Past, Present and Future

History books have holes in them. Information is omitted, even in the ones we used in school 20 plus years ago. Omitting information is a lie when you are intentionally doing it. Why would information be omitted in the first place?

Excellent question. But first you must ask, “What information is being omitted?” to answer that question. Then it leads you to the question of why and who would intentionally lie to us? I bet you thought history was boring…

Let’s explore this theory shall we? First let’s ask ourselves what didn’t we talk about in kindergarten through 12th grade history class. Did you learn about the holocaust in school? I didn’t. What about the asian culture and eastern medicine? I didn’t. Did you learn about women’s suffrage? I didn’t. Did you learn that Africans kidnapped their own people’s, took them to the west coast of Africa and sold them? Did you learn that men have been enslaving others since the dawn of humanity and still do today? Did you learn that in many Eastern cultures it is acceptable to sell your daughter into prostitution to pay your debts? Did you learn anything about the Middle East? Did you learn anything about Scotland and Ireland while you were learning about the English monarchy? Did you learn much about any other countries or cultures? Did you learn the specifics about World War II? Did you learn about all the political mistakes of the Vietnam War? I missed out on all of this and so much more. Most of topics I’ve had to read about myself. As a matter of fact, as I’ve put some thought into it, I’ve made a list of some of the history books I want to read! There’s a sentence I thought I’d never write. But there’s something about being deprived of information and opportunity that does put a rise in me.

So now that we have covered many of the subjects not taught in school, that leads us to our next question. Why were we not taught all these things? Ok, some topics like the holocaust and slavery are too much for elementary and middle school. But a high school student could handle it. Why would I say that? A 16-year-old may not be legally able to get into a rated-R horror film but no doubt in my mind that they watch them anyway. If a 16-year-old can watch a dreadful movie like “Saw”, then they can learn about real human atrocities and hopefully realize they have real consequences.
Why not teach us everything on the list? “Oh, Dana”, you say, “there just isn’t enough room in the curriculum.” I bet we could take some non-teaching lessons out. For instance, the Aztecs and Mayans. Great and interesting people. Spend a day telling me how it’s wrong to take advantage of weaker more uneducated people then move on. The entire English monarchy, wow, really? That is information I needed? How about you sum up most of it with, “They are mentally unstable and power-hungry”. Then touch on the important life lessons, such as: Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. This covers almost all monarchies. And no offense to all the pottery-makers but if you’ve seen one pottery making civilization, you’ve seen them all!

I enjoyed learning that the Romans were one of the first with a sophisticated sewage system. Cool. They did have a government structure. They had a booming economy. But the real lessons to learn were how did they survive, what was socially acceptable in those times, how did they begin and end?  This information can help us today, yes? What worked then? Could it work today? What didn’t work and why? What great topic starters for a class discussion! 

We were old enough to handle the serious stuff and there was room in the curriculum (after we ditched and/or condensed the not so important or pivotal). So help me out, why the holes in our history books? Because, educators don’t want us to think? Controversy and ugliness is only for adults? Then how do you prepare adolescents to be adults if you don’t introduce them to past controversy and ugliness? We weren’t taught this information because educators want to pretend it never happened? 

Here’s my problem with the omissions though. How does society and do people in general not make the mistakes of their ancestors if they don’t know what those mistakes were? How do you make the world a better place, if you know little to nothing about its past? How do you learn about yourself if you don’t know where you come from? How do you understand people different from you if you don’t know where they come from?

All of this pertinent information is being grazed over at best, omitted at worst and I can’t find a logical reason as to why. Perhaps it’s just part of that whole, “dumbing down” of school children program where less information is taught so everyone passes the exam. And that’s a whole separate blog.

Here's the solution to walk away with though.  Just because the government, directly through the educational system, deems you and your children too simple-minded or just prefers general populace ignorance doesn't mean you have to acquiesce.  The past is there to learn from, so try that out.  You'd be fascinated to learn how applicable it is.

When America Works…

We are innovators, thinkers, explorers, rebels, doers, empire-builders, problem-solvers and survivors. When we stop being Americans, we become sheep. We follow the loudest idiot or the one putting on the best show. We succumb to the whims of the global masses, and I’m sorry but they aren’t always right.

Take socialism. In what country is that working? What great economic and innovative country is socialist?! Yes, yes, Canada is lovely. But face it, any military force at any time could have them for lunch. Canada isn’t the land of innovation either. Otherwise, they wouldn’t all be coming to America, would they? How many people who live and work in America, were actually born in Canada? You’d be surprised. Why do they leave? Because socialism is so awesome so they thought they would just slum around with capitalists? Doubtful.
Socialist France. I think I’ve made my point here. The have won one war, it took them 100 years. And if my history is correct, the English were like, “Yea, whatever, we have better more interesting things to do now.” France is thriving so well, they only work 30 hours a week now…. wow! So their newest innovation is what? Laziness? They can’t even claim fashion anymore!! Italy stole it from them for crying out loud. Probably during that 10 hours a week they should have been at work!  But hey, the government will take care of all of them right? Like Greece is taking care of all of its citizens? By the way, Greece is socialist too, if you didn’t know.  To catch you up on world events... Greece is currently bankrupt. 

