写作与思考2016zenpundit.com
修昔底德圆桌第四卷：历史由失败者书写
Thucydides Roundtable, Book IV: History Is Written by the Losers
导读
这篇圆桌讨论围绕修昔底德《历史》第四卷展开，借“历史由失败者书写”这一命题，反思叙事权如何被失势者、回忆录作者和国家神话争夺。写作者值得读，因为它提醒我们：写作不只是记录，也是在解释、辩解和重塑因果。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
把写作视为争夺解释权的行动：失势者常通过写作重新定义自己与对手。
- 02
写回忆录或自辩时，要警惕“向对手泼脏水”的冲动，区分事实、情绪与论证。
- 03
叙事若省略前因，就容易制造“无端作恶”的简单故事；写作应补足背景与因果链。
- 04
引用流行说法或权威回忆前要核查来源，避免把被反复讲述的版本当成历史。
HN 评论精选
失势者写作既是变现，也是报复与自辩。
当高位被夺走、通往财富和权力顶峰的路被堵死时，人几乎无能为力——除了写作。不难看出政治领袖败落后写回忆录的倾向。我一直以为那是趁知名度最高时变现的理性操作，但能向亏待自己的人泼一桶脏水，当然也很有吸引力。
caf查看英文原文
When high position is stolen from you, and access to the heights of wealth and power denied, there is little one can do about it—except write. It's not hard to see here the tendency for political leaders to write their memoirs in the aftermath of their defeat. I had always assumed it was a rational play to monetise their name recognition while it was at its highest, but of course the ability to pour a bucket of shit on those who have wronged you must be pretty attractive too.
历史叙事常省略前因和反证，流行故事会掩盖国家行为与争议决策。
“历史由失败者书写”是因为掌权者没时间写吗？我觉得文章有趣，但前提让我不安。我能想到美国当下操纵历史的明显例子：多数美国人以为日本无缘无故袭击珍珠港，好莱坞电影也这么讲，却不知道佩里是谁、美国此前对日本做了什么。还有人反复说原子弹“拯救了生命”，高中课本称燃烧弹轰炸死的人比原子弹多；他们不知道美国将军曾恳求不要用原子弹或至少不要炸平民，不知道日本当时的混乱，也不知道尽管日本表示会投降，美国仍不愿妥协。
wallace_f查看英文原文
>Those who rule do not have the time to write about it. History written by the losers... because those who rule cannot write about it? I think this article is interesting, but the underlying premise of the article really bothers me. I can think of several glaring examples of manipulation of history that we are guilty of in America today, despite how we feel about ourselves being "free" and generally too good for that. Here are some glaring examples off the top of my head: My observations have been that most people in America believe Japan just attacked Pearl Harbor for no good reason. This story is told in the hollywood movie Pearl Harbor. In the movie, there were just kids playing, good people BBQ'ing, and beach volleyball and then these evil bastards just attacked for no reason. They don't know who Perry was or what we did to Japan before this happened. I have also heard people say, time and time again, that they believe the atomic bomb "saved lives," so the argument in my high school textbook goes, "more people died in the fire bombings than the atomic bombings." This is perhaps the most outrageous manipulation of history. They don't know American generals were begging to not use the bomb, or to at least not use on a civilian target. They have no idea of the history, of Japan's confusion, of our unwillingness to compromise despite they were saying they would surrender. President Dwight Eisenhower said: "the Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing." Another quote from a US General: "The war would have been over in two weeks. . . . The atomic bomb had nothing to do with the end of the war at all." However, conveniently most Americans now don't believe the atomic bombs were crimes against humanity, nor that the fire bombings of Tokyo were, either! The US General who oversaw the fire bombings of Tokyo himself said they were a war crime. I think most Americans know that Germany committed horrible mass murder against races of people, but not that their economy was destroyed by through financial schemes (even Keynes, mainstream macroecon's hero, told of this). It takes very strong character to be able to stand up and say that you made a mistake, and make good on it and make sure it doesn't happen again. I think one of the best ways this will never happen is just erase those mistakes from history, and declaring history written by the losers would be a good way to argue for that.
失败者未必能留下历史，文明被摧毁时记录也会消失。
要记住，在征服或推翻中处于失败一方的文明，其东西往往会被摧毁。
afarrell查看英文原文
> Only in Greece and in China did this notion catch hold. Keep in mind that civilizations on the losing end of a campaign of conquest (or overthrow) tend to have their things destroyed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_codices
战败方将军的叙述可能塑造长期神话，需用另一方史料校正。
二战后德国人堪称失败者书写历史的完美例子。盟军俘获许多将军，并把他们的说法大量当成真实。由此散布的神话至今仍在，最重要之一是红军原始、只会人海战术；实际上苏军常常在指挥上也胜出。西方历史对隆美尔等德国将军形成巨大迷恋，多半名不副实。幸运的是苏联解体后我们能更多了解苏方，使叙事更平衡。
nickik查看英文原文
The perfect example of the loser writting history must be the Germans after WW2. The allies captured many of the generals and took much of what they said as true. The myths spread about this are still around today. The most important one is the primitive red army and its human wave attacks. When in reality the quite often just out generaled as well. Western history had developed a huge fetisch for German generals like Rommel that is mostly undeserved. Luckly after the fall of the USSR we were able to find out a lot more about the Soviet side. Equalling out story.
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