The past will always have the certainty which the present and future will always long for. The present is always breathtaking; it surprises us with things we were only dreaming once. The future is always unsteady, always changing with our present decisions. The past? It will always be definite. It can no longer be revisited and altered, maybe revisited but never altered, what happened really happened, whether we like it or not.
A nation – somehow, if not altogether - is defined by its history, by its past. How its ancient heroes fought for freedom and aspirations, and how they laid down their lives willingly for such aching says so much about that nation’s capacity to fight for what they want. Oftentimes, what is usually heard and passed down generation after generation are the heroic feats and the epic victories which paved the way for the present. The question is, are we really giving credits to the correct people? Or are we construing past events to fit the narrative we biasedly crafted in our minds? Beware.
The present times hold so much questions which the past may have answered were it not for unsolicited alterations fueled by politics to favor one’s cause or capture the masses’ sympathy. If only growth was not hindered by disagreements and spite brewed by historical revisionism which is now rampant, the concept of historical revisionism would have been just a failed attempt to sway the citizens. Unfortunately, not only is historical revisionism now becoming a problem, it is also dividing the Filipinos; the Filipinos whose ancestors braved the face of battle to break free from slavery, the same ancestors whose unity, reason, and perseverance toppled numerous adversaries. The division did not only develop a gap among the nation, it also made Filipinos view their fellows as enemy.
Opinions. This caused more disagreements than facts will ever do. But with the growing population comes a growing amount of outspoken minds which caused people to overlook which is fact and which is an opinion, and which is true and which is a lie. When fact is amalgamated with opinion, it no longer becomes a fact. However, when opinions are passed down to a large crowd and it spreads far and wide, it ceases to be an opinion and becomes a fact for people who believe it to be so. When what really happened was given a context which is not necessarily the context when it happened, the narrative changes. When events are given new meaning and construed as positive when it was really a sorrowful one, it will earn that positive construction, because who likes a negative one for the nation? Who likes a negative history? Who wants to read a book where people died for no reason? Who wants to be viewed as the villain? We always want the superhero stories, the best of Filipinos. The victories and upgrades. Maybe that’s why history is only written by victors. Humans tend to look for greatness in everything; and we, as a nation, are not an exception.
The problem is, not everything is great. Not everything needs to be positive for it to earn a place in the history. People need not be a saint or a martyr to be legendary. Events need not be joyful and victorious to be written down as an epic story. For if we want to only look at the past with its glory and successes, we will be living a lie. We should always remember that awful events took place, and no matter how we favor one side over the other, it will not affect the fact that deaths and abuses scarred our history. Blood and tears flooded the nation first before freedom was granted. Killings wounded the nation, silencing brilliant minds forever. Some stories are popular; some stories we may never hear in our lifetime.
With the existence of the internet, people become too preoccupied to even ask the questions befitting the situation: Will the history bend to fit the people’s perception of the past events? Will it deny thousand deaths to soothe the nation’s ego? And will the opinion change the past? It will not. It would not bend to fit, and it would not deny to soothe. More than anything, no amount of opinion can alter what already occurred. More than being remnants of what transpired before, let us look at the past with unbiased perception for us to sift through the facts; for only then will we be able to notice the warnings and reminders, and the cautions and growth. Let us not read with closed minds and hear with deaf ears. Be the thinker among those who are victims of social proofing. Be the stoic among the bandwagon. Be not influenced, because you know the truth. Because history might be written by victors, but historical revisionism kills the past. The most fatal way of killing it? Letting opinions take over, and forgetting what really happened tothat person, caused by the other person for a known or unknown reason at a specific place. Let us not sugarcoat or view the past with partiality. We have to accept the fact that knowing history for what really happened need not be like reading a superhero plot where every move of the people results to a breakthrough. Let the heroes be who they really were, and let us not discredit them to appease or support what we believe happened. Let the villains remain as villains, for only then will we learn to spot the warnings and prevent history repeating itself. Most importantly, unite and fight lies, because we may never know, but we might be the next victors writing the stories of history. As future victors, we would not want alterations in our story. We don’t want the narrative to change, do we?
This piece entitled "Facts over Bias" bagged the 3rd Place in Essay Writing Competition during the MSU COL GenSan Law Week 2k21.
