HISTORY AS MYSTERY, by Michael Parenti
"Heterodoxy always offers a better learning experience than orthodoxy. A dissenting view invites us to test the prevailing explanations and open ourselves to neglected ones. Through this clash of viewpoints we have a better chance of moving toward a closer approximation of historical truth."
All history, wrote George Orwell, "was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary": at no time and in no case "would it have been possible, once the deed was done, to prove that any falsification had taken place." Writing about "real history" fifty years later, Michael Parenti reiterates this grave truth about our own society and societies long past that conventional or "official" history is largely "a one-sided record composed by the victors"; its goal is "not to enlighten but to enforce the existing political orthodoxy."
Parenti's latest book, HISTORY AS MYSTERY, should be required reading for teachers and students, yet such books, however scholarly written, thoroughly documented, and painstakingly researched, are often hindered by censorship and limited distribution, opposed by disinformation campaigns--even threatened with obscurity. A dissident historian (labeled "revisionist" by the mainstream) is deprived of "the implicit, unexamined, but commonly embraced notions that invite acceptance because they conform to what is already accepted as properly true"--a bias in favor of the orthodox that is frequently mistaken for "objectivity."
Parenti pursues two main theses throughout the book (quoting J.H. Plum): (1) "the acquisition of the past by ruling and possessing classes," that is, making history by the privileged and powerful, and manufacturing historical accounts by members of the mainstream orthodoxy; and (2) "the exclusion of working people," although the cooperation of lower-level members of any hierarchy is often necessary to guarantee the enforcement of policy decisions and the perpetuation of political and economic hegemony.
Parenti offers the reader what he calls "real history"--an objective view of the past in which the traditional filters have been deconstructed--instead of "the popular version of events that enjoys maximum circulation." Real history doesn't just focus on names and dates, such as when the "New World" was "discovered" (and by whom), but questions the bias implicit in these Eurocentric misnomers by scrutinizing the veracity of so-called historical "facts," critically examining the motives of key players, and identifying their alliance with key power structures.
More a critical analysis of the way that history has been recorded, preserved, and taught throughout the ages than an account of a particular period, HISTORY AS MYSTERY nevertheless manages to provide both a wealth and breadth of alternative insight to issues often ignored or distorted by mainstream historians. Below is a short commentary on the chapters that make up the book, prefaced by a key quotation from each.
Movers, Shakers, History-Makers
"Those who write history help influence the course of events by shaping our understanding of things past and present. Conversely, those who actively participate in a historical event, especially if they occupy elite policy positions, often manipulate the materials for documenting that event."
Among the historian-politicians that Parenti cites for their dual role in both making and recording historical events are Caesar, Cicero, and Churchill. However, though much of the distortion within mainstream history is willful, manufactured and perpetrated by the ruling class, the dissemination of disinformation is ultimately made possible through the unwitting participation of such lower echelon transmitters as journalists, teachers, textbook writers, and clergy, whose mere adherence to ideological orthodoxy validates them as "objective."
Keeping the Faith--or Keeping the Faithful in Their Place?
"For more than a thousand years, the higher clergy presided as rich and powerful ecclesiastical lords over vast satrapies, owners of slaves, and masters of serfs, exercising a regressive influence upon every area of culture and learning . . . church leaders persecuted heretics and Jews, championed the subjugation of women, propagated homophobic intolerance, and collaborated with secular overlords in the oppression of the peasantry."
HISTORY AS MYSTERY devotes two chapters to the dark side of Christianity and the role of the early church as a perpetrator of evil deeds. Perhaps no other institution in history has taken such an actively self-promotional role in the manufacturing of truth and the falsification of history to insure its own growth and survival. Christianity flourished, Parenti argues, because it aligned itself with wealthy patrons and powerful political leaders. It ultimately prevailed due to the collusion between secular rulers and no-less-worldly clerics, as well as the threat of death and extermination to all heretics and non-believers.
Fake History
"Those engaged in the manufacturing of history often introduce distortions at the point of origin well before the history is written or even played out. This initial process of control is not usually left to chance but is regularly pursued by interested parties who are situated to manipulate the record."
In Chapter 4, Parenti relates the story of Filippo Tamburini, a Roman Catholic priest who published a scholarly book in 1995 about crimes committed by members of the clergy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. These were drawn from documents stored in the secret Vatican archive, where he had worked for many years. In every case he cited, the transgressors had been pardoned, whereas Tamburini himself, "destined to suffer the fate of whistleblowers everywhere," was ultimately barred from the archives and severely reprimanded by his superiors, proving that "like most organizations, the Vatican is inclined to deal more harshly with those who publicize institutional crimes than with those who commit them."
Gentlemen Scholars
"In their eagerness to neutralize themselves, scholars tend to neutralize their subject matter. But history is never neutral. And relatively little of it is purely stochastic and accidental. While we need not assume there is a grand design to all that happens, we cannot rule out human agency, human intent, and political interests that are purposive in their actions."
The monarchs of nineteenth-century Germany took history very seriously, and thus also took great pains to ensure that the recording of history be entrusted to wealthy "gentlemen" historians with a commensurate devotion to Christianity and absolutism. A similar marriage of convenience exists between today's historians, academics, and journalists, and the corporate power structure which they serve. In short, Parenti concludes, in a modern context, "history is not just what the historians say it is, but what government agencies, corporate publishing conglomerates, chain store distributors, mass media pundits, editors, reviewers, and other ideological gatekeepers want to put into circulation."
Foul Play in High Places
"Most of the evil in history is perpetrated not by lunatics or monsters but by individuals of responsibility and commitment, whose most unsettling aspect is the apparent normality of their deportment."
In addition to offering a critical analysis of orthodox history, HISTORY AS MYSTERY includes an historical investigation into the death of President Zachary Taylor. Examining whether Taylor was poisoned (versus the official story that he died of natural causes after consuming large quantities of cherries and milk), Parenti presents the case as "a perfect example of how pack journalists and pack historians can settle a controversy by fiat, manufacturing orthodox conclusions out of thin air." More importantly, it explains why historically the power elite and their minions have systematically controlled the flow of information to the masses in order to repress any fact or opinion that "challenges the legitimacy and virtue of our political institutions by suggesting the possibility of foul play in high places."
Psychopathological Liars
"Psychopathological explanations tend to ignore the political content of things and conjure a latent predetermining apolitical need. [They do not] deal with the seemingly more evident possibility that people hate kings or capitalists not because of filial conflicts but because they often find the social conditions imposed by autocracy and plutocracy to be insufferable."
The final chapter is devoted to the nascent fields of "psychopolitics" and "psychohistory," which views political figures and even the masses themselves as driven by deep-seated emotions, fears, and personal conflicts with family and authority, rather than by external social, political, and economic forces. Though it may seem a digression , Parenti remains true to his thesis that history is manufactured by the ruling classes, while the silent masses throughout history are misinformed and disenfranchised. Psychoanalysis and "depth" psychology are the latest weapons in the war against heterodoxy. Indeed, even apart from the shaky and hotly debated theoretical grounds upon which they are based, psychopolitical explanations are highly selective, applied almost exclusively to dissident groups by their orthodox adherents, who seem "to equate political deviancy with psychological abnormality."
At one point, Parenti asks, "If much of history is written by the victors, who then speaks for the muted masses?" He laments the dearth of firsthand historical accounts of (or by) peasants, workers, craftspeople, and other nameless individuals throughout history. "Giving the people their due," he argues, "involves more than just giving them credit for performing the drudgery of society. A people's history recognizes ordinary people as the source of most of the positive contributions that have made life tolerable and even possible."
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