okaysomevampires
Active member
So there are a lot of conspiracies that suppose history has been faked, rewritten or otherwise distorted. Unlike other disciplines, "Trust the experts" is the only counterargument. There's no "Ever seen a boat go over the horizon?" or physics experiment to convince you. You need to trust in their honesty, not just their competence, when you accept that their primary sources are not works of fiction.
So how could you get your own primary sources?
One way would be to find your own old documents and authenticate them yourself.
Another way would be to just start interviewing old people, especially those that you can trust. Take the holocaust as an example, I might not be able to find someone who was there at the end of world war II, 80 years ago. But if I could find sons or daughters who heard exactly what it was like, that could count for something. If I wanted to confirm details of the war from the USSR side of things (some people say a lot of the camps were in soviet territory) the lower population, massive male death and lower life expectancy might get in the way, right?
2024 stats have 34k males and 148k females in the 95-99 age bracket in Russia, people who were around 16-21 years old when the war ended. Even in the 100+ range, there are 2500 males and 14k females. There would be testimony to find in other ex-USSR countries too.
How far back could you go?
Grandfather's grandfather told him a story when he was just a little kid, and it matches other sources? That seems like decent evidence, too bad there aren't going to be that many grandfathers with great memory to rely on.
What is the most important thing for us to confirm? Where on earth could there be falsified history?
If we can only peer back like 6 generations, what could we do to link our inquiries into things that are so subtly critical that they will either confirm the general thrust of purported history, or throw clear doubt upon the official story?
How well could you validate aspects of really old history, beyond the count of generations? You can imagine a family that has always held a house a country or in a town and will tell you that proudly.
If you try to set the bar for trusting old people above "I don't think they'll lie, or at least not all tell me the same lie" then it seems like you'll run into issues where you just don't have many of them (like your relatives) to talk to.
Personally, I have stumbled across some testimony about the Vietnam war by personal acquaintance. I have late family who fought in Korea and WWII, but I don't know how much they shared or documented before they passed. I'd say it is probably enough to confirm these wars happened.
So how could you get your own primary sources?
One way would be to find your own old documents and authenticate them yourself.
Another way would be to just start interviewing old people, especially those that you can trust. Take the holocaust as an example, I might not be able to find someone who was there at the end of world war II, 80 years ago. But if I could find sons or daughters who heard exactly what it was like, that could count for something. If I wanted to confirm details of the war from the USSR side of things (some people say a lot of the camps were in soviet territory) the lower population, massive male death and lower life expectancy might get in the way, right?
2024 stats have 34k males and 148k females in the 95-99 age bracket in Russia, people who were around 16-21 years old when the war ended. Even in the 100+ range, there are 2500 males and 14k females. There would be testimony to find in other ex-USSR countries too.
How far back could you go?
Grandfather's grandfather told him a story when he was just a little kid, and it matches other sources? That seems like decent evidence, too bad there aren't going to be that many grandfathers with great memory to rely on.
What is the most important thing for us to confirm? Where on earth could there be falsified history?
If we can only peer back like 6 generations, what could we do to link our inquiries into things that are so subtly critical that they will either confirm the general thrust of purported history, or throw clear doubt upon the official story?
How well could you validate aspects of really old history, beyond the count of generations? You can imagine a family that has always held a house a country or in a town and will tell you that proudly.
If you try to set the bar for trusting old people above "I don't think they'll lie, or at least not all tell me the same lie" then it seems like you'll run into issues where you just don't have many of them (like your relatives) to talk to.
Personally, I have stumbled across some testimony about the Vietnam war by personal acquaintance. I have late family who fought in Korea and WWII, but I don't know how much they shared or documented before they passed. I'd say it is probably enough to confirm these wars happened.
