ever since i discovered that republican blog that talked shit about the urban archives, i've been kind of obsessed with reading it. i even did an experiment to see if i can participate in their conversations without having a shit fit. so far i've been insulted a number of times, told that there is such a thing as a "regular american history," called "stupid" for arguing otherwise and disagreeing that American cultue is singularly European. I was also slammed for writing that there is not just one realty.

here is an example. this is part of a longer thread where people discuss how teaching about diversity "waters down" education:

California Dreamer wrote:

Western education has traditionally meant there were certain facts an educated person was expected to know, and certain skills they were expected to master. These are the prerequisite things necessary to critical thinking. Today, modern education is attempting to separate facts and knowledge from skill, and find a shortcut to critical thinking...The rhetoric that the problem with education is that it is too western-european-centered is a part of their theory too; since critical thinking can be taught independent of knowledge, there is no reason to teach the body of knowledge that has traditionally been a part of western education. To prefer one set of facts or history to another seems silly to them.

black history now gets better coverage than regular american history. [italics are mine] My sons (12 and 10) have been learning about MLK since kindergarten, and they can tell you quite a bit about him. They really identify with him. On the other hand, I asked them last February who George Washington was, and my 10 yr old didn't know. My 12 yr old knew a little, but *vastly* less than he knew about MLK. How can we remain a free country when we neglect to teach our kids about the people and ideas that laid the foundations for our nation?

Posted by California Dreamer at December 18, 2005 07:28 PM


i wrote

I think that there is no such thing as "regular american history" and I don't think that aknowledging this...inhibits critical thinking. What you refer to as "regular" is only regular because for the most part it has been written by "white men." (This is not an attack on anyone here and i am not saying that we should never learn anything written by white men.) It's just a historical fact. and what we consider "regular history" is history that is biased and limited and education will not be hurt by teaching other points of view as well. (why MLK is one of the very few black historical figures that kids learn about over and over in school is a whole other conversation).


Posted by ig at December 18, 2005 10:56 PM

Amused by Liberals wrote back
Ig,

Saying there is no "Regular American History," because it was written by white men is inane, and calling this observation an "historical fact" is plain stupid.

The white men who settled the North American Continent were the most moral humans on earth at the time and ultimately proved it by establishing the most moral government in the history of the world.
Our evolving American society is characterized by the most continuous contentious polemical discourse that exists in the world which also means that all points of view have been well represented including but most especially minorities. No society in the world has successfully addressed and resolved the disparate social problems we have. While we are admittedly not done, very few others in history ever started.

Further and more importantly, those who wrote our history had less to gain by inaccuracies than any others of the type. Their motives were diverse and mixed and the aggregate was express and undeniable because there was no singular partisanship. Our History, unlike most others was not written by conquerers but by average citizens whose intent was not publication.

Ig, you may be able to cipher O.K., but you are totally ignorant about American History. Read up or shut up.
You have no idea of what you are talking about.


Posted by Amused by liberals at December 19, 2005 12:41 AM


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