Americans are capitalist, minus the “pig”, thank you. Maybe socialists are just pissed we figured it out. And don’t get me started on communism. I’ll just direct you to the FORMER Soviet Union for now. I’d also like to make the point that socialism and communism are about 5 degrees apart. But don’t take my word on it, read about Vladimir Lenin.

Which brings me to my next point, Americans have turned into sheep. The television gives you your information and you with undying trust take it at face value. Why? You trust the TV but not politicians? You trust marketers too? The best way to find the truth is to discover it on your own. Read. Read, America! Pick. Up. A. Book!  For crying out loud, Google something!  Try “Vladimir Lenin”. You don’t even have to read all of it. Just get the sense of it. Read until you ask yourself, “What’s the difference between my current form of government and the one Vladimir Lenin wanted?”. Then ask yourself, “Am I ok with the answer I find?”.

If you do the above, congratulations to you! You’ve just become a bona-fide American. You’ve questioned the powers-that-be because you can! It’s your right as an American. Millions have died so that I can right this blog, write it uncensored, and encourage you to question our government.
Did you know in Muslim countries everything from email to blogs to social networking is monitored by the government? Did you know Bibles are shred and crucifixes are destroyed if discovered on Muslim soil? Even if you are in the airport, a customs agent will take a Bible from a nun, and shred it.
The Former Soviet Union use to be just as scary. The KGB isn’t a myth, that was real. Soviets lived in fear for opening their mouth against the government even though they were all starving. You had better not have griped about it. Ironically in America, you can make sexual parodies about political figures.

You know why we don’t live that way? WE ARE AMERICANS! Our forefathers, male and female, black and white and everything in between, all had something in common. We were the type that didn’t take crap off of those in power, or anybody else for that matter. It’s how our parents or ancestors got here, or why they stayed once they did. NOBODY tells us how to think, how to feel, where to go, what to do, how to vote or whether we can vote. I have a Bill of Rights that says I can do a multitude of things, and baby, I plan to do ALL of them!

Know this though. As an American, you have a responsiblity to understand how your government works. WHO makes the laws and changes them later when you aren’t paying attention.
Never forget your history. The Roman Empire fell. The Egyptian Empire fell. The great Chinese Dynasties came to an end…. and communism replaced it. Our way of life is always in jeopardy and we are not invincible. We could fall like those before us if we remain complacent, uninformed sheep. Unless of course, you like being a sheep. But then you wouldn't be an American.

Beauty

Secular beauty fades but spiritual beauty grows and endures. Remember that the next time you look in the mirror and don’t like what you see.

Understanding Socialism

I was shopping today and I finally realized why this country is headed toward socialism. Let me back up a little. I once read a bumper sticker that said, “the more people I meet the more I like my dog”. I have always thought that was funny for so many reasons. Mainly I like it because I have run into so many outstandingly self-involved people that are quite unpleasant.

You have to wonder, why are people like that, so wrapped up in themselves?  Back to my shopping experience.  How can you shop in a grocery store with other humans and not manage to realize that they matter. We are theoretically civilized, yes? Someone accidently bumps you, they say they are sorry, why can’t you get over it? The shopping aisles are only so wide so some right-of-way must be established. Are we not “advanced” enough to figure this out on our own? We need blinkers or something on our carts? How can you shop and think you are the only human being in the store?

Here is my theory. People are so insanely self-involved that they are stupid. Now I don’t believe people are born this way. Stupid is a choice. God gives you a perfectly good, usable brain. A person just chooses to use say, 3% to 4% of it. Which leads me to my next hypothesis, choosing to be stupid reduces your ability to take care of yourself, thus you need someone else to do it for you. Socialism is born.

Now why does this idea prosper? The opportunist lives everywhere. The aforementioned stupid believe all rhetoric. The opportunist says, “capitalism is the strong taking advantage of the weak”. Stupid believes. The opportunist then says, “I will take care of you, stand in this line, take this voucher, live here, give us your money”. Stupid does as instructed. The opportunist takes money from all the stupid people and spends it on a large home, many cars, overpriced vacations and other luxury items while the stupid people he is “taking care of” are living a poor life with no chance of socio-economic advancement. Of course we all know how this scenario ends. Few have and a majority have-not, this is the ultimate outcome of socialism and the original choice of selfish stupidity.

"Ahhh!" screams the Socialist, "You are talking about capitalism!".  No, capitalism creates jobs.  Jobs create many levels of wealth, not a huge valley between the haves and have nots.  Capitalism creates competition, which creates innovation, which creates tiers of services and products and this ALL produces jobs and wealth for everybody who contributes to the cycle.... until socialism sticks it's hand out.

Socialism requires nothing of stupid but a vote, which equates to money.  Capitalism requires intelligence, forethought, creativity, money, but most importantly a vast array of talents from all peoples.  But maybe stupid can't wrap his self-involved head around something as complex as capitalism, so instead he stands in line staring at himself in the mirror.