I was a history major. I thought a lot about the hierarchy thing. It varies with the historian. The best example of the contrary thing I can think of is Thucydides. He thought that Athenian leadership was contemptible, the war a waste of time, and that many of the decisions from the leaders were just plain stupid. He didn’t have a higher opinion of the Spartan leaders.
At the same time school history texts tend to be hagiography. In grade school I was convinced that Manifest Destiny was an inspirational idea. By high school I wasn’t so sure. The current desire for a stranglehold on the school history curriculum is obviously Ministry of Truth stuff. The Stalinist/Leninist view of history and news media was that their single most important purpose was glorification of correct thought as defined by the government. In the US we’ve been more subtle but have always worked toward the unification of state and press. It’s the standard authoritarian model.
I had a 1960’s Catholic American education, it was even more biased than the standard American history. I recall that it said that the Church of England’s breaking away from the Catholic Church was fixed when a Catholic heir was born. Never mentioned until later that the heir, Mary Queen of Scots, was beheaded and that the British constitution insists that that the ruler must belong to the Church of England, at least not in that year’s history book.
hunt.elen Premium Member almost 2 years ago
It’s hard to keep quiet when seeing something exciting
Aladar30 Premium Member almost 2 years ago
I do the same.
willie_mctell almost 2 years ago
I was a history major. I thought a lot about the hierarchy thing. It varies with the historian. The best example of the contrary thing I can think of is Thucydides. He thought that Athenian leadership was contemptible, the war a waste of time, and that many of the decisions from the leaders were just plain stupid. He didn’t have a higher opinion of the Spartan leaders.
At the same time school history texts tend to be hagiography. In grade school I was convinced that Manifest Destiny was an inspirational idea. By high school I wasn’t so sure. The current desire for a stranglehold on the school history curriculum is obviously Ministry of Truth stuff. The Stalinist/Leninist view of history and news media was that their single most important purpose was glorification of correct thought as defined by the government. In the US we’ve been more subtle but have always worked toward the unification of state and press. It’s the standard authoritarian model.
sergioandrade Premium Member almost 2 years ago
I had a 1960’s Catholic American education, it was even more biased than the standard American history. I recall that it said that the Church of England’s breaking away from the Catholic Church was fixed when a Catholic heir was born. Never mentioned until later that the heir, Mary Queen of Scots, was beheaded and that the British constitution insists that that the ruler must belong to the Church of England, at least not in that year’s history book.
Janet Davis Premium Member almost 2 years ago
I read about the 1619 Project, truthfully, a little. What I saw was mostly opinion.