Institutional Brainwashing

Do you have any idea how much you have been programmed by the PTB to become a patriotic citizen?

The American History currently being tought in our schools is obsenely inaccurate. They've made heros out of nobodies, outright lied about many events, and ommitted pertinent facts important in understanding our roots as Americans.

I am going to give you a few of the well known myths, and properly explain the real story. I know people on ATS love to have internet sources they can click and read instead of books they have to find, so I will try and find some sources for you guys.

1) Columbus left europe to prove that the earth was round, and was the first person to discover the new world.

Ok, this one is way off... Educated peoples since the time of the greeks had believed the Earth was round. This was true of columbus as well. The spherical shape of our world was well known by the time Columbus set sail.

Columbus is actually the about the 15th person to make it to the new world, give or take. There are some speculated groups of people that have some evidence, but not conclusive evidence... I will list them as follows, and will rank the quality of evidence from low to high:

High: 17,000 years ago, Siberian peoples populate north america via the bering straight
Moderate: 6000 BC, Indonesians reach south america
Moderate: 5000 BC, Japanese reach south/central america
High: 4000 BC, Another Siberian migration to North America
Low: 1000 BC Chinese have legends and many cultural similarities with Central America
Moderate: 1000 BC Africans most likely landed in centeral america.
Low: 500 BC Phoenicians, and Celtic Britains may have landed in the New England region
Low: 600 AD Irish land in Canada according to Norse legend and Written stories
High: 1000 AD Vikings land in Canada. (Lief Errickson)
Moderate: 1300 AD West Africans land in central america, and in the carribean
Low: 1375 AD Spanish supposedly land in Newfouldland
Low: 1481 AD A ship from Bristol, England lands in Newfoundland according to some historical sources
High: 1492 Columbus lands in the Caribbean.

some of these sources are less reputable than others. However, it is plainly obvious that Columbus did not discover North America.

why haven't you heard of these other people? Well, you have to reflect on what world view the textbooks and schools teach from. American History is remarkably "Euro-centric". meaning, it focuses only on the european point of view.

Myth #2

Upon winning the Revolutionary War, the founding fathers set forth to the task of creating a democratic style of government.

False: The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the first document put into power before the Constitution. A confederate style of government is one in which the governments of all the states, formed into a union, but without a "federal" government ruling over them. The Articles of Confederation meant each state had its own autonomous government. This was in effect from 1781 until 1787, when it was replaced by the U.S. Constitution. However it was not fully ratified by the states until 1790.

Myth #3

Aside from the natives, white Europeans were the first permanent settlers of America.

False: in 1526 an expedition of 500 Spanish, and 100 African slaves Founded a town in South Carolina. However, disease and skirmishes with the natives reduced the Slave owners numbers to about 150-200. When the time was right, the Slaves revolted, and escaped into the countryside. The Spaniards, being ravaged by violence and plague, turned tail and set sail, leaving the slaves behind. The slaves then etched out a living with the natives on the new continent. The first permanent settlers were African Slaves.

Myth #4

Abraham Lincoln led the Union into the civil war to abolish slavery.

False: Abraham Lincoln had no desire to free the slaves, nor did he feel that African Americans were equal, or should be given the right to vote:

"I am not nor ever have been in favor of bringing about the social and political equality of the white and black races -- That I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes" --Abraham Lincoln, Charleston NC, Lincoln/Douglass debates

Lincoln entered into the Civil War solely to preserve the Union. To prevent the Confederates from succeeding. The Emancipation Proclamation? That was a political tactic employed by Lincoln to hopefully get the Slaves in the south to revolt, and join the Union army. After all, if the union won the war, the slaves would be free.

It might also be interesting to note, at the time of the civil war, the North had more slaves per capita than the south.

More to come, I'll hunt down some resources and edit this as I find them.

Most of this information can be found on Wikipedia though... anyway, I'll still find em...



edit: shameless typo



[edit on 19-10-2008 by nj2day]

All great points, but I was taught all of these things while in middle/high school. Granted, I'm only a sophomore in college now so things might have changed since when you were in school, but the only thing on that list I had not been taught was the number of possible different peoples who came to the 'New World.' I was informed of the Vikings but I don't recall anything other than that and Columbus.

