Samizdat

Illustration © Arturo Tafoya (@CH3SH1R3). Used by permission.

Many discussed in these articles will be angered by them.

I am not writing for public acclaim nor to participate in a LARP drama.

I am writing for history.

I fully expect everyone named in these articles to despise me and to attack me publicly.

It comes with the territory. I am not trying to antagonize anyone. I am trying to write what truths I uncover and to present them as dispassionately as I can. That means that some with agendas will find them undermined or challenged. This is not personal.

One problem is that I am now a protagonist in these matters, which is not where an historian is supposed to be.

As much as I can, I attempt to extricate myself and to discuss these affairs minimizing my own personal bias. But objectivity, I think, is impossible. I try to be transparent about my own agenda and my own preferences, and honest about my own biases.

I think that anyone that claims that they are objective is either fooling themselves or lying. Whenever someone claims to be objective, we should consider that a warning signal, an indicator of propaganda. Honest analysts admit that their views are partisan, and explain why they feel as they do.

I would ask that those who are annoyed by my work to try to take a longer view. Try to consider these matters from the viewpoint of future historians. It is for them that I am writing.

Thanks for reading. I appreciate comments and corrections!

Estéban Trujillo de Gutiérrez

Bangkok

Sunday, January 9, 2020.