September 16, 2025- Magic Lands Educational Articles

Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter 16/09/2025

Truth, History, and Story: Avoidance, Perspective, and the Psychology of Narratives

The relationship between truth and history has long been a subject of contention. Histories are shaped not only by evidence but also by the stories societies choose to tell—and to avoid. In colonial contexts such as Victoria and Australia, the truth about Indigenous dispossession and violence was often silenced, replaced by narratives of discovery and progress. This article examines how truth is avoided in history, the power of stories to shape collective perspectives, the psychological mechanisms behind truth and denial, and case studies from around the world, as well as older philosophical theories of truth that continue to influence historical practice.

Avoidance of truth in history

Truth in history is never neutral. The selection of sources, framing of events, and silencing of certain voices create narratives that may obscure uncomfortable realities.

• Colonial Victoria: Frontier massacres, removals, and cultural suppression were often excluded from nineteenth- and twentieth-century school histories, replaced with stories of pioneering and settlement (Broome 2005).

• Global examples:

• In the United States, histories of slavery and Indigenous genocide were long minimised.

• In South Africa, apartheid histories silenced Black perspectives until post-apartheid truth commissions.

• In Europe, colonial violence in Africa and Asia was overshadowed by celebratory accounts of empire.

The avoidance of truth often reflects the needs of dominant groups to protect national myths, maintain authority, and avoid confronting injustice.

Storytelling and the shaping of historical truth

Human beings understand the past through stories. Storytelling provides coherence and meaning, but it also shapes how truth is perceived:

• National myths: Narratives of “progress” or “civilisation” turn colonisation into a heroic saga rather than an act of invasion.

• Silenced voices: When Indigenous peoples’ oral histories are excluded, truth is replaced by partial perspectives.

• Resistance stories: Stories also preserve counter-truths: Aboriginal oral histories of resistance and survival challenge colonial myths (Reynolds 1981).

Thus, history is not a simple record of facts but a battleground of competing stories.

The psychology of truth and denial

The reluctance to face difficult historical truths is rooted in human psychology. Individual and collective minds employ strategies to protect themselves from discomfort, guilt, and trauma.

Cognitive dissonance

Leon Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance explains that when facts clash with beliefs or self-image, individuals feel psychological discomfort.

Case study – Australia: Many Australians grow up with a self-image of a “fair go” nation. Evidence of massacres in Victoria, such as at Convincing Ground near Portland (1833–34), clashes with this belief. Some resolve the tension not by accepting the evidence but by denying its scale, reframing it as “conflict,” or avoiding discussion.

Collective memory and forgetting

Maurice Halbwachs described collective memory as the way groups construct shared versions of the past to support identity.

Case study – United States: For much of the 20th century, US schoolbooks described westward expansion as heroic while erasing Native American dispossession and massacres. This selective memory maintained national pride while silencing Indigenous suffering.

Moral disengagement

Albert Bandura’s concept of moral disengagement explains how people justify harm by changing language, displacing responsibility, or dehumanising victims.

Case study – South Africa: During apartheid, state narratives framed segregation as “separate development.” Euphemistic language allowed systemic violence to be justified. Only through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (1995–2002) were these justifications confronted publicly.

Trauma and denial

Trauma research shows that denial can be both a defence mechanism for survivors and a means of moral avoidance for perpetrators.

Case study – Holocaust denial (Europe): Despite overwhelming evidence, denial movements arose after World War II. Survivors lived with trauma, while some perpetrators’ descendants denied the events to avoid inherited guilt. This demonstrates how denial protects identities at the cost of truth.

Case study – Aboriginal communities (Victoria): Survivors of child removal policies often avoided speaking about their trauma for decades. Meanwhile, settler society denied or minimised the Stolen Generations until the 1997 Bringing Them Home report forced public acknowledgment.

Neuroscience of memory

Modern neuroscience shows that memory is reconstructive, not fixed. Repetition strengthens particular narratives, whether true or not.

Case study – National myths: Repeated retelling of stories like “Captain Cook discovered Australia” created entrenched neural pathways across generations, overshadowing Aboriginal oral histories of 65,000 years of continuous culture.

Social identity and in-group bias

Social identity theory shows that groups defend their moral reputation.

Case study – Japan (World War II): School textbooks for decades minimised Japanese war crimes, such as the Nanjing Massacre, to preserve national pride. Similarly, in Australia, textbooks until the 1970s framed colonisation as peaceful to avoid damaging the settler identity.

Old theories of truth and their influence

Philosophical theories of truth shape how historians think about the past:

• Correspondence theory: Truth is correspondence between statements and facts (Aristotle, Aquinas). This underpins historical empiricism: documents and evidence should “match” reality.

• Coherence theory: Truth is coherence within a system of beliefs (Hegel, Bradley). Histories are considered true if they fit into a consistent narrative, even if they omit facts.

• Pragmatic theory: Truth is what works in practice (William James, John Dewey). Historical stories may be judged “true” if they serve social purposes, such as building national unity.

• Constructivist views: More recent theories argue that truth in history is socially constructed, shaped by power and perspective (Foucault 1977).

Colonial histories often relied on coherence and pragmatic notions of truth, privileging stories that fit national ideals or served political stability over correspondence with violent realities.

Truth-telling and historical justice

Modern truth-telling movements challenge the avoidance of truth in history:

• Victoria: The Yoorrook Justice Commission (2021– ) is the first truth-telling process in Australia, documenting the experiences of Aboriginal Victorians under colonisation.

• South Africa: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission revealed the atrocities of apartheid.

• Canada: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigated abuses in residential schools.

• Chile and Argentina: Truth commissions documented state terror and disappearances under military dictatorships.

These initiatives emphasise that history must include silenced voices to create a more just and accurate collective memory.

Conclusion

Truth in history is complex, contested, and often avoided. Stories—whether national myths or oral traditions—shape perspectives on truth, sometimes obscuring and sometimes revealing it. Psychological mechanisms such as cognitive dissonance, collective forgetting, trauma denial, and in-group bias explain why societies resist confronting uncomfortable histories. Case studies from Victoria, Australia, and worldwide demonstrate how denial operates in practice, from frontier massacres to apartheid and the Holocaust. Philosophical theories of truth reveal how assumptions about correspondence, coherence, and pragmatism have long shaped the history of philosophy. Today, truth-telling movements remind us that confronting silenced stories is crucial for achieving justice, reconciliation, and a more accurate understanding of history.

References

Bandura, A. (1999) ‘Moral disengagement in the perpetration of inhumanities’, Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3(3), pp. 193–209.

Broome, R. (2005) Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

Festinger, L. (1957) A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Foucault, M. (1977) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Pantheon.

Halbwachs, M. (1992) On Collective Memory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Herman, J. (1992) Trauma and Recovery. New York: Basic Books.

Reynolds, H. (1981) The Other Side of the Frontier: Aboriginal Resistance to the European Invasion of Australia. Melbourne: Penguin.

Schacter, D. L. (2001) The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

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Copyright of MLA – 2025

Magic Lands Alliance acknowledge the Traditional Owners, Custodians, and First Nations communities across Australia and internationally. We honour their enduring connection to the sky, land, waters, language, and culture. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging, and to all First Peoples communities and language groups. This article draws only on publicly available information; many cultural practices remain the intellectual property of communities.