Truth Before Judgment: History Independent of Ethics

The Trap of the Lie

A system that is built on lies has only two options: it must either perpetuate suffering to maintain those lies, or it must collapse.

If a society relies on a false version of history to justify its existence, it must constantly suppress the truth. This suppression requires energy, censorship, and often violence. It creates a cycle where the lie necessitates suffering.

The Question of Ethics

“Lest we are being consciously unethical.” Most societies claim to be moral. They do not want to admit they are “consciously unethical.” So, to square their self-image with their actions, they change the history. They rewrite the past to make their actions seem ethical.

History Independent of Ethics

This leads us to a radical proposition: We must seek a History Independent of Ethics.

We may never fully agree on ethics. What one culture considers “glory,” another considers “crime.” If we try to write a “moral” history, we will fight forever, because our morals differ.

Instead, we must separate the Event from the Judgment.

History is the strict, neutral recording of the Event. (What happened? Who did it? When?)
Ethics is the societal debate over that Event. (Was it good? Was it bad?)

We cannot have a meaningful ethical debate if we cannot even agree on the events. By striving for a history that is independent of ethics—a history that simply is—we remove the need to lie to protect our moral self-image. We face the bare reality first. Then, and only then, can we decide what to do about it.