History is written by the victors - who's writing the history?

As the old saying goes "History is written by the victors" ... but what happens when those writing the history books are still in the middle of the battle; and more importantly when they are predominantly made up of only one side in that battle?

According to the below research Democrats historians outnumber Republican historians 33.5 to 1.

Study of public voter registration data shows that Democrats outnumber Republicans social scientists, 11.5 to one. 

Economists are the most mixed group, with a ratio of 4.5 Democrats for every Republican. Historians as a group are the most lopsided, at 33.5 to one

The ratios have become more extreme since 2004, according to the study, and age profiles suggest that trend will continue. 

“People interested in ideological diversity or concerned about the errors of leftist outlooks -- including students, parents, donors and taxpayers -- might find our results deeply troubling,” the authors say.

Langbert said via email that the data do matter, because organizational cultures “reflect the value assumptions of the members and leaders.” When a trait becomes uniform within an organization, he said, “it generally reflects uniformity of thought. … The absence of views alternative to the social democratic culture in universities implies uniformity of opinion. It is difficult to conceive how with such uniformity there can be a fair accounting of alternative views.”

link

Does the old saying no longer apply? Will the writing of history now help to bring about the victory rather than be the result of the victory? As the more contemporary saying goes "Who controls the past controls the future." Or have Republicans already lost the battle; and the old saying still applies?

a reply to: dandandat2
That cliche was always inaccurate, because a lot of history is written by outsiders who weren't in the battle. That helps to provide a corrective when the passions have died down.
Even now, the world is full of people who don't belong to either American party.

a reply to: dandandat2

We live in the information age , we are all the writers of history.

originally posted by: DISRAELI
a reply to: dandandat2

Even now, the world is full of people who don't belong to either American party.

Point well made; how ever this is a forum dedicated to US politics; there is a cultural battle being conducted over US politics that very much includes both American Parties; and the data set involves US academics.

I wonder what trends there are in world historians political affiliations and the possibil impact those affiliations have on world history and the present.

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: dandandat2

We live in the information age , we are all the writers of history.

Something tells me Academic Professors have a lot more influence than message board members. No one's asked me to fact check any thing lately.

a reply to: dandandat2

Who's writing history right now? The democrats because they currently control the media and our third world level education system.

a reply to: dandandat2
As a student of history myself, I was thinking long-term. That's where the pool of non-partisan opinion gets a chance to re-assert itself.

a reply to: LSU2018

We now know what it's like had Nazi Germany written history, all thanks to the Democrats.

Real history...give me a break! There is no way history is going to be written with absolute truth. For instance the (Lone Ranger) was portrayed as a white man...when he fact he was a black man.

I always thought History taught in all sensory virtual reality would be so much more engaging than a teacher droning on and on about dates. Now living through the start of WWIII, The Silent War, I’m not enjoying the reality part too much! Sensory overload!
And the vitriol from the CNN-vauxxed (yes, in my experience there is a difference among duped-vauxxinated and CNN brainwashed-vauxxed. It’s when the one side starts acting elitist that blurs the line!) is quite alarming.

originally posted by: imitator
a reply to: LSU2018

We now know what it's like had Nazi Germany written history, all thanks to the Democrats.

originally posted by: imitator
a reply to: LSU2018

We now know what it's like had Nazi Germany written history, all thanks to the Democrats.

This statement perfectly illustrates the point of the original post.

originally posted by: DISRAELI
a reply to: dandandat2
As a student of history myself, I was thinking long-term. That's where the pool of non-partisan opinion gets a chance to re-assert itself.

That is a good point. But at that future date do we still not need contemporary historians to conglomerate, categorize, evaluate and than disseminate what has been written by past historians and other media collections?

And because that is ture ... will that future historical picture be biased if their is little to no diversity of thought among those future historians?

That is a problem for that future society to address of course. But since this problem seems to exist in our society do we need to address it?

originally posted by: alexandrae
Real history...give me a break! There is no way history is going to be written with absolute truth. For instance the (Lone Ranger) was portrayed as a white man...when he fact he was a black man.

Of course history can never be written 100% accurately; human error and hubris will always be present.

Diversity of thought among the historians and a good pool of historians should correct these issues.

But what happens when there is no or little Diversity of thought as is currently the case among US historians?

a reply to: dandandat2

History is written by the victors - who's writing the history?

Everyone with a cell phone/ camera/ gopro, etc... and a youtube, twittler, tictok, etc acct.

1. Facebook – 2.74 Billion Active Users
2. YouTube – 2.291 Billion Active Users
3. WhatsApp – 2.0 Billion Active Users
4. Facebook Messenger – 1.3 Billion Active Users
5. Instagram – 1.221 Billion Active Users
6. Weixin/WeChat – 1.213 Billion Active Users
7. TikTok – 689 Million Active Users
8. QQ – 617 Million Active Users
9. Douyin – 600 Million Active Users
10. Sina Weibo – 511 Million Active Users
11. Telegram – 500 Million Active Users
12. Snapchat – 498 Million Active Users
13. Kuaishou – 481 Million Active Users
14. Pinterest – 442 Million Active Users
15. Reddit – 430 Million Active Users

this is just the short list...

Everyone that wants to be a digital journalist has the ability to do just that...Post pictures and words about your world; the good, the bad and the ugly.

When I was in university, a history professor mentioned to our class that over 90% of American professors are registered as Democrats. It doesn't surprise me in the least that this results in far more historians being Democrat. I don't think anyone knows the reasons; it could be anything from intelligent people being more likely to be Democrat, or smart Republicans preferring nonacademic careers. The only sure part is the numbers.

originally posted by: DragonsDemesne
When I was in university, a history professor mentioned to our class that over 90% of American professors are registered as Democrats. It doesn't surprise me in the least that this results in far more historians being Democrat. I don't think anyone knows the reasons; it could be anything from intelligent people being more likely to be Democrat, or smart Republicans preferring nonacademic careers. The only sure part is the numbers.

Good point; probably no one knows why this trend in academic exists. But as you said the only sure part is the numbers.

But based on that sure fact does society have an obligation to try and balance out the disparity? Find ways to increase diversity of thought in academics?

We do so with other disparities that exist. For example STEM programs that target young girls in order to help increase the number of women in STEM vocations. Quota systems in order to make sure women and minorities gain more executive position in corporations.

Should academia be responsible for enacting programs and quotas to insure more conservatives enter the field and gain high positions?

I think society has an obligation to make sure anyone who is qualified has the opportunity to gain such a position. If conservative people in general simply don't want to be historians, then that's fine. If some form of bias exists in the system, then that should be eliminated.

Who’s writing the history?


Nobody writes any more.

We’ve reached the end of history. It’s been edited out by Fakebook and the department of age-ist studies

a reply to: dandandat2

That phrase never really applied. It's true in some cases but not true in many more

It's more something you say when it applies.

History is full of proof of the opposite.