Regardless, these are things most people need to know. History is never black and white and history books are not the end-all-be-all of truth, so I agree with your motives for this thread.

Myth #5: The Boston Massacre

Legend has it that a formation of British troops fired for no reason into an innocent group of protesters on March 5th 1770 in Boston.

False: While it is true that the British did open fire, it is not true that the colonists were undeserving of such a show of military force. The colonists had started to form a group surrounding sentry Private Hugh White outside the Custom House. as the group picked up momentum, and started to form a "mob mentality" more troops were summoned to Private White's side to keep the peace.

Eventually these colonists aquired clubs and stones and began assaulting the guards. One of the additional guards, Private Montgomery, was struck with a club, knocking him to the ground. The private then stood up and fired. At this time, the rest of the British formation opened fire, killing 5 American colonists in total.

5 of the British gaurd were charged with Murder, and John Adams was appointed to represent them in court. 3 were aquitted, and 2 were convicted of manslaughter.

However, this did not stop the revolutionaries from using propaganda to further their agenda. One flier that was released stated : "THE HORRID MASSACRE IN BOSTON, PERPETRATED IN THE EVENING OF THE FIFTH DAY OF MARCH, 1770, BY SOLDIERS OF THE TWENTY-NINTH REGIMENT WHICH WITH THE FOURTEENTH REGIMENT WERE THEN QUARTERED THERE; WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF THINGS PRIOR TO THAT CATASTROPHE"

Some newspapers printed up very exaggerated and graphic depictions of the events that transpired, and the colonists were successfully moved to revolt.

Originally posted by Alexander_Supertramp
All great points, but I was taught all of these things while in middle/high school. Granted, I'm only a sophomore in college now so things might have changed since when you were in school, but the only thing on that list I had not been taught was the number of possible different peoples who came to the 'New World.' I was informed of the Vikings but I don't recall anything other than that and Columbus.

Regardless, these are things most people need to know. History is never black and white and history books are not the end-all-be-all of truth, so I agree with your motives for this thread.

Thanks, there is a lot more, and I plan on adding to this thread as I bother to type them up...

Many things have not been told the correct way... even in the newest textbooks. I'll start working towards the more sensational stuff further along, but I was afraid to turn people off if I dove in head first

start light, and get to the juicy stuff is my method

The Native Americans were the first settlers of the new world. And also Columbus was a tyrant, when he discovered Cuba he forced the Natives there to look for gold and about a million people died or became slaves because of his lust for gold.

[edit on 19-10-2008 by MoothyKnight]

reply to post by nj2day


I see, good idea! I'm interested to see if I have been taught something wrong, there's nothing I love more than proving myself incorrect.

Just read about the Boston Massacre, and that is surprising...I know for a fact that even in my AP US History (apparently a waste of extra homework) class I was taught that ol' black man Crispus Attucks (sp?) was the first to be shot. Never told a reason.

Keep them coming!

Myth #6

Betsy Ross created the first American Flag

False: Betsy Ross did absolutely nothing important in American History. The only reason she is famous, is some of her descendants in 1876 tried to create a tourist attraction for some quick cash in their hometown of Philadelphia, and completely made up the story.

The flag as we know it is most likely an adaptation of the flag made by the "Sons of Liberty", and no one knows who fabricated or designed it.

Myth #7

Helen Keller is a good roll model for American Children.

False: While her story of her overcoming her disabilities can be motivational, Ms. Keller was a Radical Socialist. She joined the socialst party in 1909, and after the Bolshevic Revolution in Russia in 1917, endlessly doted accolades on the new Communist government. She wanted nothing more than an overthrow of our form of government, and replace it with a Communist regime. Her struggles to overcome her disabilities gave her unprecidented celebrity, which the then used to try and convince the American people of her agenda.

Many newspapers that printed articles about her overcoming her disabilities, later in her life printed highly critical articles suggesting that while she was blind, deaf and mute, she had been brainwashed by someone whispering in her ear.

