Deconstructing Mainstream Historical and Scientific Narratives

[Apparition of Jack]

In light of Leo's most recent blog video, I've decided to start a thread focused on breaking down the simplistic, rosy narratives of history and science that we've been spoon-fed by education / society since we were children. This thread is about exposing just how much more inter-connected, crazy, cool, cosmic and also disturbing out collective human history and understanding of the universe has been, and how so much of our current understanding of reality / our place in the world is based on lies and half-truths.

NOTE: This thread is NOT a place to push unsubstantiated conspiracy theories / racist nonsense. In accordance with the guidelines of this sub-forum, everything posted here must be high-quality, well-researched, and should help raise the level of consciousness / development, not lower it. Also keep in mind that we can never have a full picture of the past, not even close, so the information presented here will still only be a fraction of the totality of human history. Still, there's a lot more we can know about our past than we currently accept, and that's what this thread is all about! I'll start the thread with some example links to get the ball rolling.

 

1. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/origin-bleeding-heart-liberal

Think your conservative grandpa came up with the phrase "bleeding-heart liberal" to refer to tree-hugging hippies? Think again! This phrase was deliberately invoked in the 1930s as a mark against people who advocated for penalties against lynchings of black Americans, of all things. Our popular social ideas often have very specific origins for very specific purposes, and aren't just catchy memes that "started somewhere." What other catchy phrases have less-than-rosy origins?

 

2. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/06/20/stonehenge-builders-used-pythagoras-theorem-2000-years-greek/

Think maths and geometry were invented by a bunch of Greek thinkers 2500 years ago? Turns out, this isn't the case. The ancient Celts of England new about Pythagorean theory 2000 years before the Greeks ever rose to prominence - something mainstream science and history so far hasn't accepted. What else does our current narrative of the ancient world get wrong?

 

3, https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/news/yes-world-there-were-horses-in-native-culture-before-the-settlers-came-JGqPrqLmZk-3ka-IBqNWiQ/

https://imageproxy.themaven.net/https%3A%2F%2Fimages.saymedia-content.com%2F.image%2FMTY1MjEzMzM3OTM4ODk2NDU3%2F11.png?w=930&q=30&h=680&auto=format&fit=crop&crop=focalpoint&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&fp-z=1&fp-debug=false

Turns out, the Native American warrior riding on horseback has been a staple of Native culture for thousands of years, and wasn't a result of Europeans introducing horses to the Americas. Why would this fact have been ignored or denied by Western history up until now? What does this say about the nature of academia and the cultural interests that support it?

 

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That does me for now, but I'll posting more articles in the future. Looking forward to see what others can come up with!

 

Edited August 22, 2019 by Apparition of Jack