>A nation defined by blood and soil—built around a shared religion or ethnicity—can survive divergent narratives.
I beg your pardon?
angry-mustache on
Submission Statement: Yoni Appelbaum talks about the role that the “founding myth” plays for state cohesion for a country that is not a nation state (the United States). The reaction to the civic schism has resulted in competing projects, with the right starting a project to create a de facto nation for the US (“Heritage Americans”), and the left defining the country by it’s past sins. In their enthusiasm to push the boundaries on scholarship, Academia has made their position untenable for mainstream Americans and ceded the narrative to “pop historians”. At the same time, social studies classes have been repeatedly cut and de-emphasized as schools shifted resources to comply with math/English only testing standards.
SeaSlice6646 on
Reading is for nerds.
The Founders and Jesus were Paleo-Reactionaries!
I know so because I am one, and obviously they would agree with me.
bread_engine on
Why should it be the job of schools and universities to do (historical) storytelling?
Approximation_Doctor on
I mean, I genuinely can’t think of anything that everyone in America would agree about anymore. Even fundamental things like “preventing diseases” or “it is preferable to breathe clean air” are controversial now, which may be a first as far as living organisms go.
So it’s no surprise that there’s no consensus on whether any given piece of history is good.
Flat_Sail_7985 on
I generally find this article rather infuriating.
The author seems to outright just buy that the nation was founded by a singular group with a singular group in mind and largely buys the written history as fact of the matter: “*But throughout the 19th century and well into the 20th, a simplistic patriotic narrative prevailed. “Providence designed that on this continent should be seen an example of democratic government”*
I have a big feeling this author would see a 1936 Nazi Germany history textbook where it mentions stuff like “The blood of the German Volk has always been craving for a new Reich, a new homeland free of foreign influence that has long plagued them” and go “splendid!”
southbysoutheast94 on
>Formula 1 race in Washington, D.C
It’s Indycar. Sloppy proofreading.
fuggitdude22 on
>The United States was built on racism and genocide, it contends, a settler-colonial nation founded in white supremacy, irredeemably illiberal and oppressive.
This is unfortunately not unique at all. There are countless countries founded on ethnic cleansing and chauvinism. Turkey (Pontic Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians), Israel (Palestinians), Pakistan (Hindus), Russia (Tatars, Chechens, Circassians), Ukraine (Poles and Jews in Volynhia and Galicia) and etc.
However, this doesn’t mean that the United States should remain chained to that. As Hegel iterated, progress is hardly ever linear. It comes in boom and bust cycles. With Trump in the White House, I can understand the pessimism but I still have faith.
At the end of the day, we have no control over what people did years ago. We can only learn from their mistakes and set the groundwork for a better future for the upcoming generations.
8 Comments
>A nation defined by blood and soil—built around a shared religion or ethnicity—can survive divergent narratives.
I beg your pardon?
Submission Statement: Yoni Appelbaum talks about the role that the “founding myth” plays for state cohesion for a country that is not a nation state (the United States). The reaction to the civic schism has resulted in competing projects, with the right starting a project to create a de facto nation for the US (“Heritage Americans”), and the left defining the country by it’s past sins. In their enthusiasm to push the boundaries on scholarship, Academia has made their position untenable for mainstream Americans and ceded the narrative to “pop historians”. At the same time, social studies classes have been repeatedly cut and de-emphasized as schools shifted resources to comply with math/English only testing standards.
Reading is for nerds.
The Founders and Jesus were Paleo-Reactionaries!
I know so because I am one, and obviously they would agree with me.
Why should it be the job of schools and universities to do (historical) storytelling?
I mean, I genuinely can’t think of anything that everyone in America would agree about anymore. Even fundamental things like “preventing diseases” or “it is preferable to breathe clean air” are controversial now, which may be a first as far as living organisms go.
So it’s no surprise that there’s no consensus on whether any given piece of history is good.
I generally find this article rather infuriating.
The author seems to outright just buy that the nation was founded by a singular group with a singular group in mind and largely buys the written history as fact of the matter: “*But throughout the 19th century and well into the 20th, a simplistic patriotic narrative prevailed. “Providence designed that on this continent should be seen an example of democratic government”*
I have a big feeling this author would see a 1936 Nazi Germany history textbook where it mentions stuff like “The blood of the German Volk has always been craving for a new Reich, a new homeland free of foreign influence that has long plagued them” and go “splendid!”
>Formula 1 race in Washington, D.C
It’s Indycar. Sloppy proofreading.
>The United States was built on racism and genocide, it contends, a settler-colonial nation founded in white supremacy, irredeemably illiberal and oppressive.
This is unfortunately not unique at all. There are countless countries founded on ethnic cleansing and chauvinism. Turkey (Pontic Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians), Israel (Palestinians), Pakistan (Hindus), Russia (Tatars, Chechens, Circassians), Ukraine (Poles and Jews in Volynhia and Galicia) and etc.
However, this doesn’t mean that the United States should remain chained to that. As Hegel iterated, progress is hardly ever linear. It comes in boom and bust cycles. With Trump in the White House, I can understand the pessimism but I still have faith.
At the end of the day, we have no control over what people did years ago. We can only learn from their mistakes and set the groundwork for a better future for the upcoming generations.