The People Speak: History Channel Goes FAR Left

reply to post by seasoul


You have no idea what you're talking about.


My parents work in hollywood, on TV shows mainly. I've done habitat for humanity with both the crew and actors from a few television shows, arranged by the crew themselves (not someone looking for publicity).


there are normal, everyday people who work on shows and movies, it's the companies and studio execs that finance them that are evil (I'm looking at you Fox Studios)

[edit on 10-12-2009 by piddles]

reply to post by blue_fish


Read his most famous book. The first chapter is all about the great genocide perpetrated against the Native Americans for the sake of the wealth of various European monarchs and the glory of those in their employ.

Originally posted by drwizardphd
reply to post by Doc Velocity

 

Howard Zinn is a genius.

A radical, yes. But a genius nonetheless.

I had the fortune of being in the IB program in high school (essentially a higher form of Advanced Placement), and we were given two textbooks to compare for American History. One was Howard Zinn's infamous People's History of the United States. The other was the book that the school was using for all of the other American History classes. We were then instructed to independently analyze both books to find out which was closer to the truth. In almost every regard, Zinn's book was more factually accurate.

You may not agree with his vision of American History. Maybe because it is decidedly "leftist". Maybe because it goes against what you, your parents, and your parents' parents were taught in school.

One thing is for sure though, his story is more correct than the one you are familiar with. The truth can be a bitter pill to swallow. However, the greatest country on earth was indeed founded upon a bedrock of deception, genocide and greed.

+1

Thanks for posting abut this! I didn't know about it. I'll be sure to watch and tell all my friends about it.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


I don't have small children anymore but I will watching this too, I want to know what is so bad about it.

I miss the days when you could turn the history channel on, and watch a program about HISTORY. Now every time I turn it on, I see some rediculous Monster Quest, UFO Hunters, or Nostradamus garbage. It amuses me that the history channel so heavily roatates shows about the possible future.

Why must they bastardize EVERYTHING?

My view is that it should be watched and debated on like everything else on ATS , but i admit , The O.P had a veiwpoint that could of been more sensitive to the subject matter of slavery , very sneeky O.P , and communist agendas enforced through education on slavery , Education on slavery yes , Communism No , Lets see what happens , wheres the popcorn..

Originally posted by Choiseul
The OP only stated viewpoints of it and what they feel. Everyone is entitled to this freedom,

Apparently except for Matt Damon and THC. Ironic that you stick up for the OP's freedom of expression in which he expresses his disgust for someone else's free expression. This thread is hilarious.

marxism? in essence its just children learning about the truth instead of false propaganda which we are learning now...what do you think david icke or nassim haramein say? its silly that that reason we are so naive and stupid now are becuase we have taught the extreme right way in education...get your heads out of your asses people

I will be watching this. The History Channel is actually pretty fair and balanced when you look at all of their programming. For giggles, why not visit their website.

Regarding THE PEOPLE SPEAK, one thing is crystal clear: regardless of which political ideology one follows, they make sure that they point out that DEMOCRACY IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT. On that issue, I will not argue. I will take it a step further. Democracy is is nothing more than mob rule. At least that is what founding father and slave owner Thomas Jefferson said. I am not being derogatory. Both of those statements are documented facts, or at least widely accepted truths. Now if you really want to get involved, you had better pick a side worth dying for. That is what democracy is really all about. It is not about peace, love, equality, or brotherhood. In it’s purest form, democracy is finding the dogma that suits you best and then convincing everyone you can to support it, lest someone with different ideals and beliefs should get into power.

We are their tools. If you honestly think that the left, the right, or the entire government genuinely wants you to think for yourself, then you are more disillusioned than I thought. I have news for you, kids: great expectations lead to great disappointments. When John Lennon penned “Imagine”, I always wondered why he never included the words IMAGINE THERE’S NO GOVERNMENT in that song? Probably because he, like many folks in the world, feels that it is okay to have a system which allows as many people as possible agree to use force, if necessary, to ensure that their ideas, beliefs, facts, truths, and favorite candy bars, are forced onto those who do not share their perspective.

