5 ms·

This guy was _the shit_. I read Lies My Teacher Told Me many moons ago, and it was great because it was so eye-opening, an easy read, and the guy the just seem

This guy was _the shit_. I read Lies My Teacher Told Me many moons ago, and it was great because it was so eye-opening, an easy read, and the guy the just seemed like a real one. He was in the early battles against the white supremacist texas education officials.

dredmorbius 5y ago
My experience was similar. There were definitely aspects of the history which were somewhat familiar to me. The details, however, really fleshed it out. What was entertaining / illuminating was asking my more-aware American friends questions based on the book, and seeing what they were, or were not, aware of. Helen Keller's an interesting example to use, because she's taught virtually universally in primary school as a hero of the disability-rights movement: she overcame deafness and blindess to become an author and speaker, schools and childrens' books teach ... ... but not what she spoke and wrote about. Which tends not to fit into the public-school curriculum as well. (Though perhaps its one of those submarine lessons, a seed planted to emerge later.) I've had a lot of fun asking questions about that, watching peoople look up the story, and minds open. (Usually.) Loewen was an absolute hero. His passing is sad, his gifts are greatly appreciated.
- taeric 5y ago
  This sparks some interest in me, as I don't see what is surprising about the things she spoke about. Why/how are folks surprised? They expected more racism?
  - jchallis 5y ago
    I grew up in the twilight of the Cold War and there was definitely a lot of side eye thrown at socialists, labor agitators and pacifists of all kinds. I did have one teacher who proudly shared Helen Keller’s letter to the students who burned her books in Nazi Germany. —— To the student body of Germany: History has taught you nothing if you think you can kill ideas. Tyrants have tried to do that often before, and the ideas have risen up in their might and destroyed them. You can burn my books and the books of the best minds in Europe, but the ideas in them have seeped through a million channels and will continue to quicken other minds. I gave all the royalties of my books for all time to the German soldiers blinded in the World War with no thought in my heart but love and compassion for the German people. I acknowledge the grievous complications that have led to your intolerance; all the more do I deplore the injustice and unwisdom of passing on to unborn generations the stigma of your deeds. Do not imagine that your barbarities to the Jews are unknown here. God sleepeth not, and He will visit His judgment upon you. Better were it for you to have a mill-stone hung around your neck and sink into the sea than to be hated and despised of all men. https://www.openculture.com/2017/05/helen-keller-writes-a-letter-to-nazi-students-before-they-burn-her-book-history-has-taught-you-nothing-if-you-think-you-can-kill-ideas-1933.html https://www.openculture.com/2017/05/helen-keller-writes-a-le...
    - dredmorbius 5y ago
      This, yes. As a broader concept, this is also an excellent lesson in recognising a missing message. If something is talked about and praised, but always left confusingly vague ... either the speaker is hiding something, or they're aware that they cannot directly mention the subject or events. Either way, it's an invitation to do some digging. Sometimes you find a Helen Keller. Sometimes you find a Samuel F. B. Morse.
      - Clewza313 5y ago
        For other HN readers who weren't aware (I wasn't), Morse was rabidly anti-Catholic and pro-slavery.
        dredmorbius 5y ago
        Quiet, yes. Foreign conspiracy against the liberties of the United States https://archive.org/details/foreignconspiracy00mors https://archive.org/details/foreignconspiracy00mors
        dredmorbius 5y ago
        Erm, Quite.
  - watwut 5y ago
    She was a communist. That is why her ideology is not written about and why people are surprised. They want to teach nice parts of her and dont want to teach off-putting ideas of her. That is the whole point of that chapter in his book.
    - taeric 5y ago
      I guess this one surprises me in how unsurprising that seems to be. (Note, I think she was more socialist than communist, right?) Her life seems a clear case of outstanding achievement that was only possible with outstanding support.
- coliveira 5y ago
  Similar to MLK. Most people seem to ignore that he wrote several books, and most of his books are about overcoming the white oppression and promoting socialism. It is hard to see these books even in bookstores.
dylan604 5y ago
>He was in the early battles against the white supremacist texas education officials. I find this interesting as I received my education from a texas public school system. It was not a horrible school as it offered AP courses and even started a CompSci class type class my senior year. I focused my energy in math/sciences, and coasted in history/literature. However, as an adult, I'm realizing that the history that was taught definitely left a lot of details out. One thing that I realized was how European focused the history of WWII was, and the Pacific conflict was all focused on the "big ones". A little on Midway, but clearly it was focused on US involvement. There was nothing on what Japan was doing in China, and very little on what Stalin was doing in Russia. It wasn't until I got to my first few history courses in college that I realized how much of the Civil War was not taught. Go figure from a Texas view point I guess. I had the same professor for the 2 classes I took because I liked how he taught the first class, but then heard from other older students that he was pretty famous for knowing there were blank spots in the average public school curriculums.

