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James Loewen spent two years at the Smithsonian Institution surveying twelve leading high school textbooks of American History. What he found was an embarrassing amalgam of bland optimism, blind patriotism, and misinformation pure and simple..."
"What passes for identity in America is a series of myths about one's heroic ancestors." -James Baldwin
"By idolizing those whom we honor, we do a disservice both to them and to ourselves...We fail to recognize that we could do likewise." - Charles V. Willie
One is astonished in the study of history at the recurrence of the idea that evil must be forgotten, distorted, skimmed over. We must not remember that Daniel Webster got drunk but only remember that he was a splendid constitutional lawyer. We must forget that George Washington was a slave owner...and simply remember the things that we regard as credible and inspiring. The difficulty, of course, with this philosophy is that history loses its value as an incentive and example; It paints perfect men and nobel intentions, but it does not tell the truth."
Originally posted by kro32
I'm taking history now in college and am fairly far into my degree and why people keep saying that the History channel is inaccurate just doesn't make sense.
I've seen very few shows that are factually incorrect and I usually have this channel on all day when i'm at home. Also if you read the credits for their programs you will notice that they have quite a list of historians and historical works they use for reference when creating these shows so they definetly do research.
The only times they really do what could be considered a mistake is when there is a historical event that there is not quantified proof of and they need to make educated guesses.
If somebody has examples of blatent historical facts they've gotten wrong i'm all ears.