"I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge - That myth is more potent than history,
I believe that dreams are more powerful than facts -
That hope always triumphs over experience - That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death." -Robert Fulghum
Any conflict that goes on for a long time, as intractable conflicts do, will involve historical facts. For example, the ongoing environmental conflict regarding nuclear energy draws on the history of nuclear power accidents, including those at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.
Environmental activists interpret these incidents in ways that differ from those who promote nuclear power, reflecting the general fact that conflicting parties are likely to interpret the events of the past in different ways. Yet in this case, these facts are not crucial to the current arguments over safety. More important are concerns about current potential for accidents, waste disposal, and opportunities for misuse of nuclear material.
Historical facts do play a central role in other kinds of conflicts, for example, long-running international conflicts over territory. A clear example of this is the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Each side holds its own version of the region's history, and the respective versions are reflected in each side's rhetoric.
The historical rhetoric becomes a cyclical part of the escalating conflict -- each side holds its own biases; those biases affect the way each side interprets the past; these biased interpretations are repeated and circulated as if they were a fact, thus further feeding and strengthening partisan bias on both sides. In such a conflict it becomes increasingly difficult to uncover the authentic history due to the continual cycle of interpretation and propaganda. In this way, historical "facts" can add significantly to a conflict's intractability.
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Historical FictionUPDATES COME SLOW- sorryyyy 🧍 this book is, and always will be, dedicated to my one and only, Eli Mixon. he's been there for me through tough times, and i don't have the words to thank him for all he's done. so i've written a book about the world...