dredmorbius 5y ago

My experience was similar. There were definitely aspects of the history which were somewhat familiar to me. The details, however, really fleshed it out. What was entertaining / illuminating was asking my more-aware American friends questions based on the book, and seeing what they were, or were not, aware of. Helen Keller's an interesting example to use, because she's taught virtually universally in primary school as a hero of the disability-rights movement: she overcame deafness and blindess to become an author and speaker, schools and childrens' books teach ... ... but not what she spoke and wrote about. Which tends not to fit into the public-school curriculum as well. (Though perhaps its one of those submarine lessons, a seed planted to emerge later.) I've had a lot of fun asking questions about that, watching peoople look up the story, and minds open. (Usually.) Loewen was an absolute hero. His passing is sad, his gifts are greatly appreciated.

taeric 5y ago
This sparks some interest in me, as I don't see what is surprising about the things she spoke about. Why/how are folks surprised? They expected more racism?
- jchallis 5y ago
  I grew up in the twilight of the Cold War and there was definitely a lot of side eye thrown at socialists, labor agitators and pacifists of all kinds. I did have one teacher who proudly shared Helen Keller’s letter to the students who burned her books in Nazi Germany. —— To the student body of Germany: History has taught you nothing if you think you can kill ideas. Tyrants have tried to do that often before, and the ideas have risen up in their might and destroyed them. You can burn my books and the books of the best minds in Europe, but the ideas in them have seeped through a million channels and will continue to quicken other minds. I gave all the royalties of my books for all time to the German soldiers blinded in the World War with no thought in my heart but love and compassion for the German people. I acknowledge the grievous complications that have led to your intolerance; all the more do I deplore the injustice and unwisdom of passing on to unborn generations the stigma of your deeds. Do not imagine that your barbarities to the Jews are unknown here. God sleepeth not, and He will visit His judgment upon you. Better were it for you to have a mill-stone hung around your neck and sink into the sea than to be hated and despised of all men. https://www.openculture.com/2017/05/helen-keller-writes-a-letter-to-nazi-students-before-they-burn-her-book-history-has-taught-you-nothing-if-you-think-you-can-kill-ideas-1933.html https://www.openculture.com/2017/05/helen-keller-writes-a-le...
  - dredmorbius 5y ago
    This, yes. As a broader concept, this is also an excellent lesson in recognising a missing message. If something is talked about and praised, but always left confusingly vague ... either the speaker is hiding something, or they're aware that they cannot directly mention the subject or events. Either way, it's an invitation to do some digging. Sometimes you find a Helen Keller. Sometimes you find a Samuel F. B. Morse.
    - Clewza313 5y ago
      For other HN readers who weren't aware (I wasn't), Morse was rabidly anti-Catholic and pro-slavery.
      - dredmorbius 5y ago
        Quiet, yes. Foreign conspiracy against the liberties of the United States https://archive.org/details/foreignconspiracy00mors https://archive.org/details/foreignconspiracy00mors
        dredmorbius 5y ago
        Erm, Quite.
- watwut 5y ago
  She was a communist. That is why her ideology is not written about and why people are surprised. They want to teach nice parts of her and dont want to teach off-putting ideas of her. That is the whole point of that chapter in his book.
  - taeric 5y ago
    I guess this one surprises me in how unsurprising that seems to be. (Note, I think she was more socialist than communist, right?) Her life seems a clear case of outstanding achievement that was only possible with outstanding support.
coliveira 5y ago
Similar to MLK. Most people seem to ignore that he wrote several books, and most of his books are about overcoming the white oppression and promoting socialism. It is hard to see these books even in bookstores.

dylan604 5y ago

>He was in the early battles against the white supremacist texas education officials. I find this interesting as I received my education from a texas public school system. It was not a horrible school as it offered AP courses and even started a CompSci class type class my senior year. I focused my energy in math/sciences, and coasted in history/literature. However, as an adult, I'm realizing that the history that was taught definitely left a lot of details out. One thing that I realized was how European focused the history of WWII was, and the Pacific conflict was all focused on the "big ones". A little on Midway, but clearly it was focused on US involvement. There was nothing on what Japan was doing in China, and very little on what Stalin was doing in Russia. It wasn't until I got to my first few history courses in college that I realized how much of the Civil War was not taught. Go figure from a Texas view point I guess. I had the same professor for the 2 classes I took because I liked how he taught the first class, but then heard from other older students that he was pretty famous for knowing there were blank spots in the average public school curriculums.