C. Bradley Thompson is the author of John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty, and a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, Calif. The Institute (www.aynrand.org/medialink) promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. Feb.
24, 2003
What
is less obvious—and more dangerous—is that the history
they do know is utterly subversive of American culture and values. I
recently attended the annual meeting of the American Historical Association,
the nation's largest and most influential organization of academic
historians. What goes on at this meeting will eventually make its
way into your child's classroom. I was shocked by what I saw and
heard. Of
the roughly two hundred panels, there was virtually nothing on subjects
such as the American Revolution, the Civil War, or America's involvement
in the two World Wars. Instead, there were dozens of papers on subjects
ranging from the banal to the bizarre and perverse. Participants
were subjected to scintillating presentations on topics such as "Meditations
on a Coffee Pot: Visual Culture and Spanish America, 1520-1820," or "The
Joys of Cooking: Ideologies of Housework in Early Modern England," or "Body,
Body, Burning Bright: Cremation in Victorian America." But
without question the dominant theme of the conference was sex. Historians
at America's best universities are obsessed with it. One
historian from an Ivy League college delivered a paper on "Strong
Hard Filth and the Aroma of Washington Square: Art, Homosexual Life,
and Postal Service Censorship in the Ulysses Obscenity Trial of 1921." Another
scholar from Berkeley spoke on "Solitary Self/Solitary Sex." And
one spoke on "Constructing Masculinity: Homosexual Sodomy, Ethnicity,
and the Politics of Penetrative Manhood in Early Modern Spain." But
historians' obsession with sex is the least of their vices. Academic
history has become thoroughly egalitarian. It seeks to elevate the
history of ordinary men and women doing ordinary things at the expense
of great men and women doing great things. Thus, the history department
at Harvard University no longer offers a course on the American Revolution.
In its place, it now offers a course on the history of midwives and
quilting. Worse
yet, mainstream historians are driven by a pernicious political agenda
that seeks to elevate "group rights" over individual rights.
By sanctifying the stories of oppressed and "marginalized" groups,
historians subtly indoctrinate students with the idea that justice
and rights are synonymous with one's group identity, be it one's
race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. But
what of America's founding ideals, such as the principle of inalienable
individual rights? Ultimately,
academic history is driven by a hatred of America and its ideals.
It is common these days for students to be told that the colonization
of North America represents an act of genocide; that the Founding
Fathers were racist, sexist, "classist," "homophobic," Euro-centric
bigots; that the winning of the American West was an act of capitalist
pillage; that the so-called "Robber Barons" forced widows
and orphans into the streets; that hidden in the closets of most
white Americans is a robe and hood. To
help put over this slander, historians dissolve American history
into a chaotic hodge-podge of trivial stories about politically correct
victim groups. It is no wonder that our children no longer learn
the truly important facts about their nation's history. There
was a time, not too long ago, when students were required to study
the great events, the magnanimous statesmen, the brave warriors,
the brilliant inventors, and the ingenious industrialists of American
history. There was a time when American students knew in intimate
detail the heroic story of the American Revolution and the tragedy
of the Civil War. American
children once learned about honesty from George Washington, justice
from Thomas Jefferson, integrity from John Adams, independence from
Daniel Boone, oratory from Daniel Webster, ingenuity from Thomas
Edison, perseverance from the Wright Brothers, and courage from Sergeant
York. They memorized and learned the principles of the Declaration
of Independence, the Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address. American
history was taught as a grand story of epic scale and heroic accomplishment.
The history of America was the history of freedom. Today, our children are being taught to be ashamed of America. By denigrating the principles and great deeds of America's past and dethroning its heroes, today's college professors are destroying in our youth the proper reverence for the ideals this nation stands for. And a nation that hates itself cannot last. |
