Procrustean History: Obama Manipulates the Past to Fit the Narrative
Sorry, DavidN. I can see where the sentiment comes from, but it is sentiment.
The last time I taught, the institution expected me to instruct from a textbook that deliberately summarized the entire pre-9/11 Islamic/European conflict (entire, as in 500 – 2001) as an example of Islamic tolerance and multiculturalism confronting “anxious” Christianity and Judiasm, which is, of course, insane. In other words, they wanted me to tell a lie to my students, a specifically anti-Western, anti-Christian, anti-Jewish lie. It was there in the textbook, and with the exception of my class, the other students were taught this silly and transparent lie.
Instead of being taught actual history.
Instead of being taught anything at all, frankly, because this wasn’t just what they wanted me to teach: this was all that they wanted me to teach.
This is how Obama speaks about European history. It’s bluntly terrifying. It’s a fantasy. Better to say nothing than to lie. Better yet that he should close his eyes, summon some of the apparently selective courage he showed when opposing racial apartheid from the comfort of Harvard, and apply the same American ethical and moral standards to the human rights of women in the Middle East.
