History is written by the winners… or now by media powerhouses?

 “Most history is guessing, and the rest is prejudice." 

 ~Will and Ariel Durant, Our Oriental Heritage

The phrase every history major keeps in mind when researching a particular event or era is, “history is written by the winners,” coined by the author, Alex Haley.  It reminds the researcher that sources of history are predominately biased towards a particular viewpoint. In cases where one is studying a particular civilization or era where the written word was not yet used or widespread, completing a thorough source selection is problematic.  For instance, much of what the world knows about Peruvian history pre-Spanish conquest is of the Inca civilization of which had no written language.  The Spaniards came into contact with the Incas when conquering Peruvian land and recorded the history of Peru through the Inca’s oral accounts.  When reading Peruvian history as recorded by the Spaniards the picture of a long and great Inca civilization forms, although we now know that the Inca Empire was only at its height for about one-hundred years prior to conquest and the Inca’s, in fact, gained their power from previous major Peruvian civilizations. 

Today, Alex Haley’s theory should be adjusted to reflect the power of mass media's effect on how people perceive history, current events and the world.  Media powerhouses such as Fox News, CNN and the BBC have a tremendous influence on public opinion and can many times direct an event’s outcome through persuasive, suggestive and manipulated text.  This week the following visual went viral over the Internet, passed through social media and attempted to demonstrate the power of a media outlet’s tone and tenor on it’s readers.  I must have seen this on multiple Facebook Friend’s profiles over the past week and it gives me hope that American’s are not ceasing to question the media’s validity or motives. Social media can act as a tool to spread intellectual ideas and knowledge!  Or, perhaps I am simply attracted to this certain type of information posted on Facebook and have like-minded Friends. 

-Claire