On this Fourth of July I was asked to compose an essay concerning misconceptions in popular history by Addicting Info. What follows is an exploration of what it means when people demand that our "history" be remembered when that history, is in fact, divorced from context. Some food for thought on this Independence Day. "What we can say with greater certainty, however, is that when social-conservatives decry the fabricated forgetting of the practice of pledging allegiance they are not fully aware of the entire history of the practice. Therefore, we in the present are confronted with a bizarre case of having friends and family insist that we engage in a practice that honors our history without actually being aware of that history...We are also confronted with another troubling standard, which is that a significant amount of people believe having children mindlessly repeating a loyalty oath is somehow reflective of a people who value freedom, liberty, and independence. Is the state merely a guardian of Constitutional principles, or is it something to be venerated and quasi-worshiped? There is technically no “right” answer to this, instead it is a question of opinion...Failing to learn a particular piece of history does not automatically ensure its repetition, but it does mean that people run a higher risk of being indoctrinated into a political viewpoint when certain arguments are made."
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 13:47:22 +0000