Don ' t know much about history

I believe I ' ve mentioned now and again that I ' ve been reading a lot of history lately. It ' s just something I ' ve gotten into now that I ' m taking a semi-sabbatical. I wouldn ' t say I ' ve encountered major surprises -- I was conversant with the broad outlines of American and European history. I have certainly learned a lot of specifics and gotten a deeper understanding of the larger stories and patterns over the past few months.Sadly, most Americans know very little history. Even asserting some basic, indisputable facts can provoke howls of outrage -- for instance, the United States was founded as a white supremacist oligarchy. It ' s true! It ' s not just an opinion or an interpretation and certainly not a slur or a misrepresentation.It ' s in the Constitution. All you have to do is read it. Yes, it has since been amended so that this is no longer true, and that is a very important story, but that ' s how it started off.It is very common for people of right wing persuasion to accuse liberal or progressive activists, thinkers and politicians of being Communists, or Marxists, or socialists. But they obviously do not know what these words mean, and seem to be unaware that they are not synonyms.  Calling someone a Communist or a socialist is pretty much like calling them a poopyhead. It ' s just a meaningless term of opprobrium. When I was in grad school, I taught sociology at a community college, and one of my students told me his father said that the Boston Globe...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs