Truth will out

       Part I

As this proverb states the truth cannot be concealed indefinitely as it will eventually come to light. Here are some historical lies that we have been led to believe.  This is due to the fact that in the old times historians never verified the facts, mainly because the rich and powerful had absolute control of everything, while modern historians use a more scientific method to get to the truth.

1)   Were the Pyramids really built by slaves?

Contrary to popular belief modern historians have now discovered that the pyramid builders were local people, Egyptians who received a regular salary for their work, and not slaves or foreigners. After the construction of the pyramids these workers were involved in the construction of monumental tombs. How did this belief come about? Some say that it is the fault of Greek historians who couldn’t imagine that such edifices could be built without using masses of slaves.

2)   Did Galileo say “And yet it does move (Eppur si muove)”in reference to the earth moving around the sun?

Experts say that it is unlikely that he muttered it as it would have been extremely dangerous to say so in front of the Inquisition, knowing that a few years before Giordano Bruno, a Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer, was burned at the stake for espousing the heliocentric theory of Copernicus. Galileo was advised by the church to talk about his ideas as a theory and  not as a fact. However, in his 1632 new book Dialogue  on the  Great World Systems he sided with Copernicanism , by ridiculing the Aristotelians for embracing the Ptolemaic theory which was accepted by the Church.

Because of this he was called to Rome in 1633 to face the Inquisition , and after 18 days of interrogation he was imprisoned   until  he died in 1642.

In 1989 the first spacecraft launched by NASA, to probe Jupiter, was named Galileo, in honour of the astronomer Galileo Galilei. Finally, once that the notion of the earth revolving around the stationary sun could not be disputed any more, Pope John Paul II, in 1992, acknowledged publicly that the Vatican had made an error in convicting Galileo.

3)   “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Is President Kennedy the originator of this quote? Kennedy used  it at his inaugural address in1961. Although he did not take credit for the quote, people attribute it to him. The original quote comes from Marcus Tullius Cicero, a successful lawyer and statesman and one of Rome’s  greatest orator.

4)      Was Alexander Graham Bell the inventor of the telephone?

The real inventor was the Italian Antonio Meucci. He was living in Cuba when he discovered that sounds  can travel through copper wire. In 1850 he moved to the USA to continue his research  and in 1860 he conducted a public demonstration of his invention.  Meucci couldn’t afford the $ 250 fee to take out a patent  so he sent a model with the technical specifications to the Western Union telegraph company, but was unable to meet the senior executive of the company.  Two years later, Alexander Graham Bell, who was working in the laboratory with Meucci, paid for a patent for the telephone and made a deal with Western Union that made him a lot of money. Antonio Meucci sued Bell. In 1889, when it looked  like Meucci may win the case, he died and the court case stopped. Ever since , Bell has been known as the inventor of the telephone. However, in 2002, 113 years after Meucci’s death, the American Congress recognized officially that it was Meucci and not Bell who invented the telephone.

5)      Was President G.W. Bush justified in attacking Iraq in 2003?

Certainly not, as it is common knowledge now that Saddam did  not participate in the attack of 9/11 nor did he possess WMD (weapons of mass destruction) as the President  had claimed.

Bush was determined to eliminate Saddam at any cost by avoiding diplomacy and by forging Intelligence documents, he led the USA into a war under false pretenses.