Dear reader,
In the olden-days Herodotus was the bees-knees for historical and factual accuracy
Another scintillating dispatch from our man for the distant North-West frontier. The man they call “Frank’.
In this- un he seems to be making a reference to fake news. On the heels of the Federal Budget we’re still trying to work out which are the fake bits. Which are the fake substitute bits, and which are the ersatz fake bits. ‘Hard to find an honest man in Parliament”, as they used to say. Harder still to discern the ultra-fake from the deep-fake. Is this fakery you may ask? It’s a deep well, a Ferevanti Well perhaps? A well of Loneliness? Of discontent? You be the judge…. and ‘I’ll bet you a Zac, that the judgement is yellow and the victim is black’.
Frank writes;
Bonjour mes amies et autres,
Herodotus could spot an historical inaccuracy from miles away
When I was working as a well site geologist on Panarctic Oil’s Hoodoo Dome No.1 well on Ellef Ringnes Island in the Canadian Arctic, an arctic wolf was spotted hanging around our rubbish tip.
This was in 1970 long before refuse disposal sites and landfill and instant photography.
A group of us excitedly and bravely approached the wolf with our cameras. We got dangerously close to the snarling wolf to snap our pictures. When we had our film developed in Calgary our photos were graced by a tiny barely discernible distant wolf. It is all a matter of perception.
Another old codger, called Moses wrote a whole lotta semi- factual history down on tablets. They were cheaper than scrolls, but way heavier.
On the same well-site one of the roughnecks (as rig workers are known) caught a lone lemming near the pipe rack. He took it to the kitchen “Hey cookie, why don’tcha bake us a lemming meringue pie?”. The cook kicked him out (him and his lemming).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zhBVHhPV6U (Joan Soriano- merengue)
Now we have all heard about lemmings committing mass suicide by swarming over cliff edges. Not unlike humanity swarming towards the cliff of climate change.
Despite the fake news of the lemming myth having been conclusively debunked, many still accept it as a given. Myth as fact.
Suetonius could tell a good yarn, with a bit of colour added to the racy bits
Am reading Claire Coleman’s ‘Lies Damned Lies’. The Chapter headed ‘Australian History is Fake News’ concludes with “It’s time for archivists and historians (and Dispatch writers) to speak up when lies are uttered. Otherwise, fake news will become the only news.
It happened with Indigenous people: character assassination on the scale of a whole culture. It can happen to others too. If you’re not worried about it, you should be”Though his facts were in French
Froissart could also tell a good yarn.Though his facts were couched in mediaeval French, which didn’t adapt well to the 24 hr news cycle on French mediaeval telly.
It happened with Yuendumu: character assassination on the scale of a whole community.
It happened with Kumanjayi Walker: character assassination on the scale of an individual.
Edmund Gibbon was no slouch in the historical artefact department. He wrote all about the Roman Empire, as if he was really there!
Despite attempts by those who know and love Yuendumu to debunk these stigmas, stereotypes and fake news assumptions, many still accept the portrayal of Yuendumu as a dangerous dysfunctional depraved community as a given. Myth as fact.
Despite attempts by those who knew and loved Kumanjayi Walker to debunk the portrayal of him as a dangerous, violent, young criminal who was ‘the author of his own misfortune’. Despite the deliberate co-ordinated fake news campaign aimed at character assassination of the victim. Many still accept the portrayal of the perpetrator as a heroic figure who saved himself and his partner and was doing his job. Myth as fact.
I’m told that 9,000 people signalled their support for police wearing guns on Aboriginal communities on a pro-Zac Facebook page.
They are like lemmings plunging head first into what Bruce Pascoe dubbed the ‘Gulf of Incomprehension’
A bientôt
Worlds greatest historian “SCOMO”, a well practised Ukulele. Short historical scripts for power point and white board.