"Inappropriate" history

@joefromchicago,

http://cache.heraldinteractive.com/blogs/entertainment/the_assistant/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/hot-chocolate.jpg

Here, have a nice cup of hot chocolate. I put extra marshmallows in it for you. Then take a long nap. That usually works for me. Laughing

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@Eva,

I would think if this were an elementary school library that any books there would be appropriate. However, do they perhaps divide the books by grade? Maybe they have books for the 5th and 6th graders only, for example.

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@boomerang,

As far as do you think there are inappriopriate history subjects - tough one. Not sure if the subject itself there would be any that are inappropriate, but perhaps they way it is written. In other words, some one here mentioned reading Hiroshima. I remember reading this book as well - the reason is - it hit me so hard and really it being extremely graphic.

I would imagine most 1st graders being that graphic would be inappropriate. Telling the story of what happened and the resulting bomb would not be.

Also, part of it is dependent on the child - there could be some very young children that could handle more graphic things. My kids not so much. They are very squeamish on anything scary or graphic. Whereas when I was a kid, I loved scary graphic.

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I can well imagine some subjects that an elementary school library would not carry because of concern of offending the parents or upsetting the children. However, the proper response to a kid who enquires about such things would be "I am sorry but we dont carry that, you could find that on the Internet or down at the city library,but do me a favor and talk to your parents first".

Making a kid feel that knowledge is offensive and off limits runs counter purpose to education.

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@hawkeye10,

I AGREE!

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@hawkeye10,

I agree too.

And I was actually thinking about offended parents in this regard.

On the west coast there are still some raw feelings about the internment camps that the Japanese Americans were put in during WW 2.

I wonder if part of the "inappropriateness" might be regional.

This is, of course, pure speculation on my part.

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@boomerang,

Quote:

I wonder if part of the "inappropriateness" might be regional

I dont thing so. My sense is that it is national, and what drives it is embarrassment more than anything else. We want to sweep it under the rug, pretend that it did not happen. We have become not a whole lot better than the Soviets were when it comes to history, we teach the history for purposes other than learning what happened, so the history as taught only loosely resembles what happened to our ancestors.

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@hawkeye10,

Okay.

In your opinion, how does that work with the heroic stories kids are told about "the greatest generation"?

I'm not arguing, I'm just curious.

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@hawkeye10,

Quote:

I wonder if part of the "inappropriateness" might be regional

hawkeye10 wrote:

I dont thing so. My sense is that it is national, and what drives it is embarrassment more than anything else. We want to sweep it under the rug, pretend that it did not happen. We have become not a whole lot better than the Soviets were when it comes to history, we teach the history for purposes other than learning what happened, so the history as taught only loosely resembles what happened to our ancestors.

What is your evidence of this ???????

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@dyslexia,

Quote:

WE are the people who make the decisions.

Just not the right ones.

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@OmSigDAVID,

Quote:

What is your evidence of this ???????

I dont have evidence and never claimed any....this is a gut feeling, an intuition.

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@boomerang,

Quote:

In your opinion, how does that work with the heroic stories kids are told about "the greatest generation"?

is that any different than the standard practice of digging through history looking for blacks and women worthy of mention and then purposefully giving them equal importance and space to white men regardless of the fact that they were not, all with the aim of being "inclusive" and building the self esteem of minorities and women?? I doubt it.

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@OmSigDAVID,

Quote:

Hawk wrote: We have become not a whole lot better than the Soviets were when it comes to history, we teach the history for purposes other than learning what happened, so the history as taught only loosely resembles what happened to our ancestors.

Quote:
Om asked: What is your evidence of this ???????

Jesus, the evidence is all over. Hawk is being disingenuous for he too knows that the evidence is large.

The constant propaganda stream that the US is the savior of the world's oppressed when it is among, if not the greatest of oppressors.

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@Setanta,

This is precisely the kind of tripe that Americans are brought up on. Setanta regurgitates it like a she wolf feeding her pups.