Of course, when it comes to old-time, Vietnam era hippy music, I tend to fall more in line with Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young: TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL. If you have kids or if you are closely associated with them… heck, even if you are teachers (both private and public), take this to heart. We need not bombard them with information yet let us take their hands and find the answers together. As far as many kids are already concerned, they are already prisoners with no say whatsoever.

reply to post by drwizardphd


"One thing is for sure though, his story is more correct than the one you are familiar with. The truth can be a bitter pill to swallow. However, the greatest country on earth was indeed founded upon a bedrock of deception, genocide and greed."

I am unaware of any country, nation, civilization, or people that is not guilty of the displacement of others, deception, greed.

The genocide label is opinion. War, or struggles, is typically waged by one people against another, and each of these groups is typically comprised of people with commonalities, race and/or religion being the two biggies.

Therefore, an argument can be made that most every war, or struggle, is waged in the name of race, or religion (prosecution).
The third biggie is wealth, which goes hand in hand with greed.

Mr. Zinn is simply stating the obvious, only using inflammatory verbiage to excite the excitable.




[edit on 10-12-2009 by Oaktree]

Its a pain when history and facts messes with ideology...best thing to do is simply ignore it and tell people not to read/watch the material presented...allows you to keep your biases without all that pesky information making you think.

I fully endorse any ban of information that doesnt work with out viewpoints...matter of fact, burn all books that arent the bible and cancel all television channels except for the 700 club...Since when has facts ever helped us anyhow

(sarcasm btw...I recommend everyone to especially read and watch things they disagree with...if some program or book is going to change your mind on something, then that in itself is worth the view...never assume you know it all and your opinions will always be unshakable, else you have stopped becoming a human long ago and are just a robot tool).

Sorry OPs, but because you posted this, I am now setting my DVR to make sure I watch it...I tend to want to read or watch anything people tell me not to.


incidently, this doesnt mean I support the content of the special...I dont have to like a message in order to hear it...matter of fact, things I disagree with I tend to become more founded in my perspective (or change my view) after hearing opposing viewpoints. (I was once a conservative..then I really looked in depth at liberalism and dropped my status quo comfort for intellectual desire.)

Originally posted by JohnD
I will be watching this. The History Channel is actually pretty fair and balanced when you look at all of their programming. For giggles, why not visit their website.

Regarding THE PEOPLE SPEAK, one thing is crystal clear: regardless of which political ideology one follows, they make sure that they point out that DEMOCRACY IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT. On that issue, I will not argue. I will take it a step further. Democracy is is nothing more than mob rule. At least that is what founding father and slave owner Thomas Jefferson said. I am not being derogatory. Both of those statements are documented facts, or at least widely accepted truths. Now if you really want to get involved, you had better pick a side worth dying for. That is what democracy is really all about. It is not about peace, love, equality, or brotherhood. In it’s purest form, democracy is finding the dogma that suits you best and then convincing everyone you can to support it, lest someone with different ideals and beliefs should get into power.

That's right! PICK A SIDE to die for! Us against them!

Oh wait, The United States of America is NOT a democracy, we are a republic.
The us vs. them mentality is the very reason our founding fathers decided against a democracy, and in favor of a republic.

[edit on 10-12-2009 by Oaktree]

reply to post by Oaktree


You are absolutely right, Oaktree. Specifically, we are a constitution based, federal republic. Unfortunately, ask kids from K through 12 (mostly educated in government school) in this country if we live in a democracy or a republic, and see what answers you get.

Originally posted by Oaktree




Mr. Zinn is simply stating the obvious, only using inflammatory verbiage to excite the excitable.




[edit on 10-12-2009 by Oaktree]

If he's simply stating the obvious and you take umbrage with his inflammatory remarks then you are picking a side. If you agree with his inflammatory remarks then you are picking a side. What side are you on then, Oaktree?