Originally posted by MoothyKnight
The Native Americans were the first settlers of the new world. And also Columbus was a tyrant, when he discovered Cuba he forced the Natives there to look for gold and about a million people died or became slaves because of his lust for gold.

[edit on 19-10-2008 by MoothyKnight]

You are correct! only they weren't called Native Americans until after they settled and became native...

in 15,000 BC, they were still considered Siberians.




[edit on 19-10-2008 by nj2day]

you missed the french invasion from your list of american finders

all pre clovis evidence found so far suggests a settlement by french stoneage man was the earliest know, they did what the inuites did and travled along the edge of the ice pack

they lived in similar conditions to the inuit and were similarily tooled up so did the hunt/fish paddle and climb up on the ice at night its thought

the stonage tools are identicle from france and the united states and that is pretty much the only place these tools are found

www.bbc.co.uk...


id like to see some of that high evidence for 70,000 years ago, pre clovis point was almost heresy when suggested (kinda still is) and thats a 20-30,000 year old invasion

Originally posted by noobfun
you missed the french invasion from your list of american finders

all pre clovis evidence found so far suggests a settlement by french stoneage man was the earliest know, they did what the inuites did and travled along the edge of the ice pack

they lived in similar conditions to the inuit and were similarily tooled up so did the hunt/fish paddle and climb up on the ice at night its thought

the stonage tools are identicle from france and the united states and that is pretty much the only place these tools are found

www.bbc.co.uk...


id like to see some of that high evidence for 70,000 years ago, pre clovis point was almost heresy when suggested (kinda still is) and thats a 20-30,000 year old invasion

Thanks for the info!

Grats! you found a typo! lol I'll fix it right away...

the correct figure, 17,000 yrs ago, comes from when scientists believe that Siberians crossed the bearing straights, and came to settle in North America. These original people would have been what we now call Native Americans.

edit: URL is too big to fit here, looking for a shorter link.

However, supporting evidence is located here:
The American Journal of Human Genetics 82, 583–592, March 2008

It is available online if u can get to it... sorry, there isn't a short link to it, and my upload space is nowhere near big enough to upload




[edit on 19-10-2008 by nj2day]

^_^ glad to help lol

yeah 16/17,000 is the age of the clovis point, when no people should be running around before then, thats why i gave links to the earlier suspected french invasion

Awesome thread!

I remember when a good friend of mine went to Chicago as an ex-change student. She was interested in studying history but when she looked at what classes were available, she noticed that there was pratically only "American history" classes to be taken. After a while she did find "world history" class and took that one. But, to no surprise, that class was also mostly consistent of "American history".
During one class, she told me, the issue of Columbus discovering America came up. She said straight out to the teacher that it was all wrong. The teacher tried to persuade her but when that didn't work the teacher just ignored her the rest of the education... Great stuff.

Since popular entertainment is such a great part of how people make up their world view I would like to bring some attention to this thread which treats this subject in a similar manner.

Again, let me say that I adore this thread. Keep it comin...

Excellent thread.

I grew up in the 80s in the USA so I was fed all the false history and propaganda. As I grew up and found out that much of it was bunk, it led me to question everything.

Please continue.

Myth #8: Thanksgiving

The story goes that the Pilgrims, seeking religious freedom, Landed aboard the Mayflower on Plymouth Rock. They were befriended by the natives, and after their first especially hard winter, invited them to celebrate and "give thanks" in a feast that the Natives prepared for them.

False: The Thanksgiving holiday itself actually seems to be a stolen idea from some Native American tribe's observance of their Harvest Festival. However, lets start from the beginning. The Pilgrims were not seeking "free religion". Instead they desired to establish a colony based on their Puritan religion only. They landed at Plymouth, which was already a native settlement.

However, when they arrived there, there were not any natives present in the Village. They had already been ravaged by the European diseases brought by other settlers elsewhere on the new continent. However, what they did see was a field of corn, of which they happily helped themselves.
Having secured a food supply, they set off to explore the area surrounding their new settlement.

This is where it gets grizzly...

According to journal entries made by the colonists, they found some native houses in the surrounding forest. Seeing no one home, they set forth to robbing the houses.

