Let's say that the following article is 100% correct. Since I have not
had
the chance to read Zinn's "People's History" I cannot be sure, but the
critique sounds reasonable to me; I am well aware of Zinn's reputation
and essentially regard him as a total @$$.
However, exactly what good does it do to complain about Zinn if, and in
this case
it is abundantly true, someone can actually make something happen to
correct the problem but simply won't do anything at all?
One thing that is obvious, a book that sells over 2 million copies is a
profit making
enterprise. To fight Zinn the obvious solution is to replace his textbook
with
something better. Something clearly superior. But the WSJ can't be
bothered?
On what grounds? That is isn't profitable?
Sure, the WSJ itself won't be producing a textbook any time soon. That
isn't the idea.
But the WSJ surely has contacts at, say, Regnery, people who do know
experts
that could produce an actual competitor to Zinn's book. But there is no
reason
to think that any such thing will happen; as usual, everything else
is more important. The whole critique is useless.
These considerations lead to another : Radical Centrist writing should
always be,
in all cases where it is feasible, something that offers reasonable
solutions to
the problems it addresses.
That is, reasonable = viable.
Yes, if the population of the United States became 95% Christian a whole
set
of problems might well vanish in an instant. But how likely is that? The
most
it is reasonable to hope for would be an increase in the number of
Christians
and, anyway, in my opinion an increase in Buddhists would be a fine thing
also,
or Jews or Zoroastrians, not just Christians. But I doubt if my heterodox
wishes
will be any more fulfilled than someone else's orthodox wishes. A
Comparative
Religion future of everyone who is a believing Christian or a sincere
Buddhist, etc.
is also something that can only partly come to pass.
Similarly, making assumptions based on the fact that some skills are true
for you, therefore everyone else can and should do likewise, may also
be unrealistic. You cannot say -and be taken seriously- that our problems
will all go away in due course because "everyone" already is tech savvy.
That simply is not true.
But, making such allowances, it ought to be an RC principle that good
writing should always include at least a suggestion or two that could
realistically solve any problem that is identified. It isn't enough
just to "bitch and moan," everyone needs at least some new ideas
for solving problems they may have -conceptions that
are just about impossible in many cases because of
how subjective we necessarily are again and again
throughout life.
Billy
=================================
Real Clear Politics / WSJ
August 12, 2013
David J. Bobb: Howard Zinn and
the Art of Anti-Americanism
Hollywood and the academic left have made the late Marxist historian more
influential than ever.
* DAVID J. BOBB
Upon the death of the Marxist-inspired historian Howard Zinn in 2010,
eulogies rang out from coast to coast calling him a heroic champion of the
unsung masses. In Indiana, then-Gov. Mitch Daniels refused to join the chorus
and instead sent emails to his staff wondering if the historian's
"execrable" books were being force-fed to Hoosier students. The recent
revelation of
these emails provoked an angry backlash.
High-school teachers within Zinn's vast network of admirers blogged their
disapproval of the governor's heresy, and leading professional
organizations of historians denounced the supposed threat to academic freedom.
At
Purdue University, where Mr. Daniels now serves as president, 90 faculty
members
hailed Zinn as a strong scholarly voice for the powerless and cast the
former governor as an enemy of free thought.
An activist historian relentlessly critical of alleged American
imperialism, Zinn managed during his lifetime to build an impressive empire
devoted
to the spread of his ideas. Even after his death, a sprawling network of
advocacy and educational groups has grown, giving his Marxist and
self-described "utopian" vision a wider audience than ever before.
Zinn's most influential work, "A People's History of the United States,"
was published in 1980 with an initial print run of 4,000 copies. His story
line appealed to young and old alike, with the unshaded good-guy, bad-guy
narrative capturing youthful imaginations, and his spirited takedown of "the
Man" reminding middle-aged hippies of happier days. Hollywood's love for
Zinn and a movie tribute to his work has made him even more mainstream. As his
acolytes have climbed the rungs of power, still seeking revolution, "A
People's History" has increased in popularity. To date, it has sold 2.2
million volumes, with more than half of those sales in the past decade.
In Zinn's telling, America is synonymous with brute domination that goes
back to Christopher Columbus. "The American system," he writes in "A
People's History," is "the most ingenious system of control in world history."
The
founding fathers were self-serving elitists defined by "guns and greed."
