TOK IRL #2 (based on IRLs 12-19)

Can one talk meaningfully of a historical fact? How far can we speak with certainty about anything in the past?

Because one Has to be able to speak about history and place at least Some trust in things to learn, or else everything would be useless and we wouldn't be able to glean anything from the past, and ultimately all knowledge of all facts is based on the perspective of Someone, one can talk meaningfully about history, but very few facts can be spoken about with all certainty.
When history is reported/represented, it is often reported only in part, with some parts missing, such as the [partial] map of the missile placement/target areas during the cold war in my IRL #14. When things are not taken in full context like this, they can be misleading. However, after more research to fill in the missing parts, you could speak more meaningfully about this information. IRL 15 provides some insight into how facts of 'public opinion' established by the results of polls constructed by governmental or other organizations can be inaccurate due to loaded questions, pressuring, selection of questions/wording etc. used in the taking of the polls. IRL 16, based on an article taken from "The Hindu" demonstrates the effects of subtle anti-Israeli (and thus any sort of "biased") perspectives expressed which can effect how the reader thinks or feels about the subject. IRL 18 also presents an opposite case of a pro-Israeli slant on an article. This phenomenon could/can lead to the slanted version of the "facts" being so imprinted as fact in the minds of readers that it does in fact become Fact (because if enough people with authority agree on something, in the eyes of the general world it becomes reliable truth). There is also the issue of plain mistakes being made in the recording of historical facts, such as the wrong date at the top of an article that most likely suggests faulty researching (IRL 16).

I don't think there is really a clear or correct answer to this question, but definitely confirmation with a multiple and varied diverse sources is an important factor in obtaining meaningful historical facts, and one can speak with fair certainty about things which have enough justification/evidence (e.g. photos of dead corpses in concentration camps to prove the holocaust did happen), but one always has to keep in mind the constant twisting of the "facts" done by all historians of every human type.