The uncertainty of facts.

Tweet

Down the rabbit hole I travelled, prompted by @JudyEv ‘s recent post about Africa. I checked out the quiz site she mentioned and scored a perfect score naming and placing all the countries of Africa, lover of the continent that I am. As an aside, I googled the term for Africa lovers and oh my goodness, the pictures that appeared before me. I didn’t know anyone could be that bendy. But back to my point. Part of my peregrination around the continent reminded me of how many countries have changed their names since I learned them as a child, and not just African countries. When I went to live in Malawi when I was 6 the country was still called Nyasaland. Two weeks later we were living in Malawi without having moved. Rhodesia, Tangyanika, Ceylon, Upper Volta, East Pakistan, Dahomey, South West Africa, Swaziland, Persia, Czechoslovakia, Burma, Siam have all changed their names, and Yugoslavia just stopped being as did the USSR. What we learned as true facts in school are no longer true facts. Knowledge cannot be trusted it seems. Does 2 plus 2 still equal 4? Maybe not.