Are Your Memories Really Just Your Imagination?
‘There are no truths only interpretations’
I’ve had a fortunate confluence of inspirations this week. The first was an article by the excellent John Egelkrout reminiscing about his days as a boy scout — very impressive days, too. The second is the book I am reading: Bloody Sunday, Truth, Lies and the Saville Inquiry.
I do love a history book, but I’m reading Bloody Sunday not for the subject but for the writer, Douglas Murray. He’s British and a vociferous defender of Israel. He’s also editor of The Spectator, a conservative current affairs magazine here in the UK.
I’m interested to know more about Murray, how he writes, how he presents his evidence, how he argues. It’s a riveting read. Murray writes engagingly and he presents a well-balanced account of the inquiry.
But what’s becoming clear is that it’s really a book about memory.
The Saville Inquiry took place thirty years after the events of Bloody Sunday. Many witnesses had died, and others, including the soldiers, were aware that what they thought they had seen and heard that day might have been collated with things they had read or heard in subsequent days and years.
Murray shows that even the day after Bloody Sunday, eye witness statements contradicted…
