Demythologizing the demythologized.
Did they really?
The 300 Spartans were accompanied by some 5,000 other Greeks. An indeterminate, smaller number of these Greeks remained behind with the Spartans for a last stand after the Persians surrounded them.
Yes, judges in Medieval Europe, in many instances, believed witches would float, and that they copulated with the devil himself…
They didn’t burn witches in Salem– they hanged them. In one instance, they “pressed” a witch: put a board on him and loaded it with rocks until he died (one “witch” was man, Corey).
And after years of see-saw analysis, it looks like most researchers accept that a disproportionate number of rich people made it onto the Titanic’s lifeboats, which is what Walter Lord observed right at the start. They didn’t need to elbow people aside: the stewards simply made sure that the 3rd class passengers did not reach the boat deck until well after the first class had the opportunity to get into the boats.
Al Gore never claimed to have “invented” the internet– he claimed that he took the “initiative” in supporting it’s early development. Gore was in fact an early congressional supporter of the progenitor of the internet, Arpanet. For all practical purposes, that statement is substantially true, though his choice of phrasing was unfortunate.
On the other hand, the statement that he claimed to have invented the internet, while not accurate, does reflect something of the pomposity of the way Gore phrased his statement. It was clumsy. It should have been passed over quickly, but Republicans love to point out that their candidate is the stupid one who would never, in a million years, ever be mistaken for anyone who could have invented anything of any importance, whereas the Democrats nominated someone who arrogantly achieved things.
Marie Antoinette? The quote might well be apocryphal, but the perception that she was indifferent to the suffering of the poor, while leading a ridiculously extravagant lifestyle–even gambling and “playing” at being a milk-maid– is substantially true. I find it somewhat nauseating to now see websites aimed at high school students encouraging them to get to know this remarkable woman, with tie-ins to the movie. This is flat out ridiculous.
Yes, Joseph McCarthy persecuted innocent people. He persecuted some guilty people too, but he persecuted many innocent people, destroyed their careers and livelihoods unjustly, and behaved like a bully and a pig.
Yes, Eva Duarte slept her way to the top. Absolutely. Please, please don’t accept Madonna’s spin on history.
And yes, 38 people were aware (to somewhat varying degree) of the murder of Kitty Genovese in Kew Gardens and did nothing.
The video of Arabs dancing in the street to celebrate 9/11 has long ago been debunked. The video was of some other event.
How about “Does Donald Trump really have the world’s greatest memory?” Judge for yourself. By almost all accounts of individuals who worked with him, he never read any position papers or memorandums that were submitted to him, because he preferred articles with pictures and television. [2022-05-08]