"People prefer legends to reality"We get a lesson on how open to manipulation our "accepted" history is in the video "Aaron Burr, Part 2." Burr "tells" his side of the story, and points out the inconsistencies of the official story of his duel with Alexander Hamilton:
--Aaron Burr, "Aaron Burr, Part 2"
"Alexander Hamilton was a man of pathological self-destructive hatred. He was a paranoid, manipulative liar..."The video fascinates me because it points out just how easy it is to "shape" the historical narrative for whatever reason. Is it a coincidence that Hamilton founded "The New York Post"? And I find that those who contradict the "official narrative" -- even with facts* -- provide such cognitive dissonance to the public, such a state of existentialist horror and vertigo, that said public will most often vigorously defend said official narrative.
Aaron Burr, Part 2 from Dana O'Keefe on Vimeo.
*Alas, "facts"...so fleeting...so easily created and recreated, especially in our age. If what Robert Anton Wilson said was true, and we are all living in our own "reality tunnels," is this just a case of people choosing to live in the cozy reality tunnels established by the authority figures of our youth? That is why we must choose to always question, to keep an open mind to as many possibilities as possible, and gather as much information as we can. I believe there is still such a thing as "hard data" for historians and scientists alike to turn to -- but it must be viewed, and reviewed. And tapped at the bottom to see if it's all that's there, or if the surface merely covers an entrance to another, as-of-yet undiscovered secret room.
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