Everything But Math Is Fiction

... and even math is, to some degree, a fiction, because we must utilize our made-up language in order to conceptualize it.  For example, π is a real thing.  Amazingly, the circumference of any circle (which is also a real thing) can be found by multiplying half the diameter by π.  But the number 3.14159 and on and on and on is complete fiction.  In fact, it is such fiction that it doesn't even accurately represent the real thing it is intended to symbolize.  Accurately representing π through language is impossible.  We can only create the idea of π rather than actually conveying its true meaning (something impossible to comprehend), and in the same way, this is the problem with all language, and consequently, all of reality.

Language and culture occur simultaneously.  While all things are not literal, in that they are not represented through language, all things are perceived in a literal fashion, through language.  For example, when someone invents something, especially something that is really popular, their concept of what has been invented will always be different than the general consensus of what has been invented.  The language that society adopts is different than the language the "inventor" envisions being used.  Part of this phenomena stems from the fact that things are not "invented", but rather evolve into being as a byproduct of the existence of the conscious mind, and the other part stems from the fact that perception and culture also evolve, and, like physical objects, they are not created by any individual, not even the person accredited with "inventing" the perceived object.

If this is hard to understand then just think of any everyday object like a bicycle.  The bicycle was not invented by any single person.  Even the archetypes of the modern bike assembled in Europe at the beginning of the 19th century were not invented by single persons.  Long before then the wheel was invented, later the ability to form wood and steel, and so on.  The only way a bicycle could have been invented by an individual was if it was assembled in a prehistoric cave somewhere, long before any of the many parts of a bicycle had previously been innovated.  Even then, after the inventor releases the bike into society, it is lo longer his own, as it will undoubtedly be subjected to a perception makeover at the behest of public demand.  Yet, at each of these junctures when an individual had been credited with inventing the bicycle, the accolade was temporary, and the general consensus of what a bicycle is evolved into something far different than what the alleged inventor's concept of a bicycle was, without implying that the two perceptions ever could have been one in the same.

Now, if it is this difficult to reach an agreement about what a physical object really is then how difficult do you think it is to reach an agreement about what really happened over the scope of our shared history?  Historical events are not objects, yet because we must resort to language in order to convey the concept of historical events, they are subjected to the same parameters as physical objects.  On top of that, because we cannot ever reference historical events, considering that only very recently has it become possible to document events with audio and video technology, like we could a bike or any other physical object, language is the only tool we have to understand historical concepts.

Therefore, we must admit that all history outside of math is fiction.  Limited by human language and subjected to cultural perceptions, history told even through first hand audio/video accounts (the physical event) does not align with the histories perceived by the involved agents or the history that will be decided by general consensus, just as the concept of a bike constructed by a mechanic doesn't align with the concept held by the individual to which it is sold.

Human beings are social animals.  All of society is culture.  All of culture is language.  All of language is fiction.  The only non-fiction that exists is math, but even math cannot be factually portrayed by fictional language.