Why does the US gloss over history?

Question

American history books whitewash bad things in the past, as if America has never done anything wrong. Does it aim to indoctrinate blind patriotism?

Answer 1

Well, there are two different reasons why this happens. One is the fact that because of the breadth of the subject, to give a general survey of the major events means that one cannot dwell on the details, and what usually ends up happening in giving the broadest strokes to an event, it is the negative aspects that are the easiest to trim away. It is like looking at a rather aerial photograph.... you can make out the major details of the landscape, but identifying a house or individual building is very difficult without an accompanying photo(or in the case of history, a more specialized course or work of scholarship) that allows you to see the area in greater detail.

Secondly, Winston Churchill put it best: "History is written by the victors" and usually the side that writes the history of an event depicts themselves in the best way possible. The devil is in the interpretation of events after all.

Answer 2

I have yet to read any history books that are used in the American educational system. I would if I had the opportunity.
Yes, I would look for bias, as it is fair to want as objectionable view as possible when it comes to the study of History - either one's own or World History. Objectionable is seldom easy. The results of "indocrination" can be found in the way people see their own history. For example - the Americans did NOT win the Great War by themselves. Even WITHOUT the American armies at Normandy, Russia would have conquered the German Third Reich. The American policing action in Vietnam was NOT due to any failure by the military or the Press, it was a mistake by the politicians. If there is any blind patriotism, it is the kind that says: "America never loses a war."

Answer 3

If you look at history books from other countries, they also tend to gloss over the bad things, or at the very least, give a positive spin to it in favor of their country. But I think your statement is a bit unfair and overly simplistic. Does your history book gloss over slavery, the slaughter of Native Americans, and/or try to legitimize it? Have you been taught that the founding fathers were right to deny women the right to vote? Does your history book teach that it was fine for Americans to discriminate against immigrants? Doesn't your history book provide both sides of the arguments regarding the war in Vietnam and the reasons for dropping a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945? In ther words, what specifically does your history book whitewash? I'd really like to know.

Answer 4

Well most books do not admit the bad things in the past, but as an American I recognize some of the bad things we have done. What we did to the Native Americans, the slaves, the A bomb, it's all pretty bad stuff.

Answer 5

YES, to an amazing extent. But like the Bible, those that have heard the same stories retold will assume that they're true.

You'll LOVE this book:
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
by James W. Loewen
http://www.uvm.edu/~jloewen/liesmyteachertoldme.php


"Textbooks almost never use the present to illuminate the past. They might ask students to learn about gender roles in the present, to prompt thinking about what women did and did not achieve in the suffrage movement or the more recent women's movement. They might ask students to do family budgets for a janitor and a stock broker, to prompt thinking about labor unions and social class in the past or present. They might, but they don't. The present is not a source of information for them. No wonder students find history "irrelevant" to their present lives.

Conversely, textbooks make no real use of the past to illuminate the present. The present seems not to be problematic to them. They portray history as a simple-minded morality play. "Be a good citizen" is the message they extract from the past for the present. "You have a proud heritage. Be all that you can be. After all, look at what the United States has done." While there is nothing wrong with optimism, it does become something of a burden for students of color, children of working class parents, girls who notice an absence of women who made history, or any group that has not already been outstandingly successful. The optimistic textbook approach denies any understanding of failure other than blaming the victim. No wonder children of color are alienated. Even for male children of affluent white families, bland optimism gets pretty boring after eight hundred pages.

These textbooks in American history stand in sharp contrast to the rest of our schooling. Why are they so bad? Nationalism is one of the culprits. Their contents are muddled by the conflicting desires to promote inquiry and indoctrinate blind patriotism. "Take a look in your history book, and you'll see why we should be proud," goes an anthem often sung by high school glee clubs, but we need not even take a look inside. The difference begins with their titles: The Great Republic, The American Way, Land of Promise, Rise of the American Nation. Such titles differ from all other textbooks students read in high school or college. Chemistry books are called Chemistry or Principles of Chemistry, not Rise of the Molecule. Even literature collections are likely to be titled Readings in American Literature. Not most history books. And you can tell these books from their covers, graced with American flags, eagles, and the Statue of Liberty. "


http://www.uvm.edu/~jloewen/content.php?file=liesmyteachertoldme-introduction.html

Answer 6

You're asking a non-question. In your inquiry, you've already stated what you believe, which besides being a complete falsehood, belies your motivation. In fact, most history plays up our historical oppression of Indians, Blacks, Hispanics, and the general "evil" of the white man. If anything, our indoctrination is in the other direction, painting our collective history to be oppressive. This helps in the justification of ideas of socialism under the guise of equality, because if we ever actually knew our constitution or founding documents well, we might see that the left wing garbage we live with was never supposed to be, and that freedom is our actual birthright. But nice try on slipping your opinions across as a legitimate question instead of a loaded one with predrawn conclusions. You didn't want an answer, you wanted kudos from fellow socialists.

Answer 7

People often want justice (hard light) for the failures of others and mercy (soft fuzzy light) for their own failures. Nations are collections of people.

The US is just the biggest A**hole right now not the only one.

Answer 8

Textbook writers are so scared of being politically incorrect and offending someone, they don't tell the real story.

Ya wouldn't wanna get sued now, would ya?

Answer 9

unfortunately, not revealing all the truths of a particular event is not limited to the united states. it is common for all countries to use "cover-up" for events in their history.
it is not a way to promote patriotism; simply, no one wants to hear bad news again, would you?