Some right-wingers ignore facts as they rewrite U.S. history

[Kadie]

Some right-wingers ignore facts as they rewrite U.S. history
By Steven Thomma, Mcclatchy Newspapers – Thu Apr 1, 4:05 pm ET

WASHINGTON — The right is rewriting history.

The most ballyhooed effort is under way in Texas , where conservatives have pushed the state school board to rewrite guidelines, downplaying Thomas Jefferson in one high school course, playing up such conservatives as Phyllis Schlafly and the Heritage Foundation and challenging the idea that the Founding Fathers wanted to separate church and state.

The effort reaches far beyond one state, however.

In articles and speeches, on radio and TV, conservatives are working to redefine major turning points and influential figures in American history, often to slam liberals, promote Republicans and reinforce their positions in today's politics.

The Jamestown settlers? Socialists. Founding Father Alexander Hamilton ? Ill-informed professors made up all that bunk about him advocating a strong central government.

Theodore Roosevelt ? Another socialist. Franklin D. Roosevelt ? Not only did he not end the Great Depression, he also created it.

Joe McCarthy ? Liberals lied about him. He was a hero.

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100401/pl_mcclatchy/3466905

[old mark]

1. They are really on the verge of losing their base and the "smart"

ones know it - they will resort to anything they possibly can to lie, threaten, cheat and steal their way into power again. This is what we are seeing right now, from many different sides of the right-desperation.


rec.
mark

[JHB]

2. Some?

This sort of (dare I say, Sovietesque) rewriting history involves dismissing out of hand inconvenient facts as standard operating procedure.

[HopeHoops]

3. Some?

:shrug:

[Initech]

4. Conservatives are trying to prove they're still relevant - and failing at it.

[Lorien]

5. who is going to stop them? honestly; the Dem leadership coddles them at every

opportunity (with a few notable exceptions), the media adores them, so what's going to stop them from fabricating more lies for the youth of America?

[Kadie]

8. Yes. It would be nice to see a little more fact checking

in the media.

[MadHound]

12. Umm, that would be me, a teacher.

There are lots of us out there, we know our history and we will teach it. We will be catching more and more flack, so it would be nice if the public would helps us when that idiot school board member or administrator decides to go after one of us for teaching the truth.

Better yet, it would be a great thing if Obama would call off his dogs of testing and privatization. It is bad enough to deal with the whacko RW, it's murder when somebody who is nominally an ally comes after you as well.

[Lorien]

15. But you personally can't change the textbooks. You can think globally and act

locally, but that won't help the millions of other kids who will be effected by this. Our leadership needs to push back against the RW lies, as do all of we. We need better organization and more members on school boards Nationwide.

[MadHound]

16. I agree with that, I'm only one teacher,

But there are millions of us across the country, and while some will simply sell out to the textbooks, the vast majority won't, we'll simply continue to teach the truth and screw what the book says.

Our leadership does need to push back against the RW lies. So while we're sitting here with our finger in the metaphorical dike, why don't you start working on that leadership and organization. Teachers will be glad to help, but we're a stretched a bit thin at the moment, thus we could use some help.

Oh, and if you could get the Obama administration off our ass, that would be a good thing as well.

[mimitabby]

6. the good news

is the kids aren't paying much attention any way. when they grow up and the few that become interested in History are going to research and find lots of good books to read... If they haven't all been banned by then...

[Chulanowa]

7. And this is the primary reason I hate them

Yes, hate. History is important. Knowing what happened is important. Teaching our kids where we come from, our successes and our failings, that's fucking important.

Re-writing it makes me wanna choke a motherfucker.

As Stephen Colbert said, "Reality has a left-wing bias"

Jamestown was socialist? Are you fucking kidding me? Ugh. These are the same people who keep re-writing the constitution in their own damn fool heads.

[Dr Morbius]

9. They aren't going to get away with this.

I will not allow it.

How about you? Will you tolerate your children being taught fictional history? I doubt it.

Just last month, a group of governors got together and 48 of them agreed on basic educational curricula; the only dissenters were Texas and Alaska. Now, I'm not saying there's no reason to be concerned; there's every reason to be concerned. But don't panic, not just yet. I believe this can be prevented and will be prevented.

Because I am going to do whatever I can to prevent it. And I can be quite persuasive, with liberals and conservatives alike.

[troubledamerican]

10. LINK: PLEASE go to (right-wing) Yahoo News & e-mail this article to yourself to Kick it up charts

http://tinyurl.com/ycqkjts

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. I saw a particularly nauseating example at Target today

In the book section, there was a book that was made up to look exactly like Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.

My first reaction was, "Target is selling the Zinn book? Cool!"

Then I looked at it more closely. The title was A Patriot's History of the United States, and on the cover it said, "Recommended by Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh."

Blecch!

[proud patriot]

13. some?

[bridgit]

14. They ignore all facts and twist the rest

[lonestarnot]

17. Grand Ol Pervs are good at 3 things, lying, stealing and cheating.

Cheating covers the rewrite.

[Bluebear]

18. These people are doing what used to be done in the USSR. Dangerous people.