For Americans stuck in impoverished communities and failing schools,
Zinn's devotion to history as a "political act" can seem appealing. He names
villains (capitalists), condemns their misdeeds, and calls for action to
redistribute wealth so that, eventually, all of the following material goods
will be "free—to everyone: food, housing, health care, education,
transportation." The study of history, Zinn taught, demands this sort of social
justice.
Schools with social-justice instruction that draw explicitly on Zinn are
becoming more common. From the Social Justice Academy outside of San
Francisco to the four campuses of the Cesar Chavez Public Charter Schools for
Public Policy, in Washington, D.C., social-justice academies relate their
mission mainly in terms of ideological activism. At UCLA's Social Justice
Academy, a program for high-school juniors, the goal is that students will
"develop skills to take action that disrupts social justice injustices."
While social-justice instruction may sound to some like it might be suited
to conflict resolution, in practice it can end up creating more discord
than it resolves. Several years ago, the Ann Arbor, Mich., public schools
faced complaints from the parents of minority students that the American
history curriculum was alienating their children. At a meeting of the
district's
social-studies department chairs, the superintendent thought that he had
discovered the cure for the divisions plaguing the school system. Holding up
a copy of "A People's History," he asked, "How many of you have heard of
Howard Zinn?" The chairwoman of the social studies department at the
district's largest school responded, "Oh, we're already using that."
Zinn's arguments tend to divide, not unite, embitter rather than heal. The
patron saint of Occupy Wall Street, Zinn left behind a legacy of
prepackaged answers for every problem—a methodology that progressive historian
Michael Kazin characterized as "better suited to a conspiracy-monger's website
than to a work of scholarship."
Yet despite the lack of hard evidence in three-plus decades that using "A
People's History" produces positive classroom results, a number of
well-coordinated groups recently have been set up to train teachers in the art
of
Zinn. Founded five years ago out of a partnership between Rethinking Schools
and Teaching for Change, the Zinn Education Project offers more than 100
lesson plans and teachers' guides to Zinn's books, among a variety of other
materials, including "Beyond Heroes and Holidays: A Practice Guide to K-12
Anti-Racist, Multicultural Education and Staff Development." Already, the
project claims to have enlisted 20,000 teachers in its efforts.
Before Zinn launched his own teaching career, he became a member of the
Communist Party in 1949 (according to FBI reports released three years ago),
and worked in various front groups in New York City. Having started his
academic career at Spelman College, Zinn spent the bulk of it at Boston
University, where on the last day before his retirement in 1988 he led his
students into the street to participate in a campus protest.
Today, Boston University hosts the Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture Series,
and New York University (Zinn's undergraduate alma mater) proudly houses his
academic papers. In 2004 Zinn was awarded an honorary doctorate by the
University of Havana, an occasion he took to excoriate the lack of academic
freedom in America. As recently as 2007, "A People's History" was even
required reading at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy for a class on "Leaders in
America."
Thanks in part to an endorsement from the character played by Matt Damon
in 1997's "Good Will Hunting," Zinn's magnum opus has also turned into a
multimedia juggernaut. Actor Ben Affleck (like Mr. Damon, a family friend of
Zinn's), and musicians Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Eddie
Vedder and John Legend all have publicly praised Zinn. A History Channel
documentary produced by Mr. Damon, "The People Speak," featured Hollywood
A-listers Morgan Freeman, Viggo Mortensen, Kerry Washington and others reading
from Zinn's books. There are "People's Histories" on topics including the
American Revolution, Civil War, Vietnam and even science. Zinn die-hards can
purchase a graphic novel, "A People's History of American Empire," while
kids can pick up a two-volume set, "A Young People's History of the United
States" (wall chart sold separately).
In 2005, as a guest on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," Zinn delivered
his standard wholesale condemnation of America. Surprised by the unrelenting
attack, host _Jon Stewart_
(http://topics.wsj.com/person/S/Jon-Stewart/7075) gave the historian an
opportunity to soften his criticism. "We have
made some improvements," the comedian asked, "in our barbarity over three
hundred years, I would say, no?" Zinn denied there was any improvement.
As classes resume again this fall, it is difficult not to think that
despite the late historian's popularity, our students deserve better than the
divisive pessimism of Howard Zinn.
--
--
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community
<[email protected]>
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism
Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
