Re:How Akbar came to love books despite never learning to re...
by puranjay on Tuesday September 08, 2020 @05:35PM
(#24413728)
You have to see things in context. The "whitewashing" happened at the dawn of independence. We'd just come off a massive human rights disaster in the form of the partition. Religious tensions were simmering. The country was broke. "Truthful" (though that's a loaded term in itself) would have ruptured the foundations of the country.
We do indeed need to have this conversation as a nation. But I don't think we're ready yet. We're still too poor and desperate. Poor and desperate people rarely make mature, rational decisions, especially about topics as emotionally charged as religion.
Re:How Akbar came to love books despite never learning to re...
by srean on Tuesday September 08, 2020 @04:18PM
(#24412748)
> History should be taught as it is? No lies.
Not going to happen. History is always written by the victorious and in a way that is more flattering towards the victorious. The way we think of Hitler nowadays, we would be thinking the same of Churchill if WWII went the other way.
https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/rethinking-churchill-...
What we can do instead is to tech people to read history well aware of this bias and mentally correct for it.
There are substantial level of German living in Germany, let's not teach them about Nazis? Interpreted other way you are advocating appeasement of people who already have superiority complex due to their religious beliefs.
History should be taught as it is? No lies. If Marathas were the aggressive towards Punjab and Bengal, teach it.
> I'm not sure of the answer .... ancestors.
How will you achieve that if you whitewash. Mature position requires understanding the past and then moving on.