Lies My Teacher Told Me
If you don't have this book, you need it.
I thought I was smart about history. It was, after all my favorite subject in High School, aside from French and Orchestra. Okay, so top three. But it was my favorite Gen. Ed course in both HS and College, barr none. I watch the history channel. I can recite the presidents in order of succession. I remember that the predecessor of Winston Churchill was Neville Chamberlain. I know all sorts of crap.
But it turns out, I'm very, very stupid.
And so are you.
Lies My Teacher Told Me is a must read. Because, as I always say, He who does not know his history is doomed to repeat it. And it's true. The history textbook that you had in HS lied to you. There are so many instances where it glossed over, danced around, white washed, altered omitted, or completely outright lied about the truth, that it's not a laughing matter.
For example, think of Hellen Keller.
Blind and Deaf girl that every schoolteacher holds in such high regard. Teachers say, "If she can do it, so can you!" Right?
Did you know that she was a socialist? A radical one. She wanted the US to go Communist after the Russian Revolution. But does anyone know that?
Nope.
And how about Woodrow Wilson? President of the United States. If you asked people who they thought should be the 5th head on Mount Rushmore, most would say him. And with good reason. He instituted tariff reform, income tax, the Federal Reserve act, Workingmen's Compensation, aside from the League of Nations, which was a precursor to the United Nations. All very good things that without, would have made life in the US a lot different.
But did you know he was a big, fat racist? I didn't. Did you know that race relations were at a decent place before he came into office and wrecked everything? That the KKK had been down in numbers before that? He, and a few of his like minded friends, screwed all that up. Also, he vetoed several bills to give women the right to vote until he realized that it was a bad political move to keep opposing it.
And Columbus. Great guy right? WRONG! Did you know that there are at least 11 relatively credible groups that had already sailed the ocean blue BEFORE 1492? The Siberians, whose descendants are the Natives of our Country. Indonesians. Japanese. Chinese. Phonecians. Celtic Britans. Irish. Greenlanders. Icelanders. Africans. And more. So really, what was he credited as finding? Something that had already been found!
And he is the one who started the slave trade. So, thank him for all that. He and his buddies came, conquered, and stole. This is a little verse that is in the book:
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
In 1493, Columbus stole all he could see.
So true! He didn't just steal land from the Hatians, he stole the credit for explorations of all these other groups. He robbed them, and us, of our history.
Also, he didn't go to see if the world was round. Because EVERYONE ALREADY KNEW THAT! They already knew that the world was far from flat. Yet, somehow, textbooks seem to overlook this.
I'm only on chapter three, and I'm annoyed with all the teachers I've ever had. They didn't teach me diddly squat. I'm annoyed with the textbook authors, who seem to think that children need to be lied to, who can't handle the truth and reality. And considering most college students don't take a history course after HS, they are robbing us all of knowledge. Of our culture. Of OUR history. American History isn't something that needs to be whitewashed. It shouldn't be some watercolored mess that only shows the good. Because history is more than just a list of facts. Of answers. It's about passion, conflict and drama, all leading us to where we are at this moment.
To distort history is wrong. It breeds ingnorance and contempt. There is so much that we should have learned about, and didn't. I, for one, am very angry about that. Everyone should be. History doesn't just belong to the White Protestant Men. It belongs to everyone. It should be the story of everyone. We are the freaking melting pot, right? So why do we only learn about one groups contribution?
Okay, rant over.
Katherine
I thought I was smart about history. It was, after all my favorite subject in High School, aside from French and Orchestra. Okay, so top three. But it was my favorite Gen. Ed course in both HS and College, barr none. I watch the history channel. I can recite the presidents in order of succession. I remember that the predecessor of Winston Churchill was Neville Chamberlain. I know all sorts of crap.
But it turns out, I'm very, very stupid.
And so are you.
Lies My Teacher Told Me is a must read. Because, as I always say, He who does not know his history is doomed to repeat it. And it's true. The history textbook that you had in HS lied to you. There are so many instances where it glossed over, danced around, white washed, altered omitted, or completely outright lied about the truth, that it's not a laughing matter.
For example, think of Hellen Keller.
Blind and Deaf girl that every schoolteacher holds in such high regard. Teachers say, "If she can do it, so can you!" Right?
Did you know that she was a socialist? A radical one. She wanted the US to go Communist after the Russian Revolution. But does anyone know that?
Nope.
And how about Woodrow Wilson? President of the United States. If you asked people who they thought should be the 5th head on Mount Rushmore, most would say him. And with good reason. He instituted tariff reform, income tax, the Federal Reserve act, Workingmen's Compensation, aside from the League of Nations, which was a precursor to the United Nations. All very good things that without, would have made life in the US a lot different.
But did you know he was a big, fat racist? I didn't. Did you know that race relations were at a decent place before he came into office and wrecked everything? That the KKK had been down in numbers before that? He, and a few of his like minded friends, screwed all that up. Also, he vetoed several bills to give women the right to vote until he realized that it was a bad political move to keep opposing it.
And Columbus. Great guy right? WRONG! Did you know that there are at least 11 relatively credible groups that had already sailed the ocean blue BEFORE 1492? The Siberians, whose descendants are the Natives of our Country. Indonesians. Japanese. Chinese. Phonecians. Celtic Britans. Irish. Greenlanders. Icelanders. Africans. And more. So really, what was he credited as finding? Something that had already been found!
And he is the one who started the slave trade. So, thank him for all that. He and his buddies came, conquered, and stole. This is a little verse that is in the book:
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
In 1493, Columbus stole all he could see.
So true! He didn't just steal land from the Hatians, he stole the credit for explorations of all these other groups. He robbed them, and us, of our history.
Also, he didn't go to see if the world was round. Because EVERYONE ALREADY KNEW THAT! They already knew that the world was far from flat. Yet, somehow, textbooks seem to overlook this.
I'm only on chapter three, and I'm annoyed with all the teachers I've ever had. They didn't teach me diddly squat. I'm annoyed with the textbook authors, who seem to think that children need to be lied to, who can't handle the truth and reality. And considering most college students don't take a history course after HS, they are robbing us all of knowledge. Of our culture. Of OUR history. American History isn't something that needs to be whitewashed. It shouldn't be some watercolored mess that only shows the good. Because history is more than just a list of facts. Of answers. It's about passion, conflict and drama, all leading us to where we are at this moment.
To distort history is wrong. It breeds ingnorance and contempt. There is so much that we should have learned about, and didn't. I, for one, am very angry about that. Everyone should be. History doesn't just belong to the White Protestant Men. It belongs to everyone. It should be the story of everyone. We are the freaking melting pot, right? So why do we only learn about one groups contribution?
Okay, rant over.
Katherine
posted by rosie4299 at 8:43 PM
2 Comments:
This is me, smiling at the corner... Actually, grinning.
Did you know "MacArthur's Return" in the Philippines happened 3 days after WWII was already over?
Better yet, the reason why Columbus was credited for something already discovered was because of financial gain and resource? I mean, who officially wrote history? The Europeans.
And BTW, the person that killed Magellan is a Filipino named LapuLapu.
How about that for history?
~M
I have it, and I can assure you taht it sells quite well at the bookstore. Hopefully people will begin to get a more rounded and accurate view of history from here on out.
God bless global information.
ames
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