Perspectives of War

Similarly to the title of this blog, humanities core is a course based upon learning the perspectives of humanity. Whereas last quarter was based on agency and how to analyze the symbolism and syllogisms of texts, this quarter was focused on war theory and torture and how to analyze films. 

Upon reflection....

Looking back at the beginning of the quarter, I had the simple belief that history is what we memorize from a textbook. Specifically focusing on war history, it was a simple formula of plugging in dates and concepts and memorizing the order and importance of events.


It was not until this course that I was brought to understand that textbooks are based on the writer's perspective of the events. One person's perspective of a car accident from across a road can be completely different that someone in the car next to the collision. In relation to the textbooks seen (to the right), both textbooks are written by authors in the US. However, is the US perspective accurate on teaching it's newest generations about the entire world? Is the information accurate enough to determine the mindset of the new leaders of our country? <- Who makes sure that these questions are answered? The government is the entity that makes sure our textbooks are up to date and filled with proper information but how can we know for sure that what's being sold as the facts is truly the facts? Human error is completely plausible due to the fact that people are filled with bias and the capacity to misconstrue information into false assumptions.

Now realizing this, this quarter showed me that the only way to fully make sure that one is closest to gaining the truth is by receiving information from multiple sources. Referencing back to the car analogy, in order for a police officer or a lawyer to find out who was truly at fault they must interview all witnesses. Since the person across the street and the person in the car next to the collision have different recollections, it's up to that officer or lawyer to determine what is more reasonably accurate. Or make the decision to look deeper and find more sources for evidence. This is essentially the same when it comes to researching a topic, especially war with its multiple dimensions, one must find all sources available and determine what could be the truth.

Perspectives are encompassed by the mind and the mind is only capable of understanding the things that are put into it, seeking truth requires the right sources of knowledge. I believe that this concept is one of the most important to be grasped out of this quarter.