This post is serious stuff about my history feelings.
I just posted this on twitter, but I'm going to post it here in a little bit of expanded form, and I'll probably post it on my Tumblr too, because it is something that's very important to me and I want to talk about it, Swaim it.
The fact that so many Americans, on all sides of politics, have such a terrible, misguided or just plain incorrect view of our Founding Generation and who each of them were as people is really, really swaiming depressing. That these people are so willing to trot out facts that are blurry or just plain incorrect, to use quotes out of context to propel their own personal agendas, that they are so willing to use these amazing men and women as nothing more than mere props while they ignore their incredible, fascinating, complicated stories because they are sometimes 'inconvient' to the narrative that they are trying to present to the American public just makes me incredibly and deeply sad.
I want everyone to just stop for a little bit and read some books about them all; read every book about any of them that you can get your hands on, so that you know as much as you possibly can. And then we can stop using them as props, because I think that one thing we can all definitely agree on is that they deserve much better than that, that they deserve the absolute best we can give them.
I love the Founding Generation, and I'm fascinated by them, and I think that what they accomplished is one of the great, monumental moments in human history, and that story is more than an easy place to find quips and quotes to back up whatever argument you are choosing to make that day, regardless of context or original intent. If you're going to use them as examples, know the people you're using as examples, Please God.
I just have a lot of feelings about this, about history being ignored and then misused as though it is something not worth our love, our faith and our devotion (I'm protective of history like a mother bear). And the Founders get hit with it a lot because what they did was so epic, that it seems much, much simpler to just use it without trying to understand the epic scale of what was accomplished, and the huge, complicated, fascinating and at times frustrating story of how it was accomplished. They understood that this was their legacy and their challenge to future generations, and that it opened them up to the kind of scrutiny that most of us can only imagine. Those men and women understood that the blemishes would be just as well scoured as the triumphs, and then they Swaiming did it anyway.
They deserve to be remembered properly and fully, whether you choose to love them or hate them, and they should be more than just props of empty political rhetoric.
Think about how masterfull the Declaration and the Constitution are. They said, "Here's our best. All that we ask is that you give yours in return." How amazing is that?
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Okay, end tonight's history speech. There will probably be more of these to come in the next few days, because the election is making me feel all sorts of things about history and I want to talk about them, so I will.
The fact that so many Americans, on all sides of politics, have such a terrible, misguided or just plain incorrect view of our Founding Generation and who each of them were as people is really, really swaiming depressing. That these people are so willing to trot out facts that are blurry or just plain incorrect, to use quotes out of context to propel their own personal agendas, that they are so willing to use these amazing men and women as nothing more than mere props while they ignore their incredible, fascinating, complicated stories because they are sometimes 'inconvient' to the narrative that they are trying to present to the American public just makes me incredibly and deeply sad.
I want everyone to just stop for a little bit and read some books about them all; read every book about any of them that you can get your hands on, so that you know as much as you possibly can. And then we can stop using them as props, because I think that one thing we can all definitely agree on is that they deserve much better than that, that they deserve the absolute best we can give them.
I love the Founding Generation, and I'm fascinated by them, and I think that what they accomplished is one of the great, monumental moments in human history, and that story is more than an easy place to find quips and quotes to back up whatever argument you are choosing to make that day, regardless of context or original intent. If you're going to use them as examples, know the people you're using as examples, Please God.
I just have a lot of feelings about this, about history being ignored and then misused as though it is something not worth our love, our faith and our devotion (I'm protective of history like a mother bear). And the Founders get hit with it a lot because what they did was so epic, that it seems much, much simpler to just use it without trying to understand the epic scale of what was accomplished, and the huge, complicated, fascinating and at times frustrating story of how it was accomplished. They understood that this was their legacy and their challenge to future generations, and that it opened them up to the kind of scrutiny that most of us can only imagine. Those men and women understood that the blemishes would be just as well scoured as the triumphs, and then they Swaiming did it anyway.
They deserve to be remembered properly and fully, whether you choose to love them or hate them, and they should be more than just props of empty political rhetoric.
Think about how masterfull the Declaration and the Constitution are. They said, "Here's our best. All that we ask is that you give yours in return." How amazing is that?
---
Okay, end tonight's history speech. There will probably be more of these to come in the next few days, because the election is making me feel all sorts of things about history and I want to talk about them, so I will.