Journalism writes history’s first draft, opinion columns have first go at the revisionism.
Sometimes revisionism is just an act of expedience. Let’s say you’ve been writing episode after episode of Dallas when you realise it’s all getting stupider than a Christmas Panto. So you say: I know! We’ll have Bobby step out from the shower and say Mornin’ honey I’m not dead at all. Did you just dream a whole season? Oh darlin’. The things that go on inside your pretty little head.
Sometimes revisionism is more than that. Sometimes it begins with a nation’s wounded pride, and morphs into murderous slaughter. For instance: the Stab in the Back idea that took hold after Germany signed the Armistice.
