Twenty years ago I would have laughed in your face if you had told me that I would spend the remainder of my life studying history. I hated history in school; the boring textbooks, the remembering of names and dates of certain events; it all seemed so useless to me at the time. The only history teacher I had who tried to make history fun was Jim Gross, my junior year U.S. History teacher; and I was too into drugs at the time to appreciate his efforts.
Merriam Webster’s online dictionary defines history as: a chronological record of significant events (such as those affecting a nation or institution) often including an explanation of their causes.
When I was making my way through the public indoctrination system called school, history leaned heavily towards the events and key people involved in those events, with only a slight emphasis on why those events happened.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about the study of history, it is this; the why is often more important than the what. What I mean by that is that it is all well and good to know that certain events happened, and who the key players were in those events; but it is why those events happened that is of much greater importance; and that is where our school systems fail us – they don’t go into any serious discussion as to why the events from our past happened; and if they do go into any detail, it is often biased, or flat out wrong.
In a way I can understand that to take 200 plus years of history and condense it into a textbook for students requires that the bare minimum be taught, but at the same time history should not be a one semester class taught to high school students; it should be something that is taught from the moment they begin their schooling.
I know I’ve used this quote before, but it is more relevant now than when I’ve used it in the past; so allow me to repeat it for you now: But every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country; he should lisp the praise of liberty, and of those illustrious heroes and statesmen, who have wrought a revolution in her favor.
A selection of essays, respecting the settlement and geography of America; the history of the late revolution and of the most remarkable characters and events that distinguished it, and a compendium of the principles of the federal and provincial governments, should be the principal school book in the United States. These are interesting objects to every man; they call home the minds of youth and fix them upon the interests of their own country, and they assist in forming attachments to it, as well as in enlarging the understanding. (Noah Webster, Essay on Education in America)
History, a true study of history that is, teaches us not only what happened, but how and why they happened. For instance, you might know that there was a revolution in America in 1776, but if you don’t know why that revolution happened, or the events leading up to it, your knowledge of it is incomplete, at best. A study of history, for it to have the desired result of teaching us about America’s past must, first and foremost, be honest and thorough. If you are unwilling to face the fact that your country is not perfect, that it has not made mistakes then you may as well admit that you see the world through rose colored glasses that filter out the bad things your country has done; and believe me, America has done a lot of bad things.
Take for instance the Civil War. People get all offended and butt hurt when they see someone display the Confederate Battle Flag; calling those who display it racist or prejudiced because they believe it represents slavery. This has led to the tearing down of monuments dedicated to heroes of the Confederacy; all because of the simple belief that people think the Civil War was fought only over the issue of whether to end or continue the practice of slavery.
That is what history text books teach people, and it is reinforced by the media and the politically correct members of society; but a study of history proves that the issue of slavery was not why the war was fought; it was fought over the question of whether or not the members of a compact, (the constitution), had the right to revoke their consent to being governed by the entity established by said constitution, and to resume their status as free and independent states.
Yes, slavery was an issue that led to the secession of the Southern States, and yes, slavery was an evil practice; but if slavery was so evil, why was it allowed under the constitution for almost 3/4 century? If slavery was so evil, why was Jefferson’s condemnation of it removed from the Declaration of Independence? If slavery was so evil, why is no mention made of the fortunes made off the slave trade by Northern shipping interests; particularly in the State of Rhode Island?
I’m not trying to make this about the Civil War; I’m only trying to show you that what you have been taught in school is, at best, incomplete; at worst, an outright fabrication of actual events. The problem I’ve found is that, once established, people’s opinions are difficult, if not downright impossible, to change; no matter how much evidence is provided which proves that their opinions are based upon lies.
If you ask me, any study of history should have one goal in mind; the pursuit of the truth. I think it says a lot about people how they react to the truth when it conflicts with their existing beliefs. Take for instance how people fervently stand behind candidates from the political party they most closely align themselves with, and how they condemn the actions of the opposing party, but turn a blind eye to the instances when those they elect are guilty of doing things that violate the constitution, or their rights.
Human beings are not perfect; we all have our flaws and our weaknesses. But when it comes to a study of history one has to take the facts from both sides of an issue and weigh them against each other to form an opinion regarding which side of an issue is more valid; more truthful. If you cannot reject opinions that the evidence proves are less valid than those you disagree with, then that says a lot about your intellectual integrity.
It is the love for the truth that has led me to conclude that, not only is our government bad, and that it is not worthy of my support, but that the document that established it, and the men who wrote that document, were bad as well. The evidence points to the truthfulness of that fact; the problem is that people who have been indoctrinated by the public school system believe saying things like that is unpatriotic; un-American; but like I said, the evidence clearly points to the truthfulness of the statement.
