sir francis said it best.

“Knowledge is power.”  Sir Francis Bacon, late 16th century.

 I posted this quotation on the wall of the my media center, along with James A. Garfields “Ideas control the world.”  This is why I became a teacher.

If I have learned anything over the past decade, it is that information changes the world.  The more you know, the more you change.  The more you change, the more others change.  Exponential change, person-by-person.  Society by society. 

Add to that that information has never been more accessible to the person on the street.  Technologies and media have enabled us to become the most informed society in the history of the world, and any person can find any information within a matter of seconds.  It’s not just for scientists and scholars anymore–now a grocery-store cashier can go home to find the latest information on climate change, genocide in Africa, or the plight of emperor penguins in Antarctica.  You cannot be exposed to the wonders, miracles, and tragedies of this world without being changed in some way.  Then what do you do?  You share it with others.  Send an email, put it on your blog, make posters, or hold a rally.

So I have created a new page here, websites of mass instruction, on which I have posted several websites I visit often in order to stay informed.  Take a look if you want.  Or don’t.  It’s up to you.  That’s the thing about education; no matter how easy it is, it still requires action to seek it out.

 

artistic license or revisionism?

Let me start by saying that I’m not NEARLY naive enough to believe that history can be represented 100% objectively. Most of what we know about our ancient, and even notsoancient, past has come to us through a series of scholars and researchers and archeologists who have taken “clues” and drawn enough reasonable conclusions to present us with a picture of what might have been. Heck, even primary sources like diaries and letters (and these days video media) are bound to be skewed by a human perception in some way. So it’s not that I’m looking for blinding white truth. But dangit, I resent out-and-out fiction when it comes to historical events, especially in the name of making a good novel or profitable movie.

I just finished watching The Last King of Scotland–a brutal portrait of conditions in Uganda under Idi Amin in the 70’s.I’m embarrassed to admit I knew very little about the man, and while I knew that a Hollywood production (and the original novel) was not going to be the most reliable source of information, I at least expected the the characters that were instrumental to the events in the film to be reasonable representations of real people.
I know, I know. I didn’t read enough about the movie or the actual events before I saw it, but how many of us do extensive research about a subject that we’re going to see in a movie? And the fact that the main character, through whose eyes we come to know the man Amin, never really existed? How about more responsibility in depicting historical events? Can you really tell me there was no other way to effectively tell this story than to make up a person who was never there? In his defense, Giles Foden, the author of the book, did claim to base the Garrigan character on a British aide to Amin. I haven’t read the book, so I can’t comment on that version of the story, but in an article I read, it claimed that this aide had participated more vigorously in Amin’s security forces, and alternately been imprisoned and tortured in Amin’s prisons. Was there some kind of political correctness being catered to here? I don’t know–I can only speculate.

Don’t get me wrong… I’m a huge history buff, and I do love historical fiction. But blending that fact and fiction is a delicate matter in my opinion. Presenting something as truth, especially depicting a significant historical event, requires much more attention to detail and accuracy in my opinion, than simply telling a fictional story about fictional characters in an historical setting. Oh my lord, I could go on and on about this. And I probably will later. I have to go now–I’m starving.