THE CIVIL WAR: THE TRUE STORY BOOK 2

Will Today's Activists Be Able To Make Robert E. Lee A Villain?

Will Today's Activists Be Able To Make Robert E. Lee A Villain?

By Gail Jarvis on Aug 13, 2015

Persons interviewed on those amusing and disturbing videos by satirist Mark Dice, were unaware of even basic facts of American history. They had to be told why the 4th of July was observed, and they couldn't identify the country we declared our independence from. Quite a few thought it was Mexico. One woman claimed that America gained its independence from the South in the Civil war. The interviewees didn't question the statement that John Wilkes Booth was one of our Founding Fathers. Some claimed that Abraham Lincoln wrote the Declaration of Independence, and it was issued in 1964, and some felt that the Bill of Rights should be repealed because it is "outdated and old-fashioned."

Sadly, these responses, although extreme, are not that uncommon. They are an indication of how outrageously uninformed some Americans are. And these clueless Americans represent a growing segment of the population – a segment that knows a lot about electronic devices and popular entertainment venues, but pathetically little about America.

Any Hollywood film adaptation of a popular novel is a good analogy for versions of history redesigned for the general public. To fit the time constraints of a film, the novel's plot is simplified; scenes shortened or omitted, and characters eliminated. For greater audience appeal, the story line is often altered, sometimes the ending is changed, and much of the film ends up on the cutting room floor. However, most individuals who have only seen the film, think that they fully understand the novel itself. Likewise, quite a few Americans have blithely accepted "one-sided and politicized" versions of our history.

Luckily, a growing number of complaints about "one-sided and politicized" interpretations are finally being heeded. College boards and some state commissions have revised textbooks and other educational materials in order to present a more balanced view of American history. The revisions are primarily a revival of accounts of history that were taught in prior generations, roughly before the 1960s, before multicultural values began replacing mainstream values.

Average Americans have neither the time nor the interest to delve deeply into accounts of history, and they rarely question the interpretations offered by politicians and activists. One illustration of selective history is the campaign to change the name of Robert E. Lee Elementary School in Long Beach, CA.

This school was founded in 1898, and has survived for almost 120 years. Those demanding that the school name be changed are opposed by a substantial segment of students, alumni, and citizens. Generations of Long Beach residents that have attended Robert E. Lee Elementary, have fond memories of their school days, and they have made it clear that they are not in favor of a politically correct name change. So, those who are demanding a new name for the school, have adopted the derisive tactic of denigrating Robert E. Lee personally.

Local assembly woman Lorena Gonzalez insisted that children shouldn't attend a school named after General Robert E. Lee. She stated: "They're going to a school that really is named after a guy who fought his own country to protect slavery." This sentiment was also expressed by activist Pedro Baez, who stated that Lee's name was "..an affront to people who fought and wanted to abolish slavery."

Recently revised textbooks have moved away from claiming that a "single issue", slavery, caused the war. They list other reasons in addition to slavery. Actually, the anti-slavery sentiment in the North in the mid-1800s was not widespread, and even those Northerners who opposed slavery were not willing to risk their lives on the battlefield to end it. Northerners were informed that they were fighting to preserve the Union. It is highly unlikely that most Northerners would have fought to prevent Southern planters from using slave labor. In fact, Northerners worried that an end to Southern slavery would cause an unwieldy mass migration of freed slaves into the North.