War crimes are not wiped away simply because one side is burdened by all manner of imaginary fears.

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@JTT,

This guy is so right, so dead on. If these actions were being committed by another country, there would be threads here at A2K 'til hell wouldn't have 'em.

People would be up in arms. OmSig, Gunga, Okie, Ican, ... would all be ranting about the evils of [___].

When it's the USA, well, not so much.

Quote:

How YOU Can Stop Terrorism
Michael Haas on October 14th, 2010

The number one cause of recent terrorist attacks on the shores of the United States is that the CIA is committing war crimes abroad (extrajudicial executions from drone attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen). Terrorists are acting in retaliation and specifically attest that they are acting because of American war crimes. American war crimes are well known throughout the rest of the world.

Americans are ignorant of war crimes. That ignorance is the main reason why war crimes are occurring today, since you cannot protest war crimes until you know what they are. Those who know about 200+ war crimes, some of which are worse than torture, can more effectively work to stop war crimes.

That’s why you MUST buy both George W. Bush, War Criminal? (2009) and its sequel America’s War Crimes Quagmire, From Bush to Obama (2010). When you realize that 269 different war crimes have occurred, most of which are still taking place, you are empowered to protect America from future attacks by demanding that war crimes must stop.

Now you have an opportunity to get informed, put pressure, stop American war crimes, and stop terrorist attacks. If you fail to do so, you are not defending your country and you are not carrying on the American tradition of making the world a better place.

http://www.uswarcrimes.com/

Another example?

Quote:

Butchers Persecute and Accuse Their Victims
Former president of the UN General Assembly, calls to free Tariq Aziz

Video

Appeal to the UN made on 3-11-2010 (full text below), by Father Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, former president of the UN General Assembly to free Mr. Tariq Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq before 2003 invasion. The appeal was shown at the end of a joint NGO side-event which took place during the Universal Periodic Review of the United States at the United Nations in Geneva.

[video available at link at the end]

I am, to put it merely, extremely sad and angry to see yet another great injustice perpetrated by the United States, who, in my country alone Nicaragua, recently promoted, directed, armed and financed an undeclared war of aggression that resulted in the death of 50000 people.

This time, the action that I am referring too was taken against a very dear friend of mine, a fellow Christian, with whom I often went to church, Tareq Aziz, former prime minister of Iraq.

By willfully insuring an unfair trial the US is responsible for the now planned summary and extrajudicial execution of Tareq Aziz. In so doing, the USA has committed a great breach of the 3rd and 4th Geneva Convention which cynically enough the United States claims to be committed to searching for, persecuting and punishing individuals who commit those serious international crimes.

In compliance with what the United Nations Working Group on arbitrary detention has noted concerning the illegal nature, lack of due process and fairness in the trial of Tareq Aziz, the US has the moral and legal obligation to see that Tareq Aziz is immediately set free.

We are sick and tired of cases where the butchers persecute and accuse their victims.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26787.htm

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@hawkeye10,

If we're teaching history, it's important for students to know that blacks and women were legally chattel for white men until relatively recently in history. Knowing the extreme oppressive environment for those members of our society, it's easy to 1) see why contributions by those groups were comparatively fewer than the dominant group, and 2) how very striking it is that members of those groups rose to any type of prominence at all during the US' formative years. As a kid in school, I formed an opinion that blacks and women just didn't have it going on intellectually. I'm thankful a wider historical truth is being taught now. Achievements from blacks and women against the odds they faced were heroic.

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@Lash,

Lash wrote:

Achievements from blacks and women against the odds they faced were heroic.

And to this day, they go largely unnoticed in standard history texts.

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@Setanta,

I've seen improvements over the years, but I have to agree. Still dismal.

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@Lash,

well, other than Carol Doda and Madame Curie there hasn't been many women of note.

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@dyslexia,

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"Inappropriate" history

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