10 Lies about US history still taught in American schools

[@georgecatton]

I find the cherry tree one funny, being a brit, because in school we were actually taught that it was untrue as an example of historical myths

[@Luke-st8bc]

It's also kind of similar to the Isaac Newton gravity apple tree story which is also a myth

[@uingaeoc3905]

@@Luke-st8bc Hahahaha - you did not know Newton's Apple fell from Washington's Cherry Tree?

[@henryblunt8503]

​@@Luke-st8bcI think there's a bit more evidence for the apple story, as several of his acquaintances record that he told them that's where he got the idea from and why. Newton wasn't a very truthful man, and claimed others' work for his own so maybe he made it up to hide the identity of the real inventor. Short of that it's fairly credible. Didn't fall on his head though. That's been made up.

[@Michael_Brock]

UK here but I did hear about the Washington cherry tree myth (UK) in school. But maybe it was local, county Durham so Washington village was a few miles away. George Washington's father came from here.

[@itsgonnabeanaurfromme]

I find it stupid as a non-American. A kid being honest is supposedly okay but he effing chopped down a tree?

[@ninimeggie4771]

My HS history teacher taught us multiple lessons from the book "Lies my teacher told me" and really spent time breaking down a lot of the brainwashing done to us in elementary

[@nicolehughes7863]

I love when teachers out in that extra effort to actually inform their students like they should, instead of just regurgitating a state curriculum

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

You had a great teacher! Mine was very much along those lines, except she'd find "funny ha-ha" or "funny peculiar" bits of info to add to the point in time we were being taught so we'd find it interesting (always - top teacher ranking interesting), hilarious (often), and it helped the stuff we needed to remember to stick in our heads. Mrs Mainwaring, 40+ years on and I still love you to bits! (She was simply an awesome person in many ways.)

[@SeanSMST]

Watching this video and remembering the brainwashing done in american schools, I have to ask. Are the US really better or more 'free' than China in this way? Countries like China and NK teach that their first leader was the best and it was savagery before they came along, seems the same with US. China and NK are more similar to US than we think, just US became a superpower earlier and therefore seems more 'legitimate', at least that's how I'd describe the perception.

[@CaptHollister]

One of my favourite books.

[@crikeyscreates]

30 years ago i went to stay with a friend in US for thanksgiving. I was told very firmly by her white relatives that it was us British that killed off the native indigenous people. I do find some US views quite strange. I did point out that it was far more likely to have been their ancestors and not mine, as mine quite clearly had stayed in Britain.

[@LeSarthois]

Funny how some Americans are eager to claim their ancestry in some circumstances but not in others....

[@Scuzzlebutt142]

By all I can tell from talking to "average" Americans, they will do huge mental gymnastics to make sure in their mind, they are the "Good guys", where other peoples will acknowledge that historically their country did unpleasant things. Americans know that murder or genocide is wrong, so "the British" did it, not their ancestors.

[@wombatpandaa9774]

Oof. I can assure you, that's not a common sentiment among us Americans. Though unfortunately, we do have a knack for coming up with all sorts of nonsense to avoid having to reconcile with our mistakes or those of our ancestors.

[@AIHumanEquality]

Technically it was mostly the Spanish. Honestly the British and French were not that ruthless to the natives. They did oppress them to some degree but the biggest native murderers were Spanish and later the Americans during the revolt.

[@AIHumanEquality]

​@@Scuzzlebutt142In fairness that's more the fault of American culture than the individuals.

[@rgp1989]

the fact that the Liberty Bell cracked seems like a bad omen more than anything. If I was a proud American, I'd be trying to forget about it rather than making it a famous symbol

[@Draiscor]

Being from the UK, we're generally not taught to deify our previous leaders, nor that we're the greatest country or anything like that. For the most part, as far as I remember of school, most of our history lessons tend be more focussed on the errors our country has made in the past and how we moved forward from those. The way we're taught about the British Empire usually isn't about glorifying it either, I remember the teaching of the empire being generally of a more neutral stance

[@LabradorIndependent]

I seem to recall a lot of it being presented like "Was [insert historical figure] a good man?" Rather than spelling it out, the lessons left you to decide for yourself, but the evidence presented tended to make it clear that they weren't. That said, this was usually reserved for the likes of Oliver Cromwell or Henry VIII. You'd never hear a bad word about Churchill, for instance.

[@EmilyCheetham]

Yep plus we’re taught about the different monarchs who ruled and when.

[@myra0224]

Same here, and we're always ready for the tea on famous people including historical ones here in Belgium so we do know the worst of our kings as well (for example our first king not even wanting Belgium 😅)

[@Draiscor]

@LabradorIndependent I especially like that even with someone like Guy Fawkes, who's failure we have a public celebration for each year... I felt the teaching was pretty balanced, and it was up to us to decide if what he did was justified and if the punishment was reasonable

[@raystewart3648]

Funny how Americans are brainwashed to believe that their history, their place on this Earth has always been the better way.

[@meenal1139]

We have a show called Horrible Histories in the UK - it's really good at teaching kids that 'we had terrible people do terrible things' but using the power of storytelling and song.

[@klawypl]

most of kids nursery rimes and stories are actualy pretty aweful if you inspect them closer, and i dont mean it as they are bad, just about very shitty things that happend

[@ArrowOdenn]

Horrible Histories was after my time, is it something I should have on in the background sometime? I love Ghosts and know it's the same team.

[@miraculousmarauder244]

Dick Turpin is the perfect example of this. Horrible histories is a must watch

[@Christine-jg2ch]

⁠@@ArrowOdennHorrible Histories is definitely worth a watch. Be aware that some of the songs will be stuck in your head for days 😂 especially the Kings and Queens one

[@BooBaddyBig]

Horrible Histories is actually reckoned to be about the most accurate historical show on TV. They take a lot of pains to wear accurate clothing and have historians to fact check everything.

[@TheBreadthatcausedLesMis]

I remember the show horrible Histories breaking down a lot of myths taught in school such as in the song: It's not true. I feel Horrible Histories did a lot of deromanticising history like Dick Turpin, British empire etc.

[@eniej]

excuse me? they did quite the opposite in deromanticising Dick Turpin for 7yo me. I was in love

[@_AstaLily]

Yessss one of my fave shows as a kid

[@LunaBeth97]

Was gonna comment this myself! They had a whole song about things we were taught that weren't true!

[@eniej]

@@LunaBeth97 wait which one was this again?

[@LunaBeth97]

@@eniej I think it was called "it's not true" or something like that. They repeat that for the chorus at least 😂

[@robertnett9793]

History Channel - and it's editing is really the 'education' equivalent of rattling with the car keys in front of your infant.

