One of the first things they teach you in any historiography class is that you need MORE than one witness to even attempt to validate an event. More than one witness plus physical evidence and a scientifically based interpretation: that’s when you get CLOSE to what happened. But the past, is an entropic soup, it probably doesn’t exist any more than the future. The past falls apart, no matter how many primary sources you have.
Does this mean history has no value? – no, it just means history is not God.
In the world of Loftus, the “eye witness” is no longer validated.
This applies equally well to human memory: we should respect human memory, individually and collectively, but we must also be skeptical and ask questions – unless it’s against the law, like in Germany, IYKYK.
Fun fact: Loftus wouldn’t take the “concentration camp guard” case … because it was repugnant … defending Ted Bundy was okay … and then there’s this.
Link: https://variety.com/2020/film/news/weinstein-defense-memories-contaminated-1203496279/
