Why the Right Is So Freaked Out about the Inconvenient Truths of Actual U.S. History

[Jefferson23]

Conservatives are going bonkers over "unpatriotic" history tests. Time for a little tutorial.

October 7, 2014 |


Conservative hero Ben Carson is worried about American teenagers joining ISIS. But it’s not because of “radical Islam.” It’s because of new high school history standards.

American’s right wing, you see, is terrified of history because it is always sentimentalizing it. Many of its arguments rely on a feeling of nostalgia for “good old days,” that appeals almost exclusively to aging whites. That means that a more accurate history, one that considers groups that are traditionally marginalized — women, people of color, Native Americans, immigrants and the poor — don’t necessarily sit that well. Their stories, the stories of the downtrodden, crush the false narrative that many conservatives like to imagine — that of a idyllic past marred by the New Deal, women’s liberation and civil rights.

In Jefferson County, Colorado, a school board recently tried to limit the historical curriculum to only events that would, “promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free-market system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights.” Needless to say, much of American history — the Great Depression, the Trail of Tears and the internment of Japanese-Americans — would, under those parameters, need to obfuscated. The Republic National Committee, meanwhile, has issued a statement calling the new Advanced Placement U.S. History standards ”radically revisionist.” But conservatives may want to take the plank out of their own eye before examining the speck in their neighbors. Here are the most important distortions of history the right has promoted recently.

Before Welfare, Everything Was Awesome

Example: Marvin Olasky’s “Tragedy of American Compassion,” which argues, “Americans in urban areas a century ago faced many of the problems we face today, and they came up with truly compassionate solutions.”

in full: http://www.alternet.org/education/why-right-so-freaked-out-about-inconvenient-truths-actual-us-history

[Gothmog]

1. Conservatives hates facts including history

[Jefferson23]

2. They have manipulated it to their advantage quite well. n/t

[Scootaloo]

3. And then I get to the D'souza quotes

Never have I more desired for a person to choke on their own asshole. Holy shit

[Jefferson23]

4. He has no hesitation to go that far, amazing:

*he writes, “slavery appears such a relatively mild business that one begins to wonder why Frederick Douglass and so many other ever tried to escape.” And concludes, “In summary, the American slave was treated like property, which is to say, pretty well.”

[erpowers]

5. Some Questions and An Answer For D'souza

The questions to ask D'souza and others like him are, if slavery was so great would you want your family to go through something similar? Would you like to be denied your freedom? Would you like it if a man could violate your wife and/or daughters without punishment? Would you like to see your children sold to plantation owners without your consent? Would you like to be beaten at the whim of your owner? Would you like to see your children and wife beaten at the whim of your owner? Would you like to be another person's property? If your answer is no to the previous questions, then you now know why so many slaves tried to escape from slavery.

[santamargarita]

6. History shows just how wrong they always are.

[blkmusclmachine]

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