We don’t? Aren’t conservatives fighting hard to whitewash history, and aren’t they winning? Teaching the truth about historical racism is “Critical Race Theory.”
Comment on Memory Wiped
Carrolade@lemmy.world 1 day ago
It is kinda weird. We don’t have any problems talking about our historical atrocities, unless your community is really, really conservative. I first learned about the Trail of Tears in elementary school, we even took a field trip to a historical location on it. That’s some heavy shit for a little kid. We didn’t go into all the gory details, but the wide scale of the suffering and betrayal we committed was covered.
Even into current events, American bombs falling on Gaza was a big deal.
Objection@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
Carrolade@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yes, it is very much an ongoing battle, that’s for sure.
Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee 1 day ago
We also, for some fucking stupid reason, allowed Texas to be the arbiter of textbooks. Wtf.
FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
Really? The censorship is nowhere near as bad as China.
But there are so many things that just aren’t commonly taught that are atrocious. From the forced sterilisations of disabled people upto the 70s, to US war crimes against civilians, to things like COINTEL PRO.
Sure comparatively (US wise) far left communities seem to be aware of them, like on lemmy, but it’s nowhere in the mainstream US discourse.
ShareMySims@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
From the forced sterilisations of disabled people upto the 70s,
Still happening, both in US and EU (couldn’t find a good source on the UK, though I don’t doubt it happens, instead have this horrible statistic Disabled people’s Covid-19 death rate as much as 11 times higher than non-disabled people because we’re not seen as worth saving), and certainly in most other countries too.
And this is just disabled people, Indigenous people (in Canada too, of course), immigrants in detention are still being forced/coerced sterilised, as well as several other marginalised groups targeted in different ways (like systemic racism that leads to higher mortality rates of Black birthing parent and babies during and after pregnancy, UK US Canada).
And to go back to what the op of the thread said, the Trail of Tears, is like the tiniest tip of a monstrous iceberg of ongoing genocide, and that monstrous iceberg is just one of many floating in the American ocean of white supremacist atrocity (and before the Americans get defensive, Yes, other countries do atrocities too, yes citizens there/here are also taught a whitewashed version of history that serves to maintain the state, you may not be alone, but you’re absolutely no better than anyone else).
FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
Fucking hell what a depressing rabbit hole. Thanks for sending.
Proves the point of how erased this shit is!
ShareMySims@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Yeah, unfortunately I’ve been down it before, and the more you look, the worse it gets (I could have included so many more countries and atrocities, but it was too depressing to keep reading through these statistics)…
And you’re exactly right, it’s a reflection of just how much shit gets swept under the rug either by the establishment and its authorities because it reflects badly on them (and tor they don’t want to stop doing whatever horrible thing it is they’ve been getting away with), or by bigots in society who are either happy to remain ignorant, or worse, actively deny anything is happening because the existing structure gives them some level of comfort and privilege (which is of course one of the many ways those in power keep us divided to maintain said power).
The saying goes “those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”, which is precisely why we aren’t taught it properly (and some of it gets deliberately omitted or even erased).
Carrolade@lemmy.world 1 day ago
We also had discussions on war crimes, though that wasn’t until high school.
This was before 9/11, so the War on Terror had not happened yet. It was mainly focused on Vietnam. We did learn about some of the covert stuff, but most of it was not covered.
I agree none of it is part of mainstream US discourse, but neither is the vast majority of the things covered in history class. This reflects American anti-intellectualism overall imo.
spencerwi@lemm.ee 1 day ago
Yeah, there’s a difference between “information that is not discussed because you’ll get a visit from the cops” and “information that is not discussed because, though it’s freely available, people don’t care enough to learn it.”
kuato@lemmy.world 1 day ago
And where did you learn that in China you’ll be visited by the cops?
You learned if from the very same Western propaganda machine we’re talking about. And you accepted it as fact without a thought.
Draces@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Its a long list of atrocities and only so much that can fit into a curriculum. Also wildly different standards school to school. My public school in the North East was pretty good about it
clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
The bigger point in the context of this thread, I think, is that none of that is suppressed information. It’s all on Wikipedia! It would be good for your country’s misdeeds to be at least briefly run over in high school, but to say the american government reacts to this kind of thing the same way that the Chinese gov’t does is whackadoodle.
Draces@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I would say the South’s reactions to critical race theory and it’s own history is verging on information suppression. Still not as bad as explicit as the eula from a Chinese based company though.