[@evan]

it's just bland, corporate editing innit

[@Deathpunch93]

@@evanjust bcuz you live in the UK doesn’t mean you have to speak like that 💀

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

@@Deathpunch93 he can speak how he chooses, as can you and anyone else. He's having a bit of fun! Just because he's mimicking one area of the country (very few people - including Londoners - really speak the way Americans in particular think we do) doesn't make it offensive or anything. Chill!

[@AIHumanEquality]

​@@Deathpunch93Bruh I'm a Danish Canadian and use a mix of slang from America and England. Get over it.

[@Deathpunch93]

@@AIHumanEquality cry harder

[@LiqdPT]

7:26 listen to that one again. Delaware split off from PA just before the Declaration. So at the time of the Declaration, there was 13 colonies, but DE wasn't an "original colony"

[@evan]

So another "not quite" technicality

[@jbird4478]

@@evan Yes, and "actually" 13 colonies is taught everywhere insofar I know because it's "quite" true, actually.

[@alphamikeomega5728]

Wikipedia says that Delaware was a separate colony from 1701, but shared the same governor as Pennslyvania till 1776.

[@thatotherted3555]

@@alphamikeomega5728 Specifically that it had its own _legislature_ from 1701 on, in case anyone asks what the difference is. (I checked too.)

[@matthewfullerton1416]

The moral of the cherry tree story is "it's a lot easier to tell the truth when you're the one holding the axe"

[@thatotherted3555]

This is brilliant and I've screenshotted it for my collection

[@matthewfullerton1416]

@thatotherted3555 I believe it originated in a Terry Pratchett book but I honestly can't remember which one

[@thatotherted3555]

@@matthewfullerton1416 Oh that makes sense, thanks for letting me know.

[@rmamon2554]

😆😅🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😅😆😆😆 Priceless!!!

[@hughtube5154]

... and blisters on your palm from the handle.

[@kaiphoenix1109]

From what I am getting from this is that you guys really like your stories over what actually happened 😅

[@williambranch4283]

You don't tell naked truth to children. Most of the adults are still children. We can't even tell the truth about JFK.

[@TalesOfWar]

It sadly explains a lot.

[@batmanslarynx]

As a Brit, learning History in school was mainly about how terrible we were lol. We love self-deprecating in our country afterall. I do remember learning at around 12/13 years old how Independence Day was sort of celebrated on the wrong day. I also remember learning about the whole Paul Revere thing being nosense which is hilarious. This is basically a WatchMojo video if you were wondering why it is the way it is. They were obviously like; hey, they're popular, let's do our Top 10 videos like them!

[@roguechevelle]

As an American I would find self-deprecation of one's country and pointing out all our mistakes extremely refreshing. I like Evan was taught most of these myths as our actual history and since kindergarten our "founding fathers" are spoken about like they are deities who were complete geniuses. It really is a lot of self inflating propaganda. Also they really do speak about the war of independence like the Rebels are the good guy Jedi's and the Loyalist are the evil empire instead of people who just had different views or beliefs on what they wanted for this country, some were just trying to survive, and others bet on the side they thought would win not necessarily believing in one side or the other. Hindsight is a beautiful thing and I doubt if I had been in any of my ancestors shoes that I would have made the "right" call. You even see this thinking about the good or evil side whether it was unconsciously said or not on shows like "Finding Your Roots" where they delve into celebrity and important figures genealogy. The show does try hard to educate people better about the complexity of the past but the guests will often hold their breathe learning about their revolutionary ancestors but celebrate when they find out they were on the side of the rebels saying things "oh good we were on the right side" lol.

[@liukin95]

That's what I recall as well, although I dropped history in favour of Geography for GCSE. Like I remember learning about how bad living standards in the Victorian era were for regular people for example.

[@caitlin329]

That's interesting, in school I don't remember learning about much of our actual 'bad' bits. What particularly do you remember covering?

[@TalesOfWar]

@@roguechevelle There's a reason the Empire is mostly comprised of English folk. And I don't mean the totally practical reason that it was mostly shot in the UK lol.

[@ThePurpleCheesecakeZebra]

it was about how bad things where for us not how terrible we were. its very much a way of saying "things where bad in the past but look at now things are great" even though theyre not and there are still people alive who remember the atrocities committed by our late Queen by people in her name who have yet to been given justice

[@geekexmachina]

In the UK our history is so old that parts have fallen off, gotten lost, rotted away and pawned. We are usually taught that a lot of things probably happened but some things we cant be sure of, however we are proud of the richness and complexity of the story which we try not to leave out the grizzly bits.We have a lot of made up or partly made up figures who we dont entirely think are real like King Arthur and Robin Hood which may have been one or many people. There are historical controversies which historians argue about for Example the Plantagenet's. Of course there is it conspiracy that virtually all British historical Figures were in fact the Dr in their many regenerations lol...

[@blahalujza]

It's similar with Hungary: the founding was so long ago that it's quite difficult to say what actually happened. Also there is a whole genre of folk tales about King Mathias featuring his smartness and tendency to go among the people incognito. I suppose that's why he made it to Civ, but he was very cool in reality too.

[@jollybodger]

It's not quite the origin of England, I know England existed prior, but I was taught in school that William the Bastard/Conqueror was the start of 'modern' England in 1066 because it could have been either Danelaw, Anglo-Saxon England or Norman England depending on the outcome of the 2 invasions.

[@poskeegget8043]

The ones containing something of a joke seems to be the ones that survives in scandinavia. Such as 'Thundershield' pausing a naval battle to ask the opponent (a british ship) if they could borrow him some cannonballs to coninue the fight. . . or the messenger from the Danish King not reaching Bergen in time to instruct the fortress there not to fire upon a british ship that he had given permission to attack another ship in the harbour (There is actually a cannonball in a church tower from that event).

[@ThePurpleCheesecakeZebra]

we keep in "the grizzly bits" so we dont ask any more questions. its a way of them saying it was bad in the past but our current monarchy is great and the only bad things to happen in the last century where hitlers fault and nothing to do with the dear old queen. we ruled the waves. but we arent taught those girzzly bits are we? we also arent even taught all the grizzly bits about the holocaust or even who was involved in the holocaust. people are still shocked when they learn lgbt people where left in the prisons after the war. and theyre even more shocked to learn why aspergers syndrome was singled out from all the other ASD categories. or what happened to the non asperges people. or how we as a country treated lgbt people and how we treated disabled people. even the royals dabbled in hiding the queens coun=sins and faking their deaths so they could be tortured in an asylum. and im sure there are countries in Africa we havent laernt the grizzly bits about because those grizzlys happened while lizzy was still around

[@BlackKnightPZ]

My school actually taught us it was slave teeth..but also he apparently had a few teeth made of sealed ivory, and other materials. We were also taught that the cherry tree story was an apocryphal. This video mostly pointed out that I got a nicer education I guess than some other people. My teachers were quick to point out if stuff had been found to be false.

