Discussion on The Thomas Sowell Reader by Thomas Sowell, Twisted History
One reason why our children do not measure up with those in other countries is because precious classroom time is spent twisting American history.
They hear things like “How would you feel if you were a Native American
who saw the European invaders taking away you land?”. This question makes kids look at the past with ignorant
assumptions of the present. You
see, today we take it for granted that it is ‘wrong to take other peoples land’. That was not the way the Native
Americans or the Europeans saw things.
Battles were what settled land boundaries and other disputes. The Asian, Africans, Arabs and others thought
the same way too. The Native Americans
doubtless did not want to lose their territory, but that is different from not
wanting to fight for it.
Today’s child cannot
possibly put himself or herself in the mindset of Indians centuries ago,
without infinitely more knowledge of history than our schools have ever taught [1].
Comprehension however,
is not the reason for such a question.
It is asked to score points against Western society and thus, propaganda
replaces education.
Schools are not the
only history twisters for ideological points. The headline for The New York Times’s book review
section in its December 14, 2004 issue was “Never Forget That They Owned Lots
of Slaves”. An indictment of
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson was on the inside.
Every race has
practiced enslavement [A]. Even after the American blacks
were freed, white people were still being enslaved in the Ottoman Empire.
Now no one liked the
idea of becoming a slave, but few had any objections to making them. Slavery itself was not an issue until
the 18th century, and even then it was a Western issue only. When it did become a dispute, George
Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry were among the most outstanding
freedom fighters at the time. You could research all of 18th century
Africa or Asia or the Middle East without finding any comparable rejection of
slavery there [2].
In 1862, the US Navy
captured a full slave ship sailing from Africa to Cuba. The crew was imprisoned and the captain
was hung in the United State because of his violation of the ban on
international slave trade. At this
time slavery was still legal in both Africa and Cuba [A]. This
tells us that enslavement was such an absolute abomination to Americans at this
time.
Even though the US
had an answer for enslavement, they did not have an answer to the millions of slaves
they already had. That answer finally came in the Revolutionary War where one
life was lost for every six that were freed [B]. Perhaps that was the only way. “But don’t pretend today that it was an
easy answer--- or that those who grappled with the dilemma in the 18th
century were some special villains, when most leaders and most people around
the world at that time saw nothing wrong with slaver.”
Sowell, Thomas. The Thomas Sowell Reader. United States of America: Basic
Books, 2011.
[1][A] Thomas, Sowell, The Thomas Sowell Reader, (United States of America: Basic Books,
2011) 18
[2][A][B] Thomas, Sowell, The Thomas Sowell Reader, (United States
of America: Basic Books, 2011) 19
2 Peter 3:16 “…There are some things
in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to
their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.”
2 Chronicles
14:6 “He built fortified
cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, for the
Lord gave him peace.”
John 8:34 “Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say
to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.””
Proverbs 22:6 ”Train up a child in
the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
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