California School District Under Fire for Holocaust-Denial Assignment

[Scootaloo]

68. Interesting that you bring up Abraham Lincoln...

because that brings us to a very major part of his presidency - the Civil War. Nobody denies the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Nor the years of the civil war.

But it's amazing how much confusion there is about either subject. Oh, not among peopel who make an actual study of the subject sure - there's lots of fact out there to take in. But....

I went to school in Alabama. I was taught that the civil war had absolutely nothing to do with slavery. That nobody anywhere was interested in slavery - except John Brown (and he was a crazy man who summoned tornadoes or something!) The civil war was about hte oppressive north trying to force its will on the plucky south. Secession was about tariffs and state's rights. Rebels were for freedom and truth and the aAmerican way!

it came as an honest to god SHOCK then, to learn that the "state's rights" impetus for secession... was the "right" of slavery. it was never actually detailed exactly what "State's rights" were involved, see? In fact it was strongly implied that the rights the confederate states seceded over... was the right to secede. They seceded because the oppressive north wouldn't allow them to secede, see? And then, to find out that it was South Carolina that started the war by firing on Fort Sumpter? Just wow. The southern kid's mind was blown.

And keep in mind, I'd been learning the "wrong facts" for years. Reinforced by family and culture. And it took maybe three books to blow that entire framework apart. Why? because the "correct facts" were compelling, well-supported, and verifiable, while the ones I had been learning all this time, pretty much dissolved in sunlight like a gremlin.

Had there been "no debate," no constant and regular cross-examination of claims and presentation of questions, I would probably still think in terms of "The War of Northern Aggression." had I been brought up in I dunno, maine, maybe I'd have absolutely no clue as to what the outlook is on the subject in the south.

Exposure to bad history and good history has arguably made me a more learned and capable person than if i had been exposed only to one or the other.