What do "obvious" facts lead you to feel about U.S. History and modern social policy? You can either be the psychopath or the humanist, which is it?

First off the US is not a representative republic. I liken it more to an monopolistic oligarchy, mostly controled by corporate dictats.

As to zinn....he is not, i think, a marxist, though he does support socialism. He HAS pointed out the flaws in governments claiming to be "communist", and he also pointed out that during the russian revolution, we DID have american soldiers on the ground in Moscow, and we did our best to influence the goings on there.


At any rate, Zinns work is a much more realistic view of american history, and it clearly delineates a class war that has permeated most of our short american history. The founders of the constitution were not average americans, they were among the wealthiest people in the country, and much of the founding was done to protect the wealth of the few from the needs of the many.

More than any author, he brings to light the thoughts and feelings of the poeple who were actually fighting for the things we find so great in our country, through their personal notes, letters, and other things. He illuminates the fact that the things we find so great about our country, our freedom (such as it is), our equality (such as it is) our protection from labor predation (such as it is) were all fought for and bled for by leftist movements, many subjecting themselves to abuse, imprisonment, and murder from a government and the elite wealthy business groups who wanted to keep us from having these freedoms. Sadly, most of these movements for more rights and freedoms were pushed largely by the organized leadership of the communist party, the socialist parties, and the african american leadership, all of which have been decimated today and are fairly nonexistant and ineffective, which is why now our rights are steadily being eroded, rather than expanded upon.

It has indeed been a long time since congress granted us more freedoms rather than trying to limit them.

It is extremely important to present this info, especially to our young, as once you are indoctrinated into how great, noble, and wise our country is, it takes serious work to come back to reality, with the end result that most adults nowadays vote on issues they dont understand, and often to the benefit of the wealthy and the corporations, and to the detriment of themselves. They dont understand the history of american involvement and control in the middle east, and so cant understand why they resent us, so the average voter feels like a victim when blowback occurs, and lashes out in support of war retaliation, rather than recognizing our "enemies" legitimate points and issues.

Further, most americans have no clue what the civil war was about, or how we got hawaii and the philipines through massacre, or what the origin of the vietnam war was. We dont teach children that our country engaged in human experiments upon our soldiers such as MKULTRA, or the Tuskeegee experiment, and so they dont realize that we are doing the same thing today by testing out our vaccines on soldiers as guinea pigs.

They dont realize we have a history of false flag operations, such as the gulf of tonkin, so they have no clue that our country might engage in such today.

They dont realize that our country regularly engages in espionage to put friendly dictators on the thrones of other countries in order to get their natural resources on the cheap, and so they dont understand the backlash going on in south america where the countries are uniting to halt american involvement and domination of their resources, as we vilify the leaders who try to protect their citizens from the predation of american corporate expansionism.

It is only when you TRULY get into the real history of our nation that you see that the motives for all our "righteous wars" is money and power, and then you look with justified skepticism upon any current wars we wage, rather than urging our children to go off to some romanticized idea of soldiery where they will destroy their peace of mind, and possibly lose their lives all in the persuit of the "hydrocarbon law" for iraq, or control of afghanistans oil pipeline, all to line the pockets of our oil industry, our arms industry, and companies like blackwater, KBR, and haliburton.

Since many of you seem so adamant about teaching kids anti-American politics before they even learn how to read and write, how would you feel about teaching kids that The Holocaust is a lie? I mean, hell, the "facts" behind the The Holocaust are a source of intense debate, so why not tell both sides of the story?

While we're at it, why not teach little kids that Democrats have historically opposed civil rights for blacks, that Democrats invented the Ku Klux Klan, and that Democrats fought civil rights reform right through the 1960s?

Why aren't we teaching little kids that the Republicans are the champions of black emancipation, that Republicans have historically always upheld equal rights for blacks (and all races, for that matter)?

I mean, that's all the Truth, isn't it? Yes, it is. But it's just not taught in our liberal public school systems nor on our liberal college campuses.

