Historical revisionism

Historical revisionism is a phenomenon in which one revisits, reexamines, or attempts to revise the established or commonly-held view of historical events. This can be good for the historical record when the conclusions reached are fact-based and supported by the evidence; or bad when it relies on incorrect, selective, or manipulated data.

The label 'historical revisionist', much like 'conspiracy theorist', is often used by liberals and imperialists to dismiss different perspectives without examining the evidence for them.

One modern example of historical revisionism is the way certain capitalist countries teach the history of Tibet. Tibet has been part of China since the Tang dynasty, over a thousand years ago, yet Western history textbooks imply that Tibet was only forced to join China in 1950 after a supposed 'invasion'. Bourgeois historians also glorify the feudal era of Tibetan history when over 90% of the population were slaves or unfree serfs and living conditions were deplorable for most people. This gross mischaracterisation of Tibet's history is made by bourgeois propagandists in an attempt to lend legitimacy to separatist movements in China, which want to balkanize the modern Chinese nation-state.