Dwain Northey (Gen X)

The unfortunate truth about history is that the events of the past are written by the victors. Case in point a world history lesson on the United States about the Revolutionary war has the colonist as the hero’s fighting and eventually winning independence from a tyrannical King in England, do you think the same story was told in England especially in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries.

One pivotal event was the Boston Tea Party.

The Colonist Version

“Taxation without representation is tyranny,” British colonists protested when Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765. Even with the tax, British tea from India was still cheaper than inferior Dutch tea, but it was the principle involved that prompted the dumping of 342 cases of this disputed commodity into Boston Harbor in 1773.

The British Side

At considerable expense, Britain had won France’s North American territory in the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). Britain faced a large postwar debt and the responsibility of additional land to protect and govern. Highly burdened by taxes themselves, the British were merely asking the colonies to bear the expense of their own administration and defense. As each proposed revenue bill met with opposition, it was repealed, Parliament being anxious to appease the colonies. Such “leniency” only encouraged additional disobedience, which was skillfully orchestrated by colonial propagandists. 

That sounds completely different doesn’t it. The colonists are represented as petulant children that were unwilling to contribute to the crown for graciously protecting them and securing them more land.

Think what a different story would be told if the Third Reich had succeeded in WWII.

The current crisis in Israel and the West Bank is multi-faceted and depending on who you listen to influences your view if who is the bad guy. My view is that Hamas is the bad guy, not the Israel citizen and Palestinian citizens, the horrific attack on 10/7 was planned & perpetrated by Humas no question and Hasas in not Palestine. Just like the Taliban was not Iraq or Afghanistan. Now the Israeli response is just as appalling because it has been targeting, intended or not, the citizens of the west bank not strategically the leader of the Hasas or the individuals that planned the actions of 10/7. Bibi Netanyahu isn’t a good guy in this situation because his actions over the past years as Prime Minister refusing any kind of 2 state solution has only intensified the militancy of both Israel and Palestine.

I don’t know if there will every be an equitable solution, arguably the U.N. stated the problem by willy nilly drawing boundary lines of the former English colony of Palestine.

I would love to be a time traveler and jump to the 22 or 23 century see if this biblical land dispute is ever resolved.