My study of history is not to use it to justify a particular belief; it is to arrive at the truth about an event, or period of time in our country’s history. My opinions and beliefs are based upon the evidence I encounter as I study, not the other way around. I think far too many people close their minds to any information that might threaten their beliefs; which is why the things I write are read by so few, while what I say in them is rejected by so many; because people do not have as great a love for the truth as I do.
The thing about history that some seem to have ignored is, it is made by men. If no men existed the history of the world would be pretty boring; the Earth existed; the plants grew; the sun shined, and the clouds dropped rain. See what I mean? It is men who make history; both good and bad. Hell, Hitler, Mao, and Stalin made history; but what they did wasn’t so good; was it?
If you read OUR history as a country you’ll come across the names of people who said certain things, or did others, that shaped this country into what it would become. How much do you know about the men whose names are mentioned? How much do you know about the lives of men like Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and George Washington?
You see, as individuals, we also have our own history, and it shapes us into who and what we become as adults. So a thorough study of history requires that one not only study the events that happened in our past, it also requires that one study the lives of the men who participated in those events to see what motivated them.
People tell me I write ‘interesting’ political articles. I find that to be an insult, if you want to know the truth of the matter. I don’t try to write political articles; as I do not participate in politics; not per se. I write historically based articles which try to prove that what people have been taught is, not always, the truth.
Numerous times in my own studies I have been forced to admit that the beliefs I’ve held were based upon faulty, or incomplete, information; and I’ve changed my beliefs accordingly so that they conform to the facts. That is what any person with intellectual integrity would do; but unfortunately, most people do not possess that quality it seems.
This may seem a bit different from my normal rants; I just wanted to explain what I do, and what motivates me. It also, in a roundabout way, explains why I don’t vote. I don’t vote, not because I think the quality of candidates sucks; I don’t vote because I think the nature of and purpose for which our government was established is not compatible with liberty and State sovereignty. I do not vote because I believe that our central government was born out of the lust and desires of power hungry men who sought to establish a system that would marry the coercive power of government to the interests of business, commerce and banking centers; and to hell with the rights of the people it supposedly derives its consent from!
Elections, internal scandals, impeachment hearings? They are all just circus sideshows designed to keep the people fighting amongst each other so that they will not focus their attention upon the fact that their government, as an entity given the power to tax and enact laws that deprive them of their rights and liberty, sucks; and it was designed that way from the get go.
That is where the facts have taken me, and if you had even an ounce of intellectual integrity you would also be asking yourself why you should continue to support this monster that denies you the God given rights to life, property and liberty. The only conclusion I can come to is that people are either stupid, flat out apathetic, or they actually like being slaves to a system that doesn’t give a damn about them.
In closing I’d like for you to read something rather lengthy that George Carlin once said during one of his comedy skits; as it hits closer to the truth than many are willing to admit. So without further ado, here are the words of George Carlin, may he rest in peace; oh, and excuse the language, but that’s just the way Carlin was:
Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice . . . you don’t. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own,… and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought, and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies, so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying . . . lobbying, to get what they want . . . Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I’ll tell you what they don’t want . . . they don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that . . . that doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests. That’s right. They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table and think about how badly they’re getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fuckin’ years ago. They don’t want that. You know what they want? They want obedient workers . . . Obedient workers, people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork. And just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it, and now they’re coming for your Social Security money. They want your fuckin’ retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street, and you know something? They’ll get it . . . they’ll get it all from you sooner or later cause they own this fuckin’ place. It’s a big ‘Club’ and you ain’t in it. You and I are not in the big ‘Club’. By the way, it’s the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long beating you over the head with their media telling you what to believe, what to think and what to buy. The table has tilted folks. The game is rigged, and nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care. Good honest hard-working people . . . white collar, blue collar, it doesn’t matter what color shirt you have on. Good honest hard-working people continue, these are people of modest means . . . continue to elect these rich cocksuckers who don’t give a fuck about you. They don’t give a fuck about you . . . they don’t give a fuck about you. They don’t care about you at all . . . at all . . . at all! And nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care. That’s what the owners count on. The fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick that’s being jammed up their assholes everyday, because the owners of this country know the truth. It’s called the American Dream, cause you have to be asleep to believe it . . .
February 26, 2020
~ The Author ~
Neal Ross Br’er Rabbit, Student of history, politics, patriot and staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment. Send all comments to: bonsai@syix.com.
If you liked de Rabbit’s latest column, maybe you’ll like his latest booklet: The Civil War: (The Truth You Have Not Been Told). Life continues to expand for this prolific writer and guardian of TRUE American history.