[@joepiekl]

I imagine a lot of this is just more obvious because it's so much more recent on part of recorded history, but in the UK, our historical figures (if they are indeed based on real historical figures) are from so long ago that they've crossed the boundary into full on myth, with the likes of King Arthur or Robin Hood, but also the more established figures of King Alfred, Boudica or William Wallace (thanks Hollywood). It might also be partly due to the separation of church and state, with our little moral stories often being taught through Jesus' parables, whereas the US has to invent something like the 'I cannot tell a lie' story to as a secular version of the same thing.

[@williambranch4283]

Our patriotism is a civil religion.

[@durabelle]

Yay, just when I was looking for something to watch!

[@beuvue]

Washington's "I cannot tell a lie" is like north Korean's myth that Kim Il Sung was able to make "chukjibop" (teleportation). It's the result of what we might call a cult of personality.

[@razzlejazzled]

Born and raised in Oregon. I was of course familiar with the idea that Washington "couldn't tell a lie" from pop culture and "educational" tv, but I don't remember specifically learning it in school. What I do have a very distinct memory of was my high school history classes largely being comprised of "This thing you learned in elementary school is wrong" (Columbus for example) or "In elementary school you were taught a very simplified version of this event because while the event is important for you to learn about, the full context included some stuff that was deemed inappropriate for little kids."

[@emmayounger6707]

Evan, did I hear right? The 4th of July, Independence Day, which Americans are so proud of, wasn't the day the declaration of independence was signed, or the date it was read to the people, but it was the day it was sent to the printers? If that is right, someone definitely dropped the ball! Happy send it to print day! Apologies if I got that wrong (but I so hope it's right!) From a confused Brit. X

[@Henrik_Holst]

Looked at the Wikipedia page and it gets worse: "Historians have long disputed whether members of Congress signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, even though Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin all later wrote that they had signed it on that day. Most historians have concluded that the Declaration was signed nearly a month after its adoption, on August 2, 1776, and not on July 4 as is commonly believed."

[@sarasynfox]

It was signed on July 2nd, and John Adams documents this as being the day that Americans would honor through time as our independence day. Irony, he died on July 4th... within hours of the man he had so many conflicts with in the period the document was signed, good ole Thomas Jefferson.

[@conormurphy4328]

“If you didn’t grow up in the United States the history channel was a channel that was about history” thanks Evan

[@ConsciousAtoms]

I'm from The Netherlands, and I think some of this type of semi-mythical history is taught here as well. For instance, and this is not from national politics but from the city I live in: During the 80 years war - which was my country's war of independence (from Spain), back in the 16th and early 17th centuries - my hometown of Leiden was besieged by Spanish forces. As the siege wore on, there was widespread hunger in the city. At that point, one of the city's mayors, Pieter van der Werff is supposed to have said that if hunger was so bad, people could kill him and consume his flesh to feed themselves. Another telling of the same story has him offering up his arm as food. This probably never happened. A story that I heard only recently, and which was carefully omitted from my education, was that the city of 's-Hertogenbosch (which is in the southern part of the country, where people were generally opposed to the war) celebrated abundantly when prince William of Orange, one of the leaders of the revolt and considered the founding father of my country (as well as a distant forebear of our current king) had been murdered. I was taught that support for the revolt was universal, but that turns out to be blatantly false.

[@klimtkahlo]

Do they teach you Dutch people that you “discovered” Australia. They teach Portuguese that they “discovered” Australia. 😄

[@wingedyera]

​@@klimtkahlo they do teach us that we were first of Europeans on tasman. My education thankfully never pretended that there were no previous inhabitants. Also I don't recall them ever saying we ever reached mainland Australia.

[@AIHumanEquality]

The only place universal support for revolting happens is in movies. No revolt or rebellion in all of history was ever fully supported countywide.

[@caelorum]

Ah, Dutch history is full of atrocities that are carefully worked around or worded in the most positive light in Dutch history books. I mean, some "funny" stories such as what happened after the death of Johan de Witt was definitely included, but what happened on the Banda Islands is definitely not included in full.

[@wingedyera]

@@caelorum this is true. I do feel we dutch are slightly less inclined to all out omit or completely deny our atrocities compared to some countries (especially nowadays) but they are still down played more than they should

[@zerin25]

In Australia we don't really glorify our past Prime Ministers. Case in fact - Harold Holt went missing while swimming, probably drowned but was never confirmed. We named a swimming pool after him.

[@lynanderson6371]

In the fall of 2020, one of our school counselors (I'm a middle school librarian) had her elementary son in my library doing his remote learning. I really wish I could remember what his teacher was saying, but I do remember thinking that she made the founding fathers sound like the freaking Avengers.

[@alexsterio8258]

I feel like in the UK schools do teach some romanticised versions of our history (not to the extent of the US) but we also had Horrible Histories which was meant to teach us the nastier parts of history and dispel the myths we’d hear in the classroom. It was pretty effective since most kids payed more attention to it than history lessons 😂

[@TalesOfWar]

I remember being taught about the meaning or ring around the rosie when I was like 8 or something. It was quite grim lol.

[@ThePurpleCheesecakeZebra]

just because we where taught grim stuff doesnt mean we were taught relevant stuff or even about how fucked up our country was to other people and still was (and very much is) fucked up to allot of people

[@nejinoniwa4804]

Sweden has a lot of myths about our more-or-less founding king (Gustav Vasa/Gustav the 1st, who got sweden out from under the yoke of the danish - in 1523, 500 years ago this year actually, so happy anniversary!). The most prevalent is perhaps him skiing west from the city of Mora during the opening parts of the rebellion, after failing to inspire the locals to join his cause - they then changed their minds and sent two fast skiers out after him, who caught up after 90 kilometers in the town of Sälen, and he followed them back to Mora to officially start the rebellion big time and whatnot. This 90 kilometer ski journey has then become the ski marathon race Vasaloppet. The veracity of this myth is sort of doubtful and there's details that are definitely wrong, and there's a lot of similar things in the "mythos" of Gustav Vasa - and that's arguably so because he created or encouraged a lot of these myths himself while he was alive.

[@janebaker966]

Myths have a much stronger hold on the human imagination than reality. Quite a few "great " kings and queens in history have known this,maybe just by intuition. They know that image is important and the medium is the message. Our Queen Elizabeth 1 had image off to a T.

