Why American History is History Denied.

The Science of Denial.

I’ve always been someone who looks for the rhyme and reason — the “why” behind everything. My mom used to call me too analytical for my own good – that kinda stuck.

Actually, I like to “close knowledge gaps,” to understand what caused people to behave the way they did, and to uncover the stories that have been buried or denied. “Just because…”doesn’t work for my mind. I need the “why.”

For years, one question has startled me: Why do we deny history? Why were some truths swept aside, erased, or rewritten?

In exploring life in Southern Virginia during reconstruction and Jim Crow, I began to see not just the events themselves, but the patterns, pressures, and choices that shaped generations — and how those echoes still affect us today. Here’s what I learned.

A psychologist named Dr. Katherine Monroe, analyzed cases of mass acceptance and when a society attempts to control and minimize the truth. What she found and coined is “instances of collective dissociation.”

But why omit or twist the truth? She concluded, “When reality is so egregious that it threatens the very framework of society, she wrote, “people reframe the impossible into the acceptable.”

What she said — it’s easier to maintain a lie than to accept how determined, cunning, and savage some humans can be to get what they want.

Studies show “cognitive failures and dissociation” seem to encompass overlapping mental phenomena.

In simple terms, “overlapping mental phenomena” just means different thoughts, feelings, or mental experiences happening at the same time and influencing each other.

Some people look the formation of the United States as a grand order of freedom and perseverance, while believing slavery was an abomination.

History is never neutral. It’s shaped by what we choose to remember—and what we choose to forget.

Across generations, the stories of African Americans and Indigenous Americans have been systematically omitted, glossed over, or erased from textbooks, classrooms, and public memory.

From gaps in American history to the banning of books that confront uncomfortable truths. I believe society often practices a form of collective disassociation—a conscious or unconscious refusal to face the realities of the past.

This denial has real consequences. When key events, voices, and experiences are omitted, it shapes not only what we know but how we understand ourselves and others.

Ignoring the full story of America, the resulting segregation, resistance, and resilience doesn’t make the past disappear—it distorts the present.

Acknowledging these truths is the first step toward closing knowledge gaps, confronting uncomfortable realities and reclaiming the history that was never fully allowed to be told.

Denial of history may be convenient, but truth and understanding demand that we see, read, and remember it all.

“This blog was created with careful research and the assistance of multiple AI platforms to ensure accurate and reliable information. Vr Tena”

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