They then furthered their march to a place they nicknamed "Cornhill", as they had dug previously and discovered the Native American's store of food for the winter. They dug up some more food stores. It was this moment we first hear of them "giving thanks"

"We Dug and found some more corn, two or three baskets full, and a bag of beans... In all we had about ten bushels, which will be enough for seed. It was with God's help we found this corn, for how else could we have done it without meeting some Indians who might trouble us." -- From a colonist's journal

Journals go on to describe an incident where some of the colonists discovered Native grave sites, which they then exhumed, and made off with burial artifacts.

Indians that were discovered were taken as prisoners, and forced to teach the colonists how to farm the land.

The "Thanks" that the Pilgrims gave is not worthy of a holiday. They gave thanks for finding the Native's food supply, the free artifacts they found in graves, and in their houses, and the plagues that dwindled their numbers down to a mere 10% of what they used to be.

in 1970 Frank James, a descendant of the Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts stated:

Today is a time of Celebrating for you... but it is not a time of celebrating for me. It is with a heavy heart that I look back upon what happened to my People... The Pilgrims had hardly explored the shores of Cape Code four days before they had robbed the graves of my ancestors, and stolen their corn, wheat and beans... Massasoit, the great leader of the Wampanoag, knew these facts; yet he and his People welcomed and befriended the settlers..., Little knowing that...before 50 years were to pass, the Wampanoags... and other Indians living near the settlers would be killed by their guns, or dead from diseases that we caught from them...

"He who controls the past, controls the present" --George Orwell

All of these myths in American history should give some sort of insight as to how through manipulating the past, the PTB have created a false national identity, and a sense of patriotism based on that identity.

There are TONS of myths in American history, however, as history isn't so much a bunch of facts, as an understanding, I need to conduct more research. Don't worry guys, I'll keep em coming, I just want to keep the standard of my posts on this subject as accurate as possible.

If there's any particular subject matter, or moment in history you think i should look into, let me know, I'll look into it (I'm a history major, and love digging through old stuff ) True history is much more fascinating than fabricated history, and actually lends more understanding on what led up to important events in our history.

I've kind of intentionally left the last 70-80 yrs out of my research. The more recent history is, the more the interpritation is bound to change due to new discoveries.

I'll keep plugging along, again, let me know if I should look into something, or if you would like to know the "truth" behind any moment in time...

nj2day, while I appreciate your enthusiasm, all of the things you're bringing up I learned once I got out of elementary school level history. If this is how most history classes teach history, than I would say its more a testament to the failure of American public education than brainwashing.

Just out of curiosity, did you go to a public or a private school?

I think the fact you were taught these things the correct way from the get go is great! you must have had an awesome school system, or just lucky enough to get good teachers!

unfortunately, many of these myths are still taught in school. I'm guessing it may vary from state to state...

My High School biology class when I was in School taught creationism alongside Evolution.

fortunately I had a teacher that followed through on her obligations to teach these theories, but did not just blankly state sound bytes. She also gave weaknesses in either case and let us decide... (most teachers didn't at the time... they might now.)

Just for the record, I graduated in 1999... in case some people are speculating that I graduated in the stone age

Originally posted by nj2day
Just out of curiosity, did you go to a public or a private school?

I think the fact you were taught these things the correct way from the get go is great! you must have had an awesome school system, or just lucky enough to get good teachers!

unfortunately, many of these myths are still taught in school. I'm guessing it may vary from state to state...

My High School biology class when I was in School taught creationism alongside Evolution.

fortunately I had a teacher that followed through on her obligations to teach these theories, but did not just blankly state sound bytes. She also gave weaknesses in either case and let us decide... (most teachers didn't at the time... they might now.)

Just for the record, I graduated in 1999... in case some people are speculating that I graduated in the stone age

I went to an academically gifted public school. I would also call teaching creationism and evolution a failing of our public school system and if they taught it when you were there it was against the constitution. Also, upon reading these abit more I do hold some reservations.

1) Columbus left europe to prove that the earth was round, and was the first person to discover the new world.

Ok, this one is way off... Educated peoples since the time of the greeks had believed the Earth was round. This was true of columbus as well. The spherical shape of our world was well known by the time Columbus set sail.

