Hero Making

I may have talked about this already, which probably means it is a theme of my studies.

U.S. textbooks shun complexity. America=hero. Anti-America=anti-hero.


Except that humans are messy, and so are nations. There's really no such thing as a perfect hero, and America is certainly no exception. Instances of U.S. wrongs examined by James Loewen in "Lies My Teacher Told Me" include:


The 1961 assassination of Patrice Lumumba (above), leader of the Communist faction in Zaire. The CIA backed Joseph Mobutu as Zaire's next leader; he was forced to flee in 1997 amidst civil war, corruption, and suffering of the people.


The 1973 CIA-initiated coup to bring down the government of democratically elected Salvador Allende (above), who was killed in the coup and succeeded by the notoriously corrupt and vicious regime of CIA-backed Augusto Pinochet.


1970s covert bombings of Laos during the Vietnam war, which were denied by the U.S. even as Laos became the most heavily bombed nation in history.

It is no wonder that elected officials like Michele Bachmann get away with blatant lies about U.S. history. If we don't hold U.S. Representatives to a standard of truth in analyzing history and applying its lessons to today, what do we expect of students in our public schools?