Why American History Whitewashes Radical Figures

[DocWatts]

Another excellent video from Second Thought. I know the whitewashing of controversial historical figures isn't unique to America, but from a firsthand perspective this is highly pervasive in the United States, to the point where I've seen incredibly ignorant Conservatives use out of context MLK or Malcolm X quotes to try and somehow 'debunk' social justice movements like BlackLivesMatter.

She wasn't mentioned in the video, but Helen Keller is another example that comes to mind. Most American school children only learn how she overcame blindness and deafness to communicate with the outside world and lead a productive life, while completely overlooking what she spent the rest of her life fighting for; namely social and economic justice for poor and disabled people through her advocacy of Socialist ideals and reforms.
 

 

Edited December 18, 2020 by DocWatts

[Claymoree]

Maybe problem is somewhere else , clearly conservatives are not in charge of  education . 

[DocWatts]

21 minutes ago, Claymoree said:

Maybe problem is somewhere else , clearly conservatives are not in charge of  education . 

The current Secretary of Education, Betsey Devos, is a right wing Corporate shill with a huge conflict of interest due to her financial ties to privatized educational institutions.

The people who approve education curriculums for k-12 schools, where the aforementioned white washing is inculcated into people at a young age, are often very Conservative in many parts of the country.

The 'Cultural Marxism' idea that's being alluded to is little more than a Conspiracy Theory and scare tactic used in Bad Faith arguments to undermine progressive ideas and movements, basically McCarthyism 2.0. The idea was first brought to prominence by fascist ideologues as part of a belief in a world wide Jewish Conspiracy, and today the term is often used as a dog whistle for anti-Semitism and white nationalism.

Edited December 19, 2020 by DocWatts

[Claymoree]

You must be joking, education is very conservative, are you serious? I am talking about how education is run, not who is supposedly in charge of it, if you are saying that education is conservative then I would seriously want to see in which way it is conservative, because it is clearly pushing left agenda. 

[DocWatts]

If education pushes people away from Conservatism, if anything that's more indicative of Conservativism being an outdated ideology that people tend to move beyond as they learn more about the world, rather than an imagined plot in the minds of Conservatives to push a Left Wing agenda.

Also the point I was making is that k-12 education can tend to skew Conservative in Conservative regions of the country (and more Liberal in Liberal regions of the Country). Simple reason for this is that school curriculums are set more by local and state education boards than they are by the Federal government.

Academics in Higher Education do tend to be more Left leaning, but is that really any more of a surprise (or cause for alarm) than the prevalence of Conservatism in the Military or Police? Academia tends to promotes open mindedness and skepticism, while the military promotes honor, duty, and obedience to authority; no great mystery why those on the Left gravitate more towards the former, and those on the Right gravitate more towards the latter. Not even necessarily a bad thing.

Edited December 19, 2020 by DocWatts

[Claymoree]

24 minutes ago, DocWatts said:

 Academia tends to promotes open mindedness and skepticism, while the military promotes honor, duty, and obedience to authority; no great mystery why those on the Left gravitate more towards the former, and those on the Right gravitate more towards the latter. Not even necessarily a bad thing.

They don't ,have never encountered leftist who is really openminded, mainly because no openminded person will be on one side or other. 

[Consept]

@Claymoree  so if education is run by liberals what is the motive behind whitewashing radical figures? My assumption would be liberals would want to show how radical and socialist people like mlk were

[Claymoree]

25 minutes ago, Consept said:

@Claymoree  so if education is run by liberals what is the motive behind whitewashing radical figures? My assumption would be liberals would want to show how radical and socialist people like mlk were

If you believe that they have your best interests in mind then maybe it makes no sense, your problem is with thinking that people on left and power behind current movement are some angels, really caring for everyone and will fix all of our problems.

Edited December 19, 2020 by Claymoree

[Consept]

3 hours ago, Claymoree said:

your problem is with thinking that people on left and power behind current movement are some angels, really caring for everyone and will fix all of our problems.

This would be projection, you dont know what my opinion on liberals is, I didnt give any indication in the post. By definition a liberal would lean toward more socialist policies therefore it wouldnt make sense for them to not teach MLK was a socialist. Its the the equivalent of conservatives being in charge of education and teaching that Ayn Rand was a great economist but leaving out her ideas of free market capitalism  

[TrustTheProcess]

 

9 hours ago, Claymoree said:

If you believe that they have your best interests in mind then maybe it makes no sense, your problem is with thinking that people on left and power behind current movement are some angels, really caring for everyone and will fix all of our problems.

Lol, do you think that academia is left-leaning because George Soros and Bernie are paying off professors and intellectuals to make it easier to turn America into Venezuela or some shit?

I challenge you to actually maybe read some Marx, read some chomsky, read some zizek, or at least go watch some of their lectures online to start with an open mind... try to challenge yourself to actually see the world through their lens rather than through the filter of your own value systems and worldviews. 

There are limitations to left ideology as with every other ideology. Also, whether an ideology is useful is entirely contextual. That said, Left-leaning ideology is more sophisticated, more open-minded, and paints a much more holistic picture of the world than conservative ideologies. This is why academia has a left bias. In the same way Orange enlightenment ideology was better equipped to solve the social and economic dysfunctions of the late middle ages/renaissance than blue religious ideology, Green leftist ideology is better equipped to facilitate our collective long-term survival than orange neo-liberal/conservative ideologies in the 21st century. 

[DocWatts]

34 minutes ago, louhad said:

Lol, do you think that academia is left-leaning because George Soros and Bernie are paying off professors and intellectuals to make it easier to turn America into Venezuela or some shit?

I challenge you to actually maybe read some Marx, read some chomsky, read some zizek, or at least go watch some of their lectures online to start with an open mind... try to challenge yourself to actually see the world through their lens rather than through the filter of your own value systems and worldviews. 

There are limitations to left ideology as with every other ideology. Also, whether an ideology is useful is entirely contextual. That said, Left-leaning ideology is more sophisticated, more open-minded, and paints a much more holistic picture of the world than conservative ideologies. This is why academia has a left bias. In the same way Orange enlightenment ideology was better equipped to solve the social and economic dysfunctions of the late middle ages/renaissance than blue religious ideology, Green leftist ideology is better equipped to facilitate our collective long-term survival than orange neo-liberal/conservative ideologies in the 21st century. 

Well said.

[Claymoree]

4 hours ago, louhad said:

 

Lol, do you think that academia is left-leaning because George Soros and Bernie are paying off professors and intellectuals to make it easier to turn America into Venezuela or some shit?

I challenge you to actually maybe read some Marx, read some chomsky, read some zizek, or at least go watch some of their lectures online to start with an open mind... try to challenge yourself to actually see the world through their lens rather than through the filter of your own value systems and worldviews. 

There are limitations to left ideology as with every other ideology. Also, whether an ideology is useful is entirely contextual. That said, Left-leaning ideology is more sophisticated, more open-minded, and paints a much more holistic picture of the world than conservative ideologies. This is why academia has a left bias. In the same way Orange enlightenment ideology was better equipped to solve the social and economic dysfunctions of the late middle ages/renaissance than blue religious ideology, Green leftist ideology is better equipped to facilitate our collective long-term survival than orange neo-liberal/conservative ideologies in the 21st century. 

Believe what you want. 

[abundance]

37 minutes ago, Claymoree said:

Believe what you want.