[@MorgFreak]

Being British and having been over to Boston for a holiday many years ago I was fascinated when doing the 'freedom tour' led by a guide how honest the tour guides were and how many of these myths they explained were mostly propaganda and the real truths behind them. I would recommend it to anyone who visits Boston to take the tours.

[@israellai]

Considering the country that I'm supposed to be from was supposedly founded in prehistoric times...yeah we were taught LITERAL myths about it

[@Jamie_D]

OMG i loved this so much, my favourite Evan video in a long time, and that's not easy :D made even better with the honesty 🤣

[@webbpaje]

I'm from the States and was taught most of these. Looking back, I don't even remember how or when it was worked into a lesson in school, which is weird. Especially now living in the UK I look back on a lot of things I was taught and think "that's really bizzare." It really shows how sprinkling in little myths about history, even if they seem trivial, into education can really impact how you view your country and its history.

[@GracieLizzy]

I think in the UK we are taught a lot of fibs and simplifications but often in a way less "venerating the past" way at least for history like the Tudors and the Stewarts. Like we're taught about Henry VIII but a fairly simplified version because we're like.... 9 years old so it's only later we learn nuance. I think the other things that happen is some of our outright awful atrocities we either aren't taught or just sorta glanced over. Like we're taught how the end of the slave trade came about and whilst we don't shy away from telling kids about how awful the conditions on slave ships were we still don't advertise how many national figures have ties to the slave trade or how some people who are still descendants of slave owners today have family wealth built off the back of it. We also tend to glorify the "stiff upper lip" idea of how we dealt with WWII and the idea everyone mustered on with things with at worst maybe a bit black market trading to get around rationing... but the truth is that just like today Brits back then moaned about situations and did stupid stuff during air raid black outs just like people did stupid stuff during Covid lockdown.

[@Tom_Hillman]

Yeah we are certainly a very self-congradulatory nation when it comes to the World Wars. Don't remember being taught about our failed attempts to invade the Ottoman Empire simply for oil and land in WWI that led to mass casualties and overall failing to a technologically less-advanced empire. We also were absolutely not taught about how popular fascism was in Britain both pre and during WWII and the bigoted views of Winston Churchill. I think primary education does a great job of teaching world history in a super broad sense, you learn a lot about many different ancient cultures and civilisations (if a bit euro-centric) but i'd be willing to bet most brits have a pretty poor grasp on the many different invasions of Britain that led to it being the nation it is today.

[@nicolad8822]

You go into every stately home in Britain these days and their slavery connections will be mentioned.

[@Thomes-Maisling]

The way we treated the Irish catholics since Henry VIII is completely glossed over in British historical accounts. I could go into detail but theres just so much.

[@SecretKeeperForever9]

The cherry tree one was taught to me as a tall tale. So I knew it wasn't true.

[@LeadTrumpet1]

If Delaware had split off from Pennsylvania before the Declaration of Independence, I’m still counting it.

[@evan]

yeah because you're LOGICAL UNLIKE THAT LIST

[@LeadTrumpet1]

@@evan that list was a joke

[@roerd]

They didn't, though. They split off from Pennsylvania two months after the Declaration of Independence. That were the first state to ratify the (current) constitution, but that was 11 years after the Declaration of independence. For most of that time, the first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, was in place.

[@LeadTrumpet1]

@@roerd They were still there during the Revolution. States were colonies until the war was over. They were also self governing since 1704. They shared a governor with Pennsylvania.

[@TheAnalyticalEngine]

A lot of early false teeth were made from teeth extracted from war casualties. People would go around plundering battlefields after the battle finished, taking things like jewelry, boots and even pulling out teeth Meanwhile, ivory teeth would be made from hippo ivory, which is much harder than, say, elephant ivory

[@Nepheos]

about the founders of other countries... ya know, most other countries have been around so long (some with different names over time) that we cant even say who was the founder.

[@RogerRmjet]

When you visit Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home, they correct all of the myths about him. You can even see his actual false teeth. But you can also buy cherry candies in a hatchet-shaped container, which I just love

[@ceililimoges8387]

I’m Canadian and when I was in elementary school to high school we were taught that in true Canadian fashion we just politely asked the Queen for our independence and she was like alright bet and gave it to us, turns out there was a little bit more that happened

[@georgebritten6666]

In the UK probably the only leader that's kind of revered is Churchill, and even then it's more an omission of most of his career outside of WW2 rather than lies. I think a significant difference is that the US was founded by a revolution that's still supported today, so a cult of personality is bound to emerge and solidify around the leading revolutionaries.

[@janebaker966]

Churchill is not universally revered. Now I've learned more about how he was chosen to fulfill the war agenda I see him as a lot more dodgy. And he wanted to machine gun the South Wales striking miners,and he spent his whole life in debt which does make one vulnerable to having to agree to things. Like bombing Dresden. Or the Ruhr Dam and killing thousands of people in one night which recently a UN spokesman who sounded about 12 stated was and is a war crime in any circumstances. Oops. Being,or he sounded about 12 this UN spokesman had obviously never heard of The Dambusters and the sacred place they hold in the british collective imagination,so when one side or another destroyed a dam in that far off place we know little about and care less this UN spokesman was quick to categorically state that destroying a dam and flooding a valley is a war crime in all circumstances no matter who does it. And the phones at the BBC started ringing........

[@nicolad8822]

He gave good speech during the war, but there has always been plenty of criticism of him.

[@angelikaskoroszyn8495]

I think another such a character would be Tatcher who is either hated or loved. Or it looks so from the outside

[@TalesOfWar]

@@angelikaskoroszyn8495 Margret Thatchers only redeeming quality was her mortality. We're living in the world she laid the foundations of right now with the current government doing a poor tribute act of her.

[@j.rinker4609]

I highly recommend the Native American comedy "Smoke Signals". There's a song in it called "George Washington's Teeth".

[@Vehlin]

I think the reasons that people needed to make stuff up at the time was that they didn’t want to claim the British history as theirs. The War of Independence was basically the first American civil war and it was every bit as brutal as the 2nd.

[@williambranch4283]

Second English Civil War. Lincoln fought the Third English Civil War.

[@mehallica666]

Technically, it was a British civil war, just not in the British Isles.

[@tpauofvulcan]

"New York abstains, courteously!" - 1776 musical, getting the truth out! also, growing up in the USSR we were taught that Lenin as a child chopped down his father's tree and then said he couldnt lie.... because of course we were

[@cassieoz1702]

We need to stop keeping ALL bad news from children as they grow. Age appropriate true history is needed to prevent past mistakes being remade and to learn resilience

[@Efusco97]

I love the Maggie thatcher comment 🤣🤣🤣🤣! Killed me lollllll ! She was such a witch 🤣

[@jlpack62]

Next thing you know, they are going to tell us that Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny aren't real!

