Monday, January 14, 2008

Who gets to write the first draft of history?

How the "first draft of history" gets written has changed a lot in my adult lifetime.

It used to be said when I was a lad that journalism was the "first draft of history," and that conceit helped draw me into writing for The Daily Texan in college. There I learned, in fact, that the press release was the first draft of history, but even that has changed. After a while the "first draft" began to show up on blogs, and today, more often than not, it comes in a blog comment.

I'm not sure whether I think that's good or bad, but I think it's true.

It's also been said that winners write the history, but to a large extent, that has changed, too. If there's one thing you can say for the blogosphere, it's that it's definitely given losers a voice!

1 comment:

NoMoreNoloContendere said...

I personally love GFB & the paralegal in the family loves HR, go figure. Thanks for giving this onetime loser a voice.

On the topic of history.
I'm in the process of recording some bad history myself in the form a book (The Griffith Files - 1984 & Beyond). A movie will surely follow due to the famous actors involved.

What would you do with a Houston P.D. Incident Report & Certified court docs. that show H.C. deputies, HPD dets. and a now famous former Assist. D. A. blatantly conspiring to obtain both a false arrest & then a conviction by utilizing the plea bargain at lunch recess? Not to mention there being two State's Exhibits docs. dated seven yrs. apart w/ two #2s (one typed up & one handwritten). One being a firearm with no other docs. showing where this "Mystery Gun" came from or where it went to.

Would history be best served if it(info) was in Blog form or write a book? Thanks.