When Mat Damon and Danny Glover and Howard Zinn go on the History Channel and apologize for the liberal revisionist garbage being taught to our kids already, maybe then I'll consider giving The History Channel a second chance.

As I see it, the cancer of liberalism and socialism in our schools has already destroyed the minds and hearts of far too many American children.

— Doc Velocity







[edit on 12/10/2009 by Doc Velocity]

Hm...interesting that you would consider historical fact "anti american". I think that truth is central to pro american learning. And i also regularly tell the children in my classes that indeed, it was the republicans originally who freed the slaves during the civil war. Of course, i think for most that was a white wash for their justification to invade the south which was really about the fact that the south paid 80% of the whole nations taxes and thats why they wanted to seccede, which the north couldnt allow due to the fact that those taxes were paying for their industrialization.

I imagine from your post that you assume that we who support watching this are somehow democrats? Surely not, as the system is broken, and repub and dem alike bow before corporate demands, handing over whatever legislation the biggest dollar buys. Just as pelosi, mccain, and obama all took millions from the banks for supporting the bailout. Just as they all will from the insurance companies for pushing through a profitable "healthcare reform" that will just reform more taxpayers dollars to the pockets of industry, while providing as little service as possible....mark my words.

At any rate, while your "republicans" may have supported emancipation and equal rights, it was leftists that fought, bled and died for them. It certainly was not the republican party that championed the civil rights movement. The republican party was conspicuously absent during the anti war protests of vietnam where students were fired upon by american soldiers, nor were they present when textile workers were being harrassed and beaten for demanding safe working conditions, or minimum wages.

I see that the republicans...and the democrats, just shot down the proposed minimum wage hike in new york....way to support the poor and downtrodden. At the same time they are still allowing the banks to give massive bonuses to the wealthy who have squandered our economy and our retirement. I notice the republicans arent speaking out too much about the fact that certain groups have grown massively wealthy lately over questionable circumstance.... haliburton, KBR, and blackwater, from the war in iraq...not mentioning the ties that cheney, rumsfeld and condi (republicans all) have with those companies. And then theres of course, the bailout that i've mentioned.....and yet no republicans or democrats have pushed any billions towards helping poor people keep their homes...even though the banks who were at risk from those same loans have been protected from the loss.....hmmm.

In truth there are only 3 congressmen i admire, Gravel, kucinich, and paul, and they encompass both parties. I like the men, i think the "party" system is a joke.

reply to post by Doc Velocity


Doc, I have one question...

can you source where...in association with THIS SHOW...what you say is being presented...

there are numerous videos on the history channel website...i linked it in my post earlier, as did someone else.

so please...we would like to understand where you are coming from.

i get Mr. Zinn may have these views (I honestly don't know a thing about him)but as far as this show..whats the big deal

More on The People Speak:

The People Speak is a documentary inspired by Howard Zinn’s book, A People’s History of the United States and from the book he co-authored with Anthony Arnove, Voices of a People’s History. These are the voices of resistance in U.S. history – resistance to injustice, to war. Voices that can inspire viewers to recognize the power ordinary people have to change the course of history. These are also the voices that are excluded from traditional histories. Some voices are obscure, some famous and you will hear them express ideas that are excluded from the orthodox histories.
...
By presenting these amazing people from our past, we will inspire a new generation to act.

It's actual words from the people of our history. I don't know why it's being presented as something untrue or even dangerous to our children.

About the author of the original piece in the OP, Patrick Courrielche:

He has appeared on Fox News’ “O’Reilly Factor,” “Glenn Beck,” “Hannity,” and “RedEye w/ Greg Gutfeld,” CNN’s “Lou Dobbs” and “Newsroom,” NPR’s “All Things Considered,” and “The Dennis Miller Show.”

That pretty much reveals his bias. No wonder he doesn't think that the true history of our country should be heard...

I'm very excited about this show and hope to learn more about our history in the form of the country's citizens' thoughts, words and deeds.