949) </ref>{{rp|313}} Hence, why some of those, such as [[Amity Shlaes]], who seek to influence current political discussions on the role of government in the economy spend time refighting [[Great Depression|Depression era]] battles against the [[New Deal]] to show that [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|FDR]] was terrible and that [[laissez-faire]] will always see us through with nary a problem. Another example is the pro [[DDT]] 'Rachel Was Wrong!' postmortem campaign against [[Rachel Carson]], portraying her as a genocidal [[hard green]] mass murderer who cared more about vague green ideals than suffering malaria victims, which is basically an attempt at discrediting environmental regulation in general. The idea is that if one can convince people that previous examples of a certain, historical course of action were wrong, then one has a ready-made argument against pursuing it in the present and future.{{efn|See for instance, the chapter entitled ”Denialism rides again” in the book ''Merchants of Doubt'' for an in-depth coverage of the Rachel Carson brouhaha.<ref>[http://pubs.acs.org/cen/books/89/8903books.html ''Merchants of Doubt'' by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway (2010) Bloomsbury Press. ISBN 1608193942.</ref>{{rp|216-239}}}}

====Special category: More supporters of the historically illiterate====
During the [[2012 Republican Party presidential nomination|run-up to the 2012 presidential campaigns]], multiple [[GOP]] candidates made famous verbal gaffes. Rather than admit that they had made mistakes, these candidates continued to claim that their inaccuracies were factually correct. And their supporters&nbsp;— who would doubtlessly balk at any hint of "[[pinko commie]]" historical revisionism&nbsp;— realized that they could edit [[Wikipedia]] to support these [[alternate history|alternate versions of history]]. And that's ''exactly what they did'':
*On 2 June 2011, [[Sarah Palin]] said the following: 
{{cquote|''He who warned, uh, the British that they weren't gonna be takin' away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells, and um, makin' sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.''<ref>[http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/06/sarah-palin-claims-paul-revere-warned-the-british-that-they-werent-gonna-be-takin-away-our-arms.html Sarah Palin claims Paul Revere warned the British] by Andrew Malcolm (3 June 2011) ''Los Angeles Times''.</ref>}}
:Of course, [[Fractal wrongness|not a single bit of this]] description of [[Paul Revere]]'s midnight ride is correct. (In fact, it doesn't even really match up with the [[Hagiography|heavily-romanticized]] version popularly taught to schoolchildren.) Still, this didn't stop Caribou Barbie's 'army' from [[Fun:Wandalism||relentlessly revising]] Revere's page on Wikipedia.<br><ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Paul_Revere/Archive_2 Talk:Paul Revere/Archive 2] ''Wikipedia''.</ref>

*Not to be outdone, on 28 June 2011, [[Michele Bachmann]] claimed that [[John Quincy Adams]] was one of the [[Founding Fathers]]. On 4 July 1776, he was one week shy of his ninth birthday. Perhaps she was confused by the similarity of his name to the name of his father [[John Adams]] (who really ''was'' one of the Founding Fathers). But then again, when pressed on this, Bachmann stated:
{{cquote|''Well, John Quincy Adams most certainly was a part of the Revolutionary War era. He was a young boy but he was actively involved.''<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110816015411/http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2011/06/john-quincy-adams-a-founding-father-michele-bachmann-says-yes.html John Quincy Adams a Founding Father? Michele Bachmann Says Yes] by George Stephanopoulos (June 28, 2011 8:10 AM) ABC News website blog ''George's Bottom Line'' (archived from August 16, 2011).</ref>{{facepalm}}}}  
:Bachmann's backers took their shots at editing the John Quincy Adams page on Wikipedia.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110802042542/http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/06/28/256227/john-q-adams-wiki-editing/ John Quincy Adams Wikipedia Page Edited To Describe Him As A ‘Founding Father’] by Tanya Somanader (Jun 28, 2011 at 1:40 pm) ''Think Progress'' (archived from August 2, 2011).</ref><ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:John_Quincy_Adams/Archive_1 Talk:John Quincy Adams/Archive 1] ''Wikipedia''.</ref>