[@ianpatterson6552]

Fun Fact for Evan - the two east coast states who were not involved with the Declaration of Independence were Maine which was part of Massachusetts and Florida which was divided into West and East territories and covered a larger swathe of land than the present state does. It makes for fascinating reading in Wikipedia.

[@Chelaxim]

How is teaching us that George Washington never told a lie supposed to humanize him instead of defiy him?

[@xzonia1]

Your song at the end made me LOL! X) Yeah, I was taught all of these things. Paul Revere got debunked for me years ago when I watched a documentary about the written story and how it promulgated this idea that Paul did it all, but that was just a literary device to make the storytelling easier. I heard about Washington having bad teeth a few years ago and that his teeth weren't made of wood, but just a "variety of materials" ... certainly didn't mention slave teeth! YIKES. Fun video! Thanks, Evan. :)

[@xzonia1]

Oh, and I think in school itself I was taught the story of Washington cutting down the cherry tree, but the teacher was like, of course that never really happened, it's just a popular story that was made up about him that we still like to tell because it's cute. :)

[@mkcatrona]

I was taught most of these and then untaught them in high school. When I was in elementary school, I did read that George Washington’s dentures were made of cow teeth, which is quite bad now that I know his dentures were made from enslaved peoples’ teeth. I grew up on Long Island, and I was told by my parents that yeah, actually most Long Islanders were pretty against the revolution and that didn’t make them bad people because life can be complicated.

[@syllogism5843]

I had no idea the whole founding was viewed with such awe... crazy

[@jbird4478]

The US is just a bit crazy. Here in the Netherlands I can't recall any of this kind of nonsense. What I do recall however is learning in highschool about American propaganda. We had this project in history where we were given some American publication and basically had to pick it apart for elements of propaganda. I was given a Rocky movie, which was really easy because those are loaded with subtle and not-so-subtle patriotic nonsense, but others were given newspapers which was a lot more interesting.

[@roguechevelle]

oo man that actually sounds really interesting I would have loved having a class that did that but alas I'm in the US so the only propaganda we ever talk about is every country but our own lol. They really pour it on thick in our school systems. I think they confuse patriotism with nationalism more now and starting to lean toward fascism even, especially if we are not careful. Frankly I don't even know if people even understand what fascism even is anymore as many Americans clearly don't even know what communism is just "it's bad" lol. It's really sad when you think of people laying down their lives in war against fascist like our "greatest generation" in WWII only for 1 to 3 generations later the people of of America not even really knowing what fascism is, what leads to it and how dangerous thinking like that can be. Germany has learned way more from their past then we have studying them.

[@Cynthia63636]

It's easier to see the propaganda from the outside.. I definitely remember the golden age being something to be proud of as a Dutch person...

[@merren2306]

@@Cynthia63636 It's still very much a source of pride, but we don't hold back on teaching/learning about the darker side of that era.

[@Cynthia63636]

@@merren2306 maybe I'm older then.. but I never learned the dark side in school

[@merren2306]

@@Cynthia63636 might be. Or it might differ by which book your school uses.🤷‍♂️

[@HonestWatchReviewsHWR]

3:54 - 4:06 This right here explains so much about Americans and the way they see themselves and their country.

[@joepiekl]

The last one smacks of someone who has to get a list of 10 because it's a round number.

[@tinnagigja3723]

"Steel a glans" is an excellent pun. Good jerb.

[@Itsuka7]

Here in the Netherlands, the history lessons I remember from primary school (decades ago) were not so much myths, but more of a ‘the best of’, as it focused a lot on what we were good at, or where we were on the right sude of history, but it skipped over a lot of the more shameful past, like our colonial oppression. Secondary school was a bit better, but there was way too much detail to go into, and we covered important bits of British and French history as well. The one myth about my country that we were told was untrue very early on was the story that seems to be popular in the US, that a little boy stopped a flood by putting his finger in a dyke, but true to the Dutch entrepreneurial spirit that they had build a statue for the fictional boy anyway as American tourists kept asking about him. I would call that more of a myth for tourism… maybe a nice topic for some other time.

[@tsguy-h3q]

21:10 I am Indian, and we were never taught myths about our country's history. Problem is, so much of our history is so old that firm evidences for certain stories are not traceable. Regarding modern history however (basically everything after 1857 or the first war of Independence) is reasonably accurate. Though they skate over the "controversial" bits (like how Gandhi was a terrible family leader), they don't invent new stories from stuff that happened and they don't make us worship them either. It is helpful that a lot of independence movement survivors are still alive and can give us the true and often complicated accounts that reveal the true picture of what was going on.

[@TullaRask]

Norway's founding father lived probably around 800 something. He's been given the fame for joining by war several chiefs to one kingdom about that time, but we hardly know anything about either him or the job he did. We're being informed now by archiologists and historiens, and it's hurts a learning that Norway back then didn't even include the capital :(

[@williambranch4283]

You knew the founder had "Fair hair" ;-)

[@TullaRask]

@@williambranch4283 Not fair no, but a lot of it :)

[@TullaRask]

@@williambranch4283 That's just a story isn't it, who knows if it's true or not.

[@williambranch4283]

@@TullaRask No Valhalla for you!

[@hannalee5756]

Which capital?

[@mika-qx3kr]

I didn't heard about Paul Revere before but it does sound like Marathon guy in Ancient Grecce

[@AndreGerritzen]

German guy here: In the 70s we had sesame street in the childrens TV. At this time the majority of the production still was synchronised US material so in the german sesame street was the story of georg washington and the cherry tree and no german kid had an idea who georg washinghton was maybe the parents heard about him when they were well educaded.

[@klimtkahlo]

I am always curious how Germans study about first and Second World War and Hitler. My niece and nephew are half German but going to school in a German school in France 😄. In other European countries our bad history parts are always “beautified” to ensure children’s self esteem is not bruised, so teaching us false things in essence… or at least omitting the ugly parts.

[@BlackKnight2895]

@@klimtkahlo I don't remember a lot of what I was told about the first World War only one reason why it started but the second one is still present. We talked a lot about the NS and Hitler. What was bad, how Hitler could do the things he did and what changed so it never happens again. We also had group projects, every group had a different topic to research and present it to the class. Topics were for example the white rose, Hitler youth etc. after the presentations we had discussions about it. It was a grim topic but everyone knew that it is important to know what really happened so we can learn from it and prevent it. I don't know if everything is true of the older history we are told but the two world wars expecially the second one are teached a lot and I think both times it filled half the schoolyear if not more and I also had it in other classes.

