Twelve Tips for Winning an Online History Argument

Let’s face it, history discussions on Facebook (and other social media) can be rough.

But there’s really no need to stress, because here are twelve handy lines for you to whip out whenever you’re on the verge of losing a historical discussion. Use any of the following, hit “send,” and your opponents, reduced to dejected silence, will gather up what’s left of their shredded dignity and slink off to FarmVille.

Well, it could have happened. We’ll never know.
You weren’t there, and neither was I.
It’s Tudor propaganda.
I’ve been reading about this period for 30 [40/50/60] years.
My parent/sibling/spouse/partner/child is a historian, I’ll have you know.
I know it’s from a novel, but there has to be some truth to it or the author wouldn’t have written it that way.
I saw it in a book. Look it up.
 [Insert historical figure from 18th century or earlier] was my grandparent.
I was [insert any historical figure, provided he or she was reasonably attractive and very well known] in a previous life. I just sense what happened.
I’m entitled to my opinion.
I don’t have time to read that.
History is written by the victors.

N.B. : None of these lines need be deployed alone, but can be combined (and augmented with use of ALL CAPS and lots of exclamation points!!!!!).

Happy discussing!!!!!