Why America - Imagine a World Without Her was moving, stirring and well-worth seeing. Despite the Progressive Lefts panicked attempt to discredit Dinesh DSousas new release, many turned out to view it in local theaters this week. The Lefts failed attempt at ignoring DSousas last work, 2016: Barack Obamas America, was replaced this time around by an active campaign in the media, by reviewers, and by bloggers to discredit the work as amateurish, one-sided, or right-wing. Of course, it was none of these. What distinguishes DSousas attempt to correct the record on anti-Americanism from, for example, one of Michael Moores films is that instead of distorting, ignoring or bending a true accounting of his subject, DSousa takes the arguments against American Exceptionalism and Capitalism seriously and finds them worthy of addressing point by point to examine their origins, promulgation and validity against other historic viewpoints. As a rule, the Lefts version of history is generated whole cloth in the following way: -- pick a goal -- pick an audience identified as key to achieving a goal -- CONSTRUCT a NARRATIVE loosely based on historical facts and tightly based on ideology that is compelling; attractive to the audience; splits the world into good guys (Progressives) and bad guys (Conservatives, Capitalists, property owners); negatively exaggerate the missteps of the bad guys and ignore their positive accomplishments to make bad guys into out and out demons; overgeneralize from particulars to make bold negative statements about the bad guys and to make even bolder positive statements about the Progressive movement (whether true or not); and, finally, make this narrative into factual history by inserting progressives throughout academic (including primary and secondary public education) and religious institutions as well as in the media (including Hollywood) and government. This ensures that the narrative gets repeated loudly and often enough to be able to masquerade as truth to a large audience who lack the initiative or resources to verify the narrative through other source materials. -- In sum, redirect a targeted audience from relatively reliable, albeit debatable, history, to an ideologically driven narrative that substitutes for history, is not open for debate, and is used to generate support for the socialist goals of the Left. DSousa takes on some of the main accusations (memes) of the Left and, verifies these via interviews with Progressive activists or ex-activists. He then examines other, often more traditional versions of history, including important events or people left out of the Lefts narrative (because they weaken it), and shows how these distortions of history accomplish an ideological objective of the Left. In short, following the Lefts version of history and supporting their agenda does little to correct any historical wrongs, but risks throwing the baby (American Exceptionalism and the American Experiment in self-governance) out with the bathwater (those missteps in American history that resulted in groups of people being hurt or left out of the American Dream). Those missteps, by the way, are those which are inevitable in an nation as it matures and which America has corrected to a greater extent than any civilization in history). No successful country is without its shameful acts and eras, but those very groups in America that Progressives have chosen to vilify in order to obtain and maintain power are those who, historically, have done more, sacrificed more and given more, in an attempt to mitigate those injustices. You might ask, rather, why, if not from a sense of guilt and shame, would people seek justice voluntarily and at great sacrifice? The answer lies in that uniquely American document, The American Constitution, which while not creating a perfect nation, gave us the benchmarks for a just society and the Liberty to voluntarily persue justice as an end unto itself.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 17:41:41 +0000
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