After having read this week’s
articles and a few of the responses already posted, the discussion in this
week’s course should be lively and passionate. Moving on from that, the
articles brought up many issues that exist within the teaching and sharing of
history. Issues of how far History can be distorted, especially when agendas
are involved. From the “Conservative Class” article to Sons of Confederate
Veterans, distortion takes many shapes and forms. One thing that does come from
these articles is that as many people as there are that distort history, so
many more simply want to learn. The issue with that is what they are learning,
or more importantly how ignorance spreads like a virus. One person learns
something and they spread it along to someone else and it just continues on.
For the public historian, or any educated individual, this is an issue that
raises the blood pressure. Personally, a lot of the time when I read articles
like the ones for this week, I remember a movie titled ‘Idiocracy.’ Within the
movie, the only people who exist on the world are idiots, all the smart people
have died off. Stupid was the virus that just kept spreading through procreation.
At times it seems like there are so many educators in some form spreading
distorted history to any audience that will listen to them, but then, as Molly
wrote in her blog, it is important to remember that it is our job to make sure
that the “actual history is readily accessible, understandable, and relatable.”
As long as the correct information is out there, people who actually want to
learn will seek out the actual history.