Columbus is actually the about the 15th person to make it to the new world, give or take. There are some speculated groups of people that have some evidence, but not conclusive evidence... I will list them as follows, and will rank the quality of evidence from low to high:


some of these sources are less reputable than others. However, it is plainly obvious that Columbus did not discover North America.

why haven't you heard of these other people? Well, you have to reflect on what world view the textbooks and schools teach from. American History is remarkably "Euro-centric". meaning, it focuses only on the european point of view.

(Note, I deleted the listed instances cause I would have gone over the character limit)
If that's the explanation your teacher gave you then they deserve to be fired. Columbus did know well that the Earth was round. He set sail to find an alternate trade route to Asia, as in that time you had to sail around Africa to get to India. Most history classes these days at least mention the Vikings landing in New Foundland, as well as mention there is evidence of others. The reason Columbus is considered the "Discoverer" of the West is because he was the first to make sure people knew about it. As for US history classes being "Euro-centric", well lets see, we get almost all of our ideas on government, social values and structure, and culture from there. It only makes sense to study Europe the most in depth to see how our own history was shaped by those trends that were started in Europe.

Myth #2

Upon winning the Revolutionary War, the founding fathers set forth to the task of creating a democratic style of government.

False: The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the first document put into power before the Constitution. A confederate style of government is one in which the governments of all the states, formed into a union, but without a "federal" government ruling over them. The Articles of Confederation meant each state had its own autonomous government. This was in effect from 1781 until 1787, when it was replaced by the U.S. Constitution. However it was not fully ratified by the states until 1790.

How were these not democratic styles of government? Whether or not you have a strong central government is irelevant. The Articles was thrown out because it was totally ineffective at collecting taxes and raising an army. After incidents like Shay's Rebellion and with France down our necks to repay them for all the money they loaned us during the revolution a stronger federal government was needed for the country to survive.

Myth #3

Aside from the natives, white Europeans were the first permanent settlers of America.

False: in 1526 an expedition of 500 Spanish, and 100 African slaves Founded a town in South Carolina. However, disease and skirmishes with the natives reduced the Slave owners numbers to about 150-200. When the time was right, the Slaves revolted, and escaped into the countryside. The Spaniards, being ravaged by violence and plague, turned tail and set sail, leaving the slaves behind. The slaves then etched out a living with the natives on the new continent. The first permanent settlers were African Slaves.

The reason its omitted is usually because its dealing with one of numerous failed settlements before St.Augustine was settled some 40 years later. You could use a variant on that story for just about any of them.

Myth #4

Abraham Lincoln led the Union into the civil war to abolish slavery.

False: Abraham Lincoln had no desire to free the slaves, nor did he feel that African Americans were equal, or should be given the right to vote:

"I am not nor ever have been in favor of bringing about the social and political equality of the white and black races -- That I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes" --Abraham Lincoln, Charleston NC, Lincoln/Douglass debates

Lincoln entered into the Civil War solely to preserve the Union. To prevent the Confederates from succeeding. The Emancipation Proclamation? That was a political tactic employed by Lincoln to hopefully get the Slaves in the south to revolt, and join the Union army. After all, if the union won the war, the slaves would be free.

It might also be interesting to note, at the time of the civil war, the North had more slaves per capita than the south.

First part is correct, but the explanation that follows is awful

Very nice quote mine there of Lincoln. During the time of Lincoln-Douglas debates, the Republican party adopted a moderate position on slavery. It would allow the South to keep it but not allow it to spread to other territories. That quote was Lincoln appealing to Pro-slavery people, or in other words, appealing to the opposite demographic, you know something politicians have done since the beginning of time.

While Lincoln entered the Civil War to preserve the country, he grew to see it as a symbolic struggle against slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation was the culmination of that.

The last part is either absurd or a blatant lie. Of the 23 states that were part of the Union at the time of the Civil War, all but 5 had abolished slavery decades earlier.


[edit on 19-10-2008 by FSBlueApocalypse]

[edit on 19-10-2008 by FSBlueApocalypse]