More silliness about history
Some "scholars" are arguing with the College Board's requirements for an AP history course in high school. College Board is a monopoly accrediting agency, so its requirements have some force.

First, it's worth emphasizing that AP courses are sort of pre-professional, so this isn't an argument about what normal kids should learn. This is about the kids who intend to work as historians or similar occupations.** With that in mind, the College Board seems appropriately aimed and remarkably realistic about some subjects.....

In U.S. history, arguments about causation are similar to those in other histories or subdisciplines. For example, an effective analysis of the significance of the Civil War might consider both long-term and proximate causes as well as short- and longterm effects. So, discussing the long-term impact of growing economic divergence between the North and South could be weighed against the relatively short-term Congressional gridlock leading up to the outbreak of hostilities.

Can't argue with that. Madman Lincoln was primarily serving economic forces. He wanted to eliminate the Southern version of agrarian slavery so Northern industrial slavery would reign supreme. He succeeded in destroying the country but didn't succeed in his economic goal. The Southern version simply switched to a system that was even harder on blacks, who lost their old-age security and gained nothing in return. Poor Southerners of both colors didn't actually join Northern industry until Ford and FDR made the Northern version more 'agrarian', with more security for loyal workers. So the Southern version ultimately won, and blacks won as well.

But the College Board is ferociously closed-minded on religious subjects:

Citing multiple contributing causes may also provide students with more compelling evidence to support larger investigations than focusing on a single cause. For example, teachers can explore the roots of the modern environmental movement in the Progressive Era and the New Deal, as well as debate underlying and proximate causes of environmental catastrophes arising from pesticide use and offshore oil drilling.

Nothing about the benefits of pesticide use (conquering disease and termites). Nothing about the benefits of offshore oil drilling (economic growth and transportation.) It's all catastrophe to a Gaian.

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Well then, what are the conservative "scholars" complaining about?

The new framework is organized around such abstractions as “identity,” “peopling,” “work, exchange, and technology,” and “human geography” while downplaying essential subjects, such as the sources, meaning, and development of America’s ideals and political institutions, notably the Constitution. Elections, wars, diplomacy, inventions, discoveries—all these formerly central subjects tend to dissolve into the vagaries of identity-group conflict.

That's because identity groups ARE the only thing that matters. The "sources, meaning and development" of our "political institutions" are ethnic groups and ethnic power. And the Constitution? What the fuck is that? When black-robed Satans cite the "Constitution", they mean exactly one thing. One sentence. "Kill the innocent and free the guilty." You may delusionally believe the Constitution says something else, but you're wrong.

Mao had only 1/3 of the story with "Power flows from the barrel of a gun." A more complete statement would be "Power flows from bullets, bucks and blackmail." Different identity groups are adept at using different power sources.

Bullets: The FBI always responds to bullets. In the '40s and '50s when Italian gangs had the bullets, FBI served the interests of Italian gangs. Now black and Mexican gangs have the bullets, so FBI works for black and Mexican gangs.

Bucks: State governments mainly respond to bucks. In a few states Oil has the bucks, so Oil makes the rules. Oil is mostly white except in Okla where Oil is at least partly Cherokee. In most modern states the casinos have the bucks. Casinos are the main buck weapon of identity groups. Where Italian casinos dominate, the state defends the interests of Italians. Where Injun casinos, the state serves Injuns. In NY where the Jew casino dominates, the state serves Jews.

Blackmail: (1) At the national level, foreign policy serves Saudi and Israel because Saudi and Israel are willing to use blackmail. Saudi's blackmail is monetary. You fight our wars or we'll turn off the Oil. Israel's is monetary and personal. You fight our wars or we'll call you anti-Semitic and stop funding your politics. (2) Economic policy serves Jews; see previous sentence. (3) In the culture wars, homosexuals are experts at personal blackmail, so the government's culture policy strictly serves homosexual interests.

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** Stupid linguistic footnote. "Work as historians or similar occupations" is clumsy because the word history is unique. In most occupations what you do for a living and the material you work on are distinct words. When you study cooking, you're working on food. When you study auto mechanics, you're working on cars. When you study math, you're working on numbers. But when you study history, you're working on history. The course of events is called history, and the process of analyzing the course of events is also called history. The term historiography, which should have meant the process of analyzing the course of events, instead means the process of analyzing the process of analyzing the course of events. Absurd.

In those other disciplines the sentence could be recast as something like "Work in auto mechanics or related fields" but you can't do that with history. "Work in history" sounds like you've steered your Tardis into the past and worked there/then.

Labels: Carbon Cult, Experiential education

  ¶ 4:04 AM