JTPorkins@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Just depends on the school I guess. We learned about the massacres of the natives, Vietnam war crimes, the Tuskegee study, etc. Those were off the top of my head but there were more.
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 1 day ago
History in British schools is often the civil war, often corn laws and the agricultural revolution, often Romans, but never Empire.
Carrolade@lemmy.world 1 day ago
… really? Even we learn a fair bit about the British Empire, though I suppose Anglo-American history is somewhat intertwined, so it makes sense. We covered Magna Carta, 100 Years War, Henry VIII, then some British Empire. And the World Wars of course.
We don’t really go over the Commonwealth nations that much, but we definitely touch on Britain quite a lot. Though we did cover Indian Independence a little bit, Gandhi and all that, if memory serves.
Glazing over the largest empire ever created on our planet seems a little odd to me though, especially when its your own. That’d be like Greek kids not covering Alexander.
hungryphrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone 23 hours ago
A little off topic, but Alexander was Macedonian.
BrainInABox@lemmy.ml 22 hours ago
How many Americans know about the Indonesian genocide?
Krono@lemmy.today 1 day ago
I think there are many events in American history that could be analogous to Tiananmen.
Were you ever educated on the 1985 MOVE bombing? The destruction of black wall street? The house un-american activities committee? The battle of Blair Mountain?
Were you ever taught about any of the coups we did to overthrow democratic governments in latin america? The death squads we trained? The authoritarians and fascists we put into power, and the oppression and death they caused?
Or, in general, the 70-or-so countries we invaded since WWII? I think most Americans can only name Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam.
And that’s just the stuff I can name off the top of my head, I’m sure there are countless American atrocities that I am unaware of.
Personally, the American education system taught me none of that. Many of these subjects are not discussed in broad American culture.
MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Fun question for Americans: how much were you taught about the struggle for labor rights?
Glytch@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Late nineties Midwest public school: barely talked about, Henry Ford given credit for the 5 day work week. The many atrocities were never mentioned.
MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Early 1990s and my boarding school taught it but not the public school.
caboose2006@lemm.ee 1 day ago
In school? Almost nothing. We learned a little bit about the passing of the Fair Labor Standards Act as “part of the new deal” but like the gun battles fought at mines, railroads etc… not a peep.
drbluefall@toast.ooo 1 day ago
I actually got a somewhat decent education on it. Learned about unionization, the fight for weekends, battle of Blair Mountain, and the teacher even played “Solidarity Forever” in class.
I fully recognize my experience isn’t standard, though.
Strykker@programming.dev 1 day ago
It not being taught is not quite the same as the outright denial / suppression that China does though.
Like there are only so many hours in the school day, you can’t teach literally every historical event.
Krono@lemmy.today 1 day ago
Both US and China actively deny and suppress information. The Chinese method is more authoritarian, the US method is more effective.
I argue this point on another comment in this thread.
ReporterCivil1937@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
I didn’t even know about the Bonus Army until yesterday.
Cethin@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
You’re right those usually aren’t taught but that’s very different than denying they happened. Honestly, it’s more effective too probably. China denying it is part of why it keeps being brought up. They’re in too deep now, but if they had just said “yeah, it happened and it’s regretful” then people probably wouldn’t bring it up all the time.
kuato@lemmy.world 1 day ago
That’s the thing, though: The Tiananmen riots are not a secret in China, and they are taught, while you have been mistaught by Western propaganda that they’re a secret in China.
Carrolade@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I learned about around half of that in junior high and high school. Where did you study? That has a lot to do with it, our education system is controlled at the local level by individual school boards.
Krono@lemmy.today 1 day ago
So you were left ignorant of the other half of the atrocities I mentioned, just like we suspect Chinese citizens are ignorant of Tiananmen?
I went to high school in North Dakota btw.
Carrolade@lemmy.world 1 day ago
North Dakota makes sense, that’s a fairly conservative region if I’m not mistaken. I’m from a more purple region.
I don’t expect everything to be covered in junior high or high school, there isn’t enough time in a general US history or world history class to focus on most details. They’re not US imperialism classes, they’re generalist with a lot of material worthy of time and attention. This is what more advanced studies are for.
This is entirely different from actively suppressing information. The information is available, even if teaching it to all teenagers is not mandatory. One thing is active suppression, another is prioritization of limited time.