HIS-100 8-3-1 Discussion - Revisiting History PDF

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Module 8 Discussion - Revisiting History for HIS-100, Perspectives in History....

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8-3-1 Discussion: Revisiting History 1. After revisiting Module One of this course, I still feel that it is the duty of a historian to do their best to keep their own biases and opinions from swaying the way they record history. Much of how I think of history and the act of investigating information remains the same, however this course has taught me to be more aware of the ways authors and information may be biased – such as through various lenses (i.e. political, economical or social), or by other events happening in the world at the same time. This course has caused me to take the time to consider who the author is, in addition to the validity of their facts. Although an author could report pure, truthful facts, their own biases and events of the time may cause other important facts to be left out – it is always good to consider multiple sources before forming your own opinions, and I am a firm believer in always keeping an open mind, even after you have formed an opinion. 2. Thinking of Niccolò Machiavelli’s quote, and of the research I did on Mao Zedong’s influence over China, the first thing that comes to mind is China counterfeiting items and stealing technology from companies in America and other countries. By studying Mao’s incredibly strong push to move China into greatness, I better understand the road that brought us to these issues, or at least helped move us in this direction. With such a strong competitive need to “beat” the United States, Russia and Japan, I feel that the Chinese people and industry have been ingrained with a mindset of “do whatever it takes” to remain a strong world power. Rather than assuming laziness on the part of the Chinese people (not designing or engineering their own products), my research has made me further consider the motivation behind counterfeit Chinese products, and realize a deeper influence. As an aside – I much prefer Machiavelli’s quote over the standard “history repeats itself”!...