Reading a new book: James W. Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (1995). I won't go through all the arguments, but, basically, he demonstrates the 'America as Hero' spin put on almost every event in our history. I don't know what he will eventually label as the 'cause' of this phenomenon because I haven't finished the book. He looks at the bits left out. Helen Keller became, later in life, a radical socialist. Woodrow Wilson not only guided us through WWI, but leads all presidents in foreign interventions (mostly in the Western Hemisphere) and resegregated the government back to pre-Civil War levels.
He asks: why is all of this white-washed (literally, in the chapters on racism) out of the curriculum? Can't high school students handle the truth (to fudge a quote from Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men)? What kind of citizenry are we trying to create? Why must college history professors spend whole sections of classes 'un-teaching' the lessons of high school?
Loewen also quotes Anais Nin: "We see things not as they are but as we are." As a historian, I think this is true. It gets me thinking about the filters and lenses that we accumulate over our lifetimes. High school is certainly one source.
Why do I have friends who seem to start with the assumption that the world is good and joyful, but I have a much more negative and fearful approach to the world I see? The question arises: are they seeing the same world as I am? The answer is: yes and no. They get the same data, but play it through more forgiving and more positive lenses. Intellectually and emotionally, it seems that we are what we eat. If I play my world through a dark lens, then dark nourishment and dark reactions are not surprising.
So, how can we (I) trade in these lenses for something more pleasant but still truthful? Tricky business, this rearranging world-views.
Recent viewings: Stevie, a play by Hugh Whitmore. Euridice, a play by Sarah Ruhl. Dexter, Season Two. Dark City. Maybe that tells more about my filters and choices than the rest of this entry.
That's enough for now. More soon(er).
He asks: why is all of this white-washed (literally, in the chapters on racism) out of the curriculum? Can't high school students handle the truth (to fudge a quote from Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men)? What kind of citizenry are we trying to create? Why must college history professors spend whole sections of classes 'un-teaching' the lessons of high school?
Loewen also quotes Anais Nin: "We see things not as they are but as we are." As a historian, I think this is true. It gets me thinking about the filters and lenses that we accumulate over our lifetimes. High school is certainly one source.
Why do I have friends who seem to start with the assumption that the world is good and joyful, but I have a much more negative and fearful approach to the world I see? The question arises: are they seeing the same world as I am? The answer is: yes and no. They get the same data, but play it through more forgiving and more positive lenses. Intellectually and emotionally, it seems that we are what we eat. If I play my world through a dark lens, then dark nourishment and dark reactions are not surprising.
So, how can we (I) trade in these lenses for something more pleasant but still truthful? Tricky business, this rearranging world-views.
Recent viewings: Stevie, a play by Hugh Whitmore. Euridice, a play by Sarah Ruhl. Dexter, Season Two. Dark City. Maybe that tells more about my filters and choices than the rest of this entry.
That's enough for now. More soon(er).
