helenofjoy wrote:A pacifist? Me?  No. I am a man of peace, but I am most assuredly not a pacifist. Who said anything about 'right wing' fundamentalist idiots?

 jadewahoo wrote: 
Right.

 musik_knut wrote:As opposed to 'closed revolt'. No longer keeping one's piece under wraps. Alliances formed. Stances taken. And above all... no more emoticonless sarcasm!

 zipper wrote: 
Ah, so you DO know how it works.

 Beaker wrote: 
Them. Over there.

 musik_knut wrote: 
What exactly is this"text" that you are writing about?  Is there a title to this book?  What is your source for this information?  Did you read this "US history text" that mentions the gay rights movement ten times more than it does Abraham Lincoln, or is it just something you heard Rush Limbaugh or Neal Boortz railing about?  I don't doubt or deny that there has been a shift in what "history" has been taught or not taught, and much of that is troubling to me too, but your statement seems like somewhat of an exaggeration.  Anyhow, happy Labor Day to you as well.

 jadewahoo wrote: 
  I couldn't imagine you saying this!  I thought you were a pacifist?  I mean, I agree that the our right wing fundamentalist idiots can be compared with islamic fundamentalist idiots - I've even seen evidence of their preparation for Armageddon as soldiers of God.

 bokey wrote: 
"They" is not us.

Dates	War in Which American Colonists or United States Citizens Officially Participated	Major Combatants
July 4, 1675 - August 12, 1676	King Philip's War	New England Colonies vs. Wampanoag, Narragansett, and Nipmuck Indians
1689-1697	King William's War	The English Colonies vs. France
1702-1713	Queen Anne's War	The English Colonies vs. France
1744-1748	King George's War	The French Colonies vs. Great Britain
1756-1763	French and Indian War (Seven Years War)	The French Colonies vs. Great Britain
1759-1761	Cherokee War	English Colonists vs. Cherokee Indians
1775-1783	American Revolution	English Colonists vs. Great Britain
1798-1800	Franco-American Naval War	United States vs. France
1801-1805; 1815	Barbary Wars	United States vs. Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli
1812-1815	War of 1812	United States vs. Great Britain
1813-1814	Creek War	United States vs. Creek Indians
1836	War of Texas Independence	Texas vs. Mexico
1846-1848	Mexican War	United States vs. Mexico
1861-1865	Civil War	Union vs. Confederacy
1898	Spanish-American War	United States vs. Spain

1914-1918	World War I	Triple Alliance: Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary vs. Triple Entente: Britain, France, and Russia. The United States joined on the side of the Triple Entente in 1917.
1939-1945	World War II	Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan vs. Major Allied Powers: United States, Great Britain, France, and Russia
1950-1953	Korean War	United States (as part of the United Nations) and South Korea vs. North Korea and Communist China
1960-1975	Vietnam War	United States and South Vietnam vs. North Vietnam
1961	Bay of Pigs Invasion	United States vs. Cuba
1983	Grenada	United States Intervention
1989	US Invasion of Panama	United States vs. Panama
1990-1991	Persian Gulf War	United States and Coalition Forces vs. Iraq
1995-1996	Intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina	United States as part of NATO acted peacekeepers in former Yugoslavia
2001	Invasion of Afghanistan	United States and Coalition Forces vs. the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to fight terrorism.
2003	Invasion of Iraq	United States and Coalition Forces vs. Iraq

Source: The New York Public Library Desk Reference, 3rd Edition.

 

Looks like we, in the US, have managed to make "They" out of the rest of the planet...

 

But, wait, there's more!

Now, since we've got several hundred TV channels, THEY have to be expanded internally to fill up the empty spaces in the programming boards - righties, lefties, homos, heteros, fundies, lactose intolerants, boob jobs, non-boob jobs - there's no end to who we can hate, and if we get bored, all we have to do is change the channel and - whoa, there's Glenn Beck, and Ooo, now there's Lou Dobbs, Anne Coulter, and Nancy Grace - it's a festival of hate, just pay your cable or DishNet bill every month and you get the total package!

 

ok...off to enjoy a 4 day departure from the mad world of science...y'all have a great Labor Day *er, my fellow Yanks, that is*...enjoy...

 sirdroseph wrote: 

Certainly US History was often 'white'. That was wrong. But to now swing fully in the other direction is also wrong. To continue pounding into the formative craniums of young kids that their country is bad, real bad, often deplorably bad, eventually takes root. It's no different than madrassas schools which have turned out human monsters disguised as terrorists: you drumbeat a view point long enough, you get what you seek: automatons ready to do the bidding they have been indoctrinated to do. IF future adults, now kids in school, feel hatred for this country, what then? How will they conduct themselves? We've seen kids moved by movies and screen games. that some will act out the violence or message contained within. Now add 'USA bad' to their thoughts...just gloss over or completely skip how we came to be, how we have grown, what the growing pains were. Some are now suggesting US History books start with the years just prior to The US Civil War. *again, I don't make this stuff up* That would preclude learning about US, about who came before us, what they did for us, left to us. What Our Republic means, how it was established, what it is composed of...

 romeotuma wrote: 

romeo,
Just telling you what can be found in many US History text books. I don't make this stuff up for grins
mk

 romeotuma wrote: 
WTF? Who is this "they"?

 romeotuma wrote: 

 romeotuma wrote: 

romeo,
No. US History books of the past two decades or so...slowly but surely moving to a liberal beat. In the US History text most commonly used through much of The US, there is one mention of US Grant, one of Robert E. Lee, two of President Lincoln...and 20+ of the gay right's movement...that my friend, is an agenda on display. That is not teaching students how this country came to be. That is the dismissal by omission, as some black educators interested only in Afro-centric studies once called them, of 'old, dead, white European males'.
mk

 musik_knut wrote: 

How bout the years from the early 1600s to the 1970s. Is that enough time exposed to the homogenous white POV??

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
yeah, well, it ain't about me. ;)  But, as for me, the louder the left yells and the harder they push, the further right I position myself.

 sirdroseph wrote: 

But, are they exposed to 'both'? If you look at US History text books for school kids, you find a growing portrait of America that concentrates on the negative, the failures, the liberal thought, rather than who/what/where/when/why...it's an insidious form of indoctrination and without exposure to the fullness of our history, you will find a common thought suggesting The US is a land of hate, crime, xenophobia and war mongers...for starters.

 sirdroseph wrote: 
Go Kids!

Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius

I grew up in the "Birthplace of the War of Northun Aggreshun" and yet I am a social progressive. We all have our own minds from the beginning; some are more "pliable" and open to suggestion than others. I feel confident that our children can be exposed to both right wing facists and left wing socialist and still make up their own minds.  

I would be happy for my child to watch that speech (oh wait... I don't have any children.  But I've been so danged busy    doing other things).