[@klimtkahlo]

@@BlackKnight2895having lived in Germany for a year I actually found most Germans to be amongst the most educated and least prejudicious Europeans. Loved the people, the country, the food, my professors and the culture! My favorite being bike lanes, public transportation and health system! On another note I personally think there is a lot to be proud as a German. I know you can’t even own a flag without being deemed a Nazi, (except all German Americans, they own flags, but who knows, they actually might have been Nazis, who fled to the USA, who knows, we know many fled to Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Ecuador. ) but one thing doesn’t make you all bad. All countries have a lot of bad but also some good. Just my two cents…

[@BlackKnight2895]

@@klimtkahlo I'm happy to hear that you liked germany. Now to the other stuff. The owning of a german flag is not deemed a Nazi thing or at least I never encountered a german thinking that. The flying and showing the flag like americans do is something that is not liked and you could be deemed a Nazi with the exception of the EM and WM. You will see a lot of flags then. I think being proud of a country you live in is a little strange and could lead to forgetting the dark past of the country or changing it which could lead to repeating it.

[@Luciele]

@@klimtkahlo "I know you can’t even own a flag without being deemed a Nazi" - then you know simply nothing. Like BlackKnight said: its not unusual to own one, because of the Football EM or WM. Mostly to show unity and that you stand for the national Team. That i understand, what i dont understand is this mindless waving of flags. Why should i be proud to be german (or in general any other nationality)? It was my birthplace only by chance. And its a little bit cringe to be proud because of that. I go work, i do my groceries, do my housework and have my hobbies. Nothing of that has to do with being german or makes me one. Oh and teaching about WWI and WWII: pretty much how it was. The brutal truth. I think most schools do also visits to a KZ (there are now memorial sites with educational purposes) in their vicinity. But there is not really whitewashing with a topic like that. All in all especially WWII is a topic that accompanied students here not over weeks or months but over years. And not only in history class, but all classes that are important for the topc: german, english, biology, geography, ethics class, social studies. For me it started in 7th grade with "The Diary of Anne Frank".

[@williambranch4283]

The dentists were very active on the battlefield at Waterloo.

[@ianbarkham5080]

My favourite fct about the American insurrection regards the Boston Tea Party. This was due to the fact the British had REDUCED the taxes on tea which meant it was now cheaper than smuggled tea so the criminal tea smugglers dumped the cheap legal tea.into the harbour, and claimed it was a revolutionary act protesting about the taxes which had just been reduced

[@ZIEMOWITIUS]

Got a citation for that?

[@justloadalready8839]

What I remember learning about the liberty bell (outsode of school, but in passing with other art kids) was that it was made at the wrong temperature when casting it, and it would expand and contract the metal due to temperature in it's shipping, which led to the metal of it splitting. I don't actually remember learning if it was ever rung, but I do remember it being defective.

[@DavidBMaas]

Benjamin Franklin was a first-rate prankster. He was praising the turkey's virtues ironically.

[@janebaker966]

Well,you can eat them. Not much of a sumptuous feast on a Golden Eagle,sorry that's our UK one,a Bald Eagle even once you've caught it.

[@wolf1066]

Here in New Zealand, when I was growing up, I was taught that the cherry tree story was a popular - but untrue - thing told to US kids in order to prompt them to be just as forthright and honest.

[@darriendastar3941]

It's great that Troy McClure is still getting commetating work. (Guess it's just as well it was the History Channel - had it been National Geographic there would have been all those fish rumours...)

[@paulwalther5237]

When I was in the 6th grade about 12 years old I had to do a report on George Washington and I read three books in him. Nobody mentioned the cherry tree myth and I had never heard it. At the end of my presentation my teacher said I did a great job but what about when he chopped down the cherry tree? I was so embarrassed I had no idea what he was talking about.

[@frofrofrofro900]

Greetings from Tricity in Poland 👋

[@Stangler96]

I am hungarian and being a very old country we have a lot of myths that have been taught to us but most of the time they also told us that those were myths and we don't actually know what happened or they told the real stories. But also there were a few times when they told us myths as facts but it was just a few times. So few I can't even recall an example.

[@jjoohhhnn]

Also, because the USA is such a huge country economically, population wise, and in terms of our military and diplomatic presence our everything is put in everyone's face, Hungary doesn't do this, so it's not scrutinized. I don't know anything about Hungary except Orban is the blacksheep of NATO for good reason. But I'm sure there is some revisionism, the Baltics have been an unstable place off and on for 200 years. Hard to believe there isn't some sort of human rights abuse they sweep under the rug, maybe the Romani minority, or a Muslim minority was treated very poorly at some point as official policy? Also, most of our history is pretty accurate. My biggest shocker for US history revisionism is the War of 1812's reasons were totally rewritten in the last 30-50 years.

[@Stangler96]

@@jjoohhhnn sorry I don't understand why you brought up the Baltics are you from there? Or you are talking about the Balkans and Hungary? It's a genuine question I'm just curious

[@mporvichova]

The founding of the first form of my homeland is literaly a myth and we are taught about it as a myth. It does make sense since it actually happened before we even had an alphabet. Though there are no myths about the formation of the current form of the country, probably because Czech republic was officially formed in 1993 and that is not that long ago.

[@thatotherted3555]

Oh, I saw a movie based on that myth once. It was odd, but interesting.

[@PropertyOfK]

Is it about three brothers? We have one story about that in Poland - that there were three slavic princesses/brothers: Lech, Czech and Rus, they have traveled, yadda yadda, Lech was amazed by the woods, lakes, he has found eagle's nest, decided to stay there, created Lechia (Poland), Czech traveled south and created Czechia and Rus traveled east - created Russia.

[@vincentlevarrick6557]

@@PropertyOfK This is 100% the story I was thinking of when it came to origin myths! Don't forget that he saw the white eagle against the red setting sun - hence our national coat of arms. We read it every year when I went through Polish language school in Australia.

[@agresticumbra]

Oh ya, whoever fabricated this shite, even before your "religion of america" comment, felt very biblical in their approach. Your take doesn't surprise me at all. That said, I've forgotten most of what I was taught about US foundations, honestly. Ole George chopping cherry tree, and Paul Revere hollering in the middle of the night, are the only ones I can immediately recall. Yes, and your roasting of this video's production was more than appropriate.

[@johnp8131]

Take a look at Lucy Worsley's series "American History's Greatest Fibs". A proper documentary by a proper historian.

[@pigeonfog]

I never learned the cherry tree story. I've heard it randomly as something that isn't true, but I was not taught it in school.

