Advanced Creative Writing Post #7: Perspective's Effect On Reality

What is one of the greatest examples of perspective's effect on reality? We see and hear it all around us. We study it in school. History: the tale of days long past. Although we take most of this as authority-given information that must be true, we are really basing our beliefs off the perspective of one person or faction in history. After all, it is called history. History is known for being the victor's word, the story from the winning side.

Take for instance the American Revolution. The great battle for freedom of the philanthropic American colonists from the oppressive British regime, right? Not necessarily. Who do we get this information from? Why, the Americans of course. The great "freedom fighters". In this tale, the epic hero is the great land of America and the big bad witch is the evil suppressor of Britain. But don't you think this is a little one-sided? Doesn't it strike you as strange that only Britain is represented in a bad light? There's no way that Britain only did horrible things and not a drop of good, or vice versa for America. So what about Britain's side of the story? I recently read an article describing the ordeal from Britain's perspective. So, what's the difference between the two stories? A surprising amount, actually. Turns out the great "freedom fighters" were nothing more than smugglers and terrorists. The reason behind the American Revolution: Britain's desire to stop the bribery and smuggling in the American colonies that was bankrupting both the colonies and Great Britain itself. But the leaders of the revolution, the founding fathers of modern-day America, didn't want to relinquish their hold on the colonies. Ever wonder why the start of the war is because of some shots at Lexington? There are no confirmed accounts of firing from the British militiamen there. Another fine detail that history seems to have left out.

So what's the point here? Perspective has a profound effect on the world we see. Every piece of information is subject to bias, no matter where it comes from. History is especially vulnerable to the effects of bias. No one currently reading history textbooks was alive during the fall of the Roman Empire or when the Aztecs vanished. There are no "credible" witnesses from both sides to retell the story. So we take it on word-of-mouth essentially that is written in those textbooks is what really happened. We can never really be sure, but we should always be on the lookout for both sides of the story. If one side is missing, we have to ask: why? Where did it run off to? Or better yet, who's trying to change the facts? Whenever we are making decisions on events, modern or historical, we must remember that there are always two sides to every coin, two sides to every tale. If you're only seeing the Heads side, it's time to question the magician.

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