History - Fact Or Fiction?

We've all heard of revisionist history; we all know that Iran's President Ahmedinejad denies the Holocaust ever happened. We know that people without sufficient background for the task are often asked to approve or disapprove books our children have access to in schools. One off none of this may seem important but, you know, I believe it is.

When people with agendas begin meddling in what can and cannot be taught, history gets skewed. What do we know of it unless we've actually lived it? Hearsay. It goes back as far as the written word. The Bible in all it's incarnations. Parables confused with fact. Or not so confused if one has an agenda other than teaching or learning.

The disturbing thing is how manipulation is being used to this day. A controversy is ongoing in Texas right now regarding what should and should not be included in their social studies curriculum. When I think about it I couldn't begin to tell you what my 11 and 13 year old nieces believe to be history. I would be willing to wager it's not quite the same as what I was taught.

Here are a few of the recommendations from Texas as reported on the texasinsider.org site.

1st grade: In the section on holidays it removes Veterans' Day and Independence Day. The 4th of July? On customs it removes the anthems and motto's of Texas and the U.S. and from patriotic symbols it removes the Liberty Bell.

3rd grade: Removes a children's biography of Stephen F. Austin.

High school: Removes John Locke's Two Treatises of Government and English common law and changes the phrase "Free enterprise system" to "capitalist system".

Presidents Roosevelt and Eisenhower were referred to as "dead white guys" in discussions on phasing them out and not adding any more.

Needless to say there has been tremendous push back on these recommendations. Thank heavens. But I can see where such could pass virtually unnoticed in the not too distant future. What with the blurring of reality in movie embodiments of history, writers, actors, producers lending their own slant and photo shop altering any and everything, perhaps one day we will have no history at all. Existence will be nothing more than an epic work of fiction. Reality will be but for a fleeting moment.

So. As Bob Schrum said about Obama today in a conversation with Andrea Mitchell, he needs to stand before us and tell us just who he is. Why? It will all be altered anyway. There will be no truth.

Will the real Davy Crockett please stand up? Did he even exist?