[@RoryIsNotACabbage]

Everything i know about the founding of scotland is from braveheart. Oh and there was that mary one

[@MW_Asura]

Scotland wasn't founded during the wars of independence though, it goes further back

[@RoryIsNotACabbage]

@MW_Asura yeah he asks about what other places teach about the countries founding

[@caitlin329]

In the UK it's more us omitting certain elements of our history, and overemphasising others, less actively making 'myths'. Although there are definitely some here, despite what some people would like to admit.

[@caitlin329]

We don't learn about Thatcher in the same way as, say, Henry VIII, actually. Not in schools, anyway. I think that's another big difference. It's more common to get 'facts' from media and entertainment, or just generally educate yourself outside of school here. Which is also tied to privilege (having parents or guardians who can and will facilitate it).

[@TalesOfWar]

To be fair, there are thousands of years worth of UK history so there's no practical way you can learn it all, or even a good chunk of it in only a few short years of school. People dedicate their entire lives to learning the history of just very specific periods or even events and still don't know all there is to know about it. The idea is to have a broad range so you end up with a more rounded understanding of things, which is the point of education in general until University when you specialise on something specific.

[@ahorribleperson3302]

As an Aussie we were generally taught a very very critical history of our own country. Even in primary school I was taught about the massive in the indigenous population after colonization, and it wasn't taught neutrally either, it was very explicit that what we did was bad. In high school mandatory history we had an entire unit on how horrible our treatment of Aboriginals were post federation (so we can't even blame it on the British), with particularly strong focus on the Stolen Generations (basically a long term genocidal project of the Australian government that only fully stopped in practice in the 1970s. I also remember doing a topic on the waves of immigration to Australia, and how racist Aussies were basically every time one started. We do our fair share of mythologizing of Australians in the first and second World Wars, but I don't think we do it nearly to the extent the yanks do about the revolutionary war. And particularly with the First World War a lot of emphasis is placed on how tragic it was, the 'wasteful loss of young men' narrative often overshadowed the 'look at how good Aussies are at fighting' narrative. Come to think of it, even in our discussion of the First World War in primary school I remember mention of how Aboriginal Australians were fighting for a country they didn't have the right to vote in, and it was never from positive perspective. Our history education isn't flawless my any means, and there is absolutely stuff we gloss over that we shouldn't, but at least in my experience there was a good amount of focus on how our history is far from rosy or clean.

[@patricialewis1464]

❤️

[@Scuzzlebutt142]

From NZ, we're not far off from you how things are taught, though obviously without the absolutely enormous amounts of historical and ongoing Racism (smaller amounts). Its covered alot with out Treaty of Waitangi sections, and NZ Land Wars, as those are both important parts of NZ history. We also have the mythologising around ANZAC campaign, with it being such a large part of both our cultures, though from what I've seen of Aussie articles about it, NZ is a bit better about mentioning the Australians were there as well, whereas we seem to be forgotten alot in Australian coverage.

[@ahorribleperson3302]

@@Scuzzlebutt142 Maybe some newspapers don't mention Kiwis as much as they should, but the sentiment is very much that it's a shared holiday.

[@Scuzzlebutt142]

@@ahorribleperson3302 I don't doubt we get mentioned, but some (mostly TV) media I've seen, you'd think the Aussies took the area riding Kangaroos, wearing Slouch Hats yelling "MATESHIP!" :) I am well aware most Australians don't believe this, but I really, really hate it when media is so one dimensional. NZ TV is just as terrible, but mainly when it comes to Rugby.

[@ahorribleperson3302]

@@Scuzzlebutt142 Yeah, I can understand that.

[@carrie5490]

If anyone is interested there is a brilliant podcast called Empire that has recently done some amazing episodes on the founding fathers and the founding of America. It really dispels a lot of myths. They also have a ton of other great series on the British empire and the ottoman etc

[@RNS_Aurelius]

It's similar to UK schools not teaching about the British Empire's attrocities in India, the Opium War or any of our other great evils. We do learn the hardships of poor people living in the 19th century but we kind of pretend it was just a force of nature couldnt be helped.

[@janebaker966]

That's true.

[@middlenerd178]

I really love the book series, can’t remember the name, but it’s about breaking down historical myths. There was one with George Washington in it, and I read it at the time we were learning about the revolutionary war in my middle school class. Teacher shut me down when I started talking about all of the myths associated with good ol’ GW. I believe one of the books is called Famous Frauds.

[@alycats94]

Might be a hot take, but I'm not sure these myths are taught as frequently anymore as they used to be since we've learned more about the past and can verify certain things with science. I may be the outlier here, but I remember debunking a lot of them either in fourth grade, due to a state research project, or during APUSH in high school. I'm a teacher now, and I honestly haven't seen them in any resources or curriculum I've come across, although I also don't use resources that are outdated or have false information.🤷‍♀️

[@RealMKproductions]

Idk how people still learn the wooden teeth and cherry tree thing in school. Literally the only times they were brought up to me was when someone was debunking them 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@Serrifin]

I learned it in Social Sciences which was mostly just a history class, but we were required to learn a good bit of folk heroes like Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, Davy Crockett, and John Henry. I don’t think we learned much about what the real version of the folk heroes did, it was more about values of the time, like how Johnny Appleseed’s in the 1800s were about conservation, there were a lot of arguments at the time about how resources should be used and people treated, which I find a bit ironic that there’s plenty of people here who act like those ideas were unheard of or not a problem until now.

[@TheStickCollector]

Interesting to see

[@evan]

YOU'RE FIRST

[@GaiusdanhnhanAugustus]

The US, if you're truly a "humanitarian", "democratic" nation, explain to your students why sanctioning Cuba is "just".

[@iustintarachiu9326]

Here in Romania we were told that our Dacian ancestors in the antiquity had fields of corn that was so high that you couldn't see a horse with its rider. The problem is that corn was brought in Europe by Christopher Columbus some 1.500 years later... Well, maybe not literally by him, but you got the point.

[@AndrewwarrenAndrew]

corn back then could mean Barley or wheat.

[@iustintarachiu9326]

@@AndrewwarrenAndrewStill, none of them could be that high in my opinion

[@angelikaskoroszyn8495]

Maybe it's an example of the typical "glorious past" mythology

[@WaechterDerNacht]

One myth we have in Switzerland, but actually are told that it's a myth, is the story of Willhelm Tell and the Rütli-Schwur. But the "Bundesbrief" (first form of a contitiution of Switzerland, but it's intent was probably more like a coalition of defense) actually is known and can be looked at in a museum.

[@Jamie_D]

Only 10? How about the 10000,lmao

[@krymsonuchiha14]

That delaware part of PA one??? I grew up in Philly/Drexel Hill! I did not know this!

