Hello,

How are you? It’s been another two weeks, and I have been reading my book of the month, “Fake History: Ten Great Lies and How They Shaped the World” by Otto English.

Halfway through the book, which I am enjoying, by the way, I am reminded of why history is often distorted. Mostly, it is because of who wrote it. History is usually told from the perspective of the storyteller. What they decide happened is either orally passed down or written for us to read.

The storytellers’ worldview is captured in how they write history.
For example, much of history is written from a male perspective. That’s why you have records of everything done by men and little by women. And since writers often present themselves as heroes, most of our heroes are men, even though women may have played a greater or even more supportive role.

As I stated in my newsletter where I introduced this book, some people deliberately distort history and consciously rewrite history to cover up their own failings.

So, what are we to do with this information? First, we need to rethink our view of history. We often think of history as the distant past, whereas what happened a minute or an hour ago is also history. So, we must not accept anything as absolute fact simply because it is written in a newspaper, on a blog or even said in the news. We must be conscious of the fact that people can “deliberately distort history to cover up their own failings.”

With this fact in mind, we must audit everything we read and listen to multiple sources in our search for objective truth. It is only when we have certified that a person is trustworthy that we can rely on what they say. We need this “superpower” as we approach the 2023 elections. You will read many things that you have to really dig deep to verify because during election season, propaganda reigns.

Don’t forget that if you read anything untoward about the Oyo State Government, you can always confirm and learn the truth through our several feedback channels, on and off social media, or you can even ask me directly by responding to this newsletter.