Republicans eventually decided that the best way to respond to these types of counterattacks of their candidates' lies was to promote a supreme [[bullshit]] [[Donald Trump|artist]] for [[POTUS]] who is able to lie an average of 21 times per day in public for years on end.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210201015022/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/24/trumps-false-or-misleading-claims-total-30573-over-four-years/ Trump’s false or misleading claims total 30,573 over 4 years] by Glenn Kessler et al. (Jan. 24, 2021 at 12:00 a.m. PST) ''The Washington Post'' (archived from February 1, 2021).</ref> This is in fact the strategy as [[MAGA]] henchman [[Steve Bannon]] described it, "The [[Democrats]] don’t matter. The real opposition is the [[media]]. And the way to deal with them is to [[flood the zone with shit]]."<ref>[https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/16/media/steve-bannon-reliable-sources/index.html This infamous Steve Bannon quote is key to understanding America’s crazy politics] by Brian Stelter (11:09 AM EST, Tue November 16, 2021) ''CNN''.</ref> This was insufficient however, because the MAGA inner circle has decided to attack Wikipedia and Wikipedians directly, both with [[Elon Musk]]'s verbal abuse,<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/23/why-is-elon-musk-attacking-wikipedia-because-its-very-existence-offends-him Why is Elon Musk attacking Wikipedia? Because its very existence offends him: The X owner has no time for a democratic experiment dedicated to knowledge. He would rather yell puerile ‘jokes’ into the ether] Zoe Williams (23 Oct 2023 09.19 EDT) ''The Guardian''.</ref> and [[The Heritage Foundation]]'s identifying ([[doxxing]]) and targeting of Wikipedia editors.<ref>[https://forward.com/news/686797/heritage-foundation-wikipedia-antisemitism/ Heritage Foundation plans to ‘identify and target’ Wikipedia editors: The conservative think tank told prospective donors that the project was part of its work to combat antisemitism] by Arno Rosenfeld (January 7, 2025) ''Forward''.</ref> Such counterfactually-based attacks on what can be regarded as the world's largest [[neutral point of view]]-oriented repository of knowledge can be regarded as what historian Jason Stanley calls the reliance of [[fascism]] on the [[Myth|mythic]] past.<ref name=stanley>''How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them'' by Jason Stanley (2018) Random House. ISBN 9780525511830.</ref>{{rp|3-5}}

==Reasons==
There are a number of reasons historical revisionism occurs and that the first perspective on a period or event does not remain the orthodoxy forever.

===New evidence===
As with many other disciplines, if new data become available, current conclusions must be reassessed. In history and historiography, the following may occur:
*Documents and objects (e.g., from [[archaeology]]) are discovered.
*[[Government]]s release classified information to the public.
*As [[language]]s are deciphered, more sources become available. The most striking example of this is perhaps the 19<sup>th</sup> century decipherment of hieroglyphics, which changed how the world views Ancient Egypt forever.
*Advances in [[science]] and [[technology]] make more data accessible, such as the ages and authenticity (or lack thereof) of artifacts, such as the [[Shroud of Turin]].

===Ideologies===
Ideology can be a major motivating factor for revisionism. The previously mentioned "Texas textbook massacre" is an example of a reevaluation of America's founders from a [[far-right]] point of view&nbsp;— removing references to "[[democracy]]" and replacing it with "constitutional [[republic]]" (it's the ''same fucking thing'') and removing mentions of [[Thomas Jefferson]], for instance. Ideologically-motivated revisionism is generally frowned upon, as it tends to lead to [[Conservapedia|bad]] [[Fascism|places]].

==In fiction==
Use of historical revisionism plays a significant role to many of the more plausible [[dystopia]]s seen in classical works of [[science fiction]], such as ''Brave New World'', ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' and ''[[Fahrenheit 451]]''. The role of historical revisionism and other misinformation within these works echoes their role in real-life repressive and [[totalitarian]] regimes from the age in which these works were written, such as [[Nazi Germany]] and [[Stalin]]ist [[Russia]], where national myths and distorted accounts of history were used for propaganda purposes. Such practices continue in totalitarian regimes, such as [[North Korea]] which is sometimes likened to Orwell's dystopian vision in ''1984''.

==See also==
{{collist|2|
*[[Alternate historical chronology]]
*[[Burning the evidence]]
*[[Herstory]]
*[[History]]
*[[Memory hole]]
*[[Presentism]]
*[[Pseudohistory]]
**[[Nationalist pseudohistory]]
}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|2|80%}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Authoritarianism]]
[[Category:History]]
[[Category:Pseudohistory]]
[[Category:Totalitarianism]]

Categories: Authoritarianism, History, Pseudohistory, Totalitarianism