December 9, 2012 - 12:22 am
On this week’s Poliwood, Lionel Chetwynd and I speak with historian and PJ Media Columnist Ron Radosh to discuss the historical accuracy of Oliver Stone’s “Secret History of America” series airing on Showtime. Find out why we think this series will misinform an entire generation of Americans.
PJTV subscribers click here; an embeddable YouTube version is also available.
It seems that Stalin’s naivete in regards to Hitler is further reinforced by his reluctance to order a counter attack until a full 8 hours after Barbarossa began. Attempting to paint the “Man of Steel” as a peace-loving pacifist is like claiming that the Holocaust was really just a massive outbreak of typhoid. Pull your head out of it America, there are no heroes to be found in communism.
You are quite correct but the Marxists will create them anyway because they need a path to power and then must maintain it.
The truth and facts are necessarily killed off in their efforts or they will not succeed. Later or perhaps sooner, they will kill off much more than that. It is their way.
“Attempting to paint the “Man of Steel” as a peace-loving pacifist is like claiming that the Holocaust was really just a massive outbreak of typhoid.”
Excellent! Not only was he no pacifist, he may have been responsible for even more murders than Hitler, albeit over a longer period of time. Not many people have heard of the Crimean Tartars, unfortunately. The idiocy people choose to believe is just amazing.
Don’t forget that the the British Empire tried the bigger hammer approach to Crimea, as well. It’s been a trouble spot, off and on, for centuries.
Like the Balkans, they can’t govern themselves, but no one else can govern them, either.
Catalonia, Kurds, etc…
They all want their freedom, but their version of freedom usually involves constant civl war…and causing trouble for all of their neighbors.
iow, I’m having trouble holding that one against Stalin when Britan did the exact same thing to Crimea and the Kurds. When Spain did the same thing to Catalonia… When we bombed the wrong side (christians fighting Islamist militants) and killed civilians in the Balkans, as well.
No, I don’t think Stalin was some kind of hero. He was a scary S.O.B. But if you’re using Crimea as an example, you gotta think about the history of Crimea.
Warren: you completely misrepresent the Crimean War and Stalin’s war against the Tatars in the Crimea. The British and the French had a war with Russia which was fought in the Crimean area of the Black Sea. They did not fight against the “Crimeans” or some such people. Stalin, on the other hand hated the Tatars, which were an ethnic group that lived mainly in the Crimea. He had many killed and exiled most of the others to Siberia, where many of these died. About 25 years ago the Ukrainian state welcomed the descendants of the original Tatar exiles back to their original homeland in the Crimea, even though the Ukraine had nothing to do with the original dispossession of these peoples. There are now about 200,000 new Ukrainian Tatar citizens living in the Crimea, mostly engaged in farming and producing some of the finest wines in the world.
We’re talking about the same Crimea that’s been Sunni Muslim for centuries, right? The Crimea that is always, or normally, taking every chance they can get to attack anyone who isn’t a muslim? The type of attacks that Crimea is known for, historically speaking? That Crimea?
‘Cause you seem to be talking about a Crimea from another universe.
Ted Z is correct. The point is not that it was about the Crimea. It was genocide against a specific ethnic group. That puts him in the same camp with Hitler.
So…the Muslim religion had nothing to do with either the Crimean War or with the Stalinist purges?
Gotchya.
O. Stone tarnishes CBS/Showtime? All this time I thought it was CBS/Showtime that were tarnishing the brand.
At any rate Stalin was a monster. He’s credited with killing between 800,000 to 10 million of his own countrymen depending on who you believe. Most historians settle on somewhere between 2-6 million which draws him even with Hitler if we are comparing body count. Even if the low-ball figure of 800,000 is the real body count attributable to Stalin buffing up his resume is like polishing a turd. It still stinks.
You really are remarkably conservative. ’800K to 10 million’ Stalin victims? You must only count the direct executions, and not the millions in Ukraine he starved, or the unknown millions who died of their slave work, pneumonia or disease in the Gulags over some 30 years.
You also apparently discount any estimates by the great Solzhenitsyn, who documented the whole gulag for the world to ignore. How few readers have even now read his superb three volume Gulag Archipelago – nothing to see here?
I wouldn’t be surprised to know that Mr. Putting and his KGB friends contributed financially to the making of this Hollywood garbage
http://www.sovietstory.com/about-the-film/
FDR got his way here in the USA using his charm and bullying those he could. In Stalin, he found himself up against one of the most evil, calculating, murderous tyrants of all time. Stalin knew of Roosevelt’s paralysis and deteriorating health and held their second conference at Yalta. Roosevelt was forced to endure a long car ride over bad roads and was worn out and exhausted by the time he arrived. Look at the photo taken there and you’ll see how fatigued FDR was!
Stalin calculated that, and it may the reason FDR handed Estern Europe to the Soviets.
Stalin also hated Jews, one of the reasons he purged them from government and assassinated Trotsky. He laughted about Hitler’s extermination camps, he ran his own; he just didn’t brag about them as the Nazi’s did.
Stalin may actually be the most ruthless monster in human history.
This is slightly askew of the topic — but relates to the terribly bad judgment of tv networks and producers. (Of course, as Roger said, it’s mainly the network’s responsibility that this misinformation is being spread to a generation which tends to rely on and trust TV for some kind of education about history.)
I’ve noticed a program called “American Greed.” — Don’t know what it covers, nor do I care. But the title is so demeaning to our nation. Of course, greed exists — and it’s a fair subject for TV — but the title implies that “greed” is a predominantly “American” phenomenon.
What other nation is so self-deprecating? Can you imagine a TV program in Japan titled “Japanese Greed”? Or in China titled “Chinese Greed” or “French Greed” ???
TV networks/producers — they’re going too far — hurting young people’s minds in a very permanent way. Why don’t they do a “special” on their own “TV Network Greed!”?
I have got to admit the only thing I learned in history class was that the Nazi’s were evil and America dropped a bomb on Japan for Pearl Harbor. That is basically it.
I was very interested in this show because I had no foundation for American or world history and had little to no understanding of the timeline or parties involved.
I was an above average student and went to a decent school. I am 27 years old and I watched the first episode with a 40 year old and it was 75% new information to both of us.
I didn’t know anything about Oliver Stone and was directed to this critique in my search for impartial review. I’ve got to say honestly I didn’t view the first two episodes of being “soviet sympathizing” or promoting communist values. I also heard in this video a few claims made for direct quotes from the episodes that I certainly never heard. I am even more frustrated now and I wonder which is worse: zero information or arguably bias information. There doesn’t seem to be any place to turn for people who would really like to gather information.