‘Facts.’ Such a quaint notion now.
By Mark Steyn - Thursday, March 12, 2009 - 69 Comments
On the Plains of Abraham this last month, Canada lost control of its own past
When the metaphorical dust has settled on the Plains of Abraham—metaphorical dust being the only kind you’re allowed to kick up on the sacred sod a quarter-millennium on—the larger question remains:
What’s the future of the past?
That’s to say, the lesson of the last few weeks is that the latter depends on the former. In 1759, General Wolfe won a decisive victory that led to the end of French rule on this continent: that is what we used quaintly to call a “fact.” To take another unfashionable word, the “reality” of North American life today derives explicitly from that fact.