[@Irishharper]

Love this one Evan.. and yes I was taught the same myths in school and that was about 65 years ago... Being a history buff, I did learn a lot of things not taught in school and unfortunately even now American history is under threat of being whitewashed some more. If you want an amazing take on the truth of American history, read A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. It brings to life the past of ordinary citizens and the history not told.

[@maxmetodiev641]

I read that in A level history

[@gemoftheocean]

Zinn is a lefty freak

[@dsifriend]

I was taught they were cow teeth… never taught about the the cherry tree, so only knew about it AS A MYTH, and I think I only learned about the Paul Reveere story not being accurate from a children's comic in the school library. LOL

[@FTZPLTC]

Wooden dentures were definitely a popular thing around that time, btw. IIRC there was a patch where it was quite fashionable to have your regular teeth removed to replace them with dentures, even if there was nothing wrong with them... and I have it in mind that they used to often be given to women as a wedding present, but that sounds nutty.

[@samhardy6030]

My grandmother had her teeth removed as a wedding gift in the 1930s UK.

[@FTZPLTC]

@@samhardy6030- Oh wow, I didn't realise it was still going on that recently. My brain specifically thinks it was a Scottish thing but I have no idea where I got that from.

[@Bandana-n3c]

I think that in recent years there has been a push to change this, at least where I’m from in the US. I learned many of these myths as an elementary schooler, but then they were debunked by my middle and high school history teachers. My younger siblings on the other hand were only taught maybe 1 or 2 of these myths.

[@thevermilionwitch]

Lying by omission is one thing, teaching myths as if they were true is a whole other level of shitty, both is bad but one at least doesn't make shit up to make them look better they just don't tell the whole story. Omitting is likely something that happens in schools in literally every country, they don't like teaching all the worst things that their country has done, gives a warped view but technically not telling complete lies they're just skipping over less favourable history.

[@TukikoTroy]

I think a lot of countries have founding stories, but, when these came up at school we were told they were myths and even told why they were created.

[@theultimatefreak666]

Goddamn, your voice mocking how soulless the voice is seems miles better than that text-to-speech sounding narrator

[@glynnwright1699]

I wonder if they talk to their wives and children in the same voice?

[@theultimatefreak666]

​@@glynnwright1699if they talk to their wives in the same voice they definitely don't have children. Just imagine it "oh yes, I am approaching arrival" 😂

[@cuppawithbenpodcast]

I was reading the tower of London book that I got when I went to The Tower Of London and found out a little bit of history that they did not teach in American schools. A bloke named Henry Laurens was a American according to the book Henry was on suspicion of treason also helping out with America’s struggle to get independence from Britain. When I was a in school learning about USA independence all they said that we went to war and tipped tea over bord.

[@MauMik]

As a German, I am quite sure, that most of the modern "founding" story of my country is truthfully taught in schools.

[@HansWurst-gm2rx]

"There's a lot of dark parts in history, especially in US history ..." Hold my beer, look at German history :)

[@KoljaWolfi]

yeah, in germany we just learn hitler bad. its not the worst part of world history, but one of the more recent really bad parts.

[@HansWurst-gm2rx]

@@KoljaWolfiI beg to differ. We learn way more about German history than just Hitler. However the depth and nuance may differ regarding the level of education.

[@KoljaWolfi]

@@HansWurst-gm2rx its quite a while now. it certainly felt that way.

[@Kriae]

Imagine if the US taught all the genocides they committed just as well as Germany

[@ambersunnyamber]

I do have to say, other than the 13th colony myth, these myths were not actually in textbooks, but just something our teachers told us themselves. I think even though teachers have good intentions they have perpetuated myths that they have also been taught. As a New Yorker we also definitely knew that we abstained, and we were embarrassed 💀

[@JoeBleasdaleReal]

The British equivalent of the George Washington cherry tree story is the King Alfred burning the cakes story

[@PaulTheFox1988]

I was never taught that, I heard about it recently in a youtube video, and they explicitly said it was likely to be false. It's a funny anecdote, and I hope that teachers that mention it will make that distinction

[@Square_Planar]

When I visited Boston I was fascinated by the "historical information" about the Boston Massacre. A small group of British soldiers were surrounded by hundreds of colonists who were throwing rocks and shouting at them to open fire. Obviously its very sad that five people died, but it doesnt fill any of the criteria of a massacre: the unprovoked murder of a large number of unarmed people. I understand that the emotive language was used at the time to stir up anti-british sentiment, but I find it interesting that it is still portrayed that way, rather than in a more dispassionate and historical fashion.

[@andywilliams7323]

Speaking of historical lies and myths. Prime Minister Marget Thatcher wasn't the milk snatcher. The first government to first withdraw free milk from schools, specifically secondary schools (ages 11-18) was Harold Wilson's Labour Government in 1968. Then in 1971, Edward Heath's Conservative Government withdrew free milk in primary schools (ages 4-11) for children over age 7. Thatcher was Education Secretary at the time and actually openly disagreed with and objected to the decision, but was overruled by Heath. The opposition Labour Party publically branded her the milk snatcher and the slogan has forever stuck, even though it was never actually her choice or fault.

[@janebaker966]

The thing is I'm of that age group that had that free milk,a dinky little bottle every day to stop as a class and drink through a straw about 11am. I never minded. But most of the boys professed to hate it,possibly they were doing whose most macho competition. And when I was on one of thise nostalgia sites for a while every time a post came up on this subject lots of us "boomers" mostly men,but some ladies would be declaring how they hated the milk then and hate milk now,how they never wanted to drink it and hated being made to. So Margaret Thatcher in cancelling it did them all a favour. It had outlived it's real purpose by then anyway. It was really instituted just after WW2 to promote the British dairy farming industry.

[@seancodrington8297]

Interesting seeing Evan dissect the video quality. I would have taken in a fraction of what he noticed

[@evan]

Seriously??? But it’s NO BUENO

[@pamburt]

At least if ( as in the UK ) you’re taught in school that our history was something to be ashamed or embarrassed about -then the only way is up from that position. It’s quite a revelation when you do a bit of research for yourself as an adult, and find out that (as is the case with most other developed countries), we had good and bad leaders, did good and bad things for good & bad reasons (but most were neither one thing or the other). You end up feeling you’ve been somewhat cheated by having been greatly undersold this country’s achievements. So maybe it’s better this way than the US version.

[@Draiscor]

When I was going through school in the 00's, I don't think we were taught our history is something to be ashamed or embarrassed about. We were definitely taught there are bad parts in our past. But I remember the tone being generally neutral as opposed to shameful

[@oriannafelicity]

from Delaware, did not know about the "not a colony" one.