America needs understanding of ‘warts and all’ history, filmmaker Ken Burns says

Ken Burns is widely recognised as one of the finest documentary filmmakers of our time.
(Subscribe: bit.ly/C4_News...)
-------
For more than 30 years he has chronicled the American experience on film, covering topics as varied as Muhammad Ali, the Vietnam War and the history of country music.
His latest two-part film explores the life and work of Benjamin Franklin - one of America's founding fathers.
Matt Frei spoke to the filmmaker.
Follow us:
Facebook - / channel4news
Twitter - / channel4news

[@user-ty8zq6cz1i]

I am glad Channel 4 is introducing Ken Burns to British audience.

[@jabbermocky4520]

Ken Burns is to American history what David Attenborough is to the natural world. Great communicators. In the pantheon.

[@mattfirn3547]

Excellent analogy. I can think of no other people who have made me cry more than these two men

[@roberto7793]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqGUn4l-r7Snb9k finally got?

[@TheDrumstickEmpire]

@Simon McCreath to be fair there are more people outside the US haha

[@TheDrumstickEmpire]

But still, I get your point 😂

[@spankflaps1365]

History is not there for you to like or dislike, it is there for you to learn from.

[@sararichardson737]

Great introduction (for me) to Mr Ken Burns. A lively mind, speaker. Much appreciated.

[@roberto7793]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqGUn4l-r7Snb9k finally got?

[@darrylmars]

Franklin is easily one of the greatest men who ever lived. The difference between him & our social media is honesty. Burns makes great TV. Go Eagles

[@martycrow]

Frankin was an extraordinary person - interesting and relevant in very many ways. His flaws are as interesting as his achievements. Those, especially in London or the UK should visit the well preserved Benjamin Frankin House, near Trafalgar Square, on 36 Craven Street. I HAVE NO ASSOCIATION WITH THE MUSEUM!

[@mijicmugendo]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 The British should ask themselves when they will stop denying their history warts and all! and stop trying to rewrite it to make themselves feel better!!!

[@mijicmugendo]

@Mark Hating who? I just find it hilarious that a British person is talking about another country accepting it's history WARTS AND ALL while the uk has been denying it history for centuries. It's definitely not hate, pity is a much better word to describe it!

[@jameswhiteley6843]

Does that include the Irish who played their part in the British Empire?

[@mijicmugendo]

@@jameswhiteley6843 No. But it would include British people that were occupying Ireland at the time. Real Irish people where not part of your butchery. But if there was any, they were cu**s aswell A perfect example is Wellington. Born in Ireland to English patents and part of the occupying force in Ireland. Not Irish. Ireland was a colony

[@emm_arr]

@@mijicmugendo "I just find it hilarious that a British person" You'll find it even funnier when you realise why he's British! Butr serkiously, he's a PERSON and not your stereotype of a COUNTRY. That's why he's got arms and not counties. Hohoho!

[@emm_arr]

@@jameswhiteley6843 Shitpost qnd tell him, Jim. In English good enough that he won't notice you are Russian.

[@rogerflack415]

His Civil War documentary would not be made now because it doesn't present those awful events within the 'correct (and overly simplistic) narrative of the oppressed and their oppressors'. For that reason, it's all the more to be treasured.

[@mattfirn3547]

"The West" would also probably be significantly edited (= omitted) to maintain the same narrative. When he said that he has made the same film over and over again, it really struck home

[@userI3I2]

American right wing Trump supporter complains about over-simplistic narratives. Amazing.

[@rogerflack415]

@Simon McCreath Remind me never to ask you for directions.

[@AntonellaFavaretto]

Thank you. Very interesting

[@SkyEcho7]

🏆 EXCELLENT! Thank you.

[@Kuswasinnam]

This was good. Thanks.

[@humanpotatoes4958]

Just any understanding of history would be a start. English people could also do with being taught about the Empire and what it did around the world as well. That might force many of the white supremacists to either stfu or come up with some new excuses for their hatred.

[@humanpotatoes4958]

@Simon McCreath you’re essentially saying that the US is “#1” in this too. Which is slightly ironic. The cancerous brand of Capitalism which has been propagated in the first world is the actual issue for me. It relies on hierarchies and inequality, it requires people to be selfish individuals in order to compete with each other to consume, and it’s essential that powerless minorities, rather than corporations or governments, are the targets for the ire of citizens when they get frustrated at the inequities, or perceived inequities, they experience. The seeds of all this were planted by European empires who happily engaged in murderous plunder, and that’s the history everyone needs to be taught at a very young age. Especially white people who don’t understand why brown people are in “their” countries.

[@helenamcginty4920]

I am British and 74. We were taught not just about the British Empire but about its atrocities. The slave trade being one. I grew up watching the Atlas change from the red of my young childhood to reflect the end of that empire. My generation and that following at least know about the empire and many learned to be ashamed of it.

[@humanpotatoes4958]

@Simon McCreath I’m suggesting in the UK, the US, France, Spain, Portugal etc. In England, I learnt nothing about Empire at school, it wasn’t mentioned. If it is taught in any of the above, it’s almost certainly a sanitised, glorified account of rape and pillage! And the US, you lot are just taught that you’re “the best” as you’ve recognised.

[@KevinXD]

The Empire is glorious, it continues today under corperate captitalism.

[@charlesjerred1857]

Can’t believe I just caught Ken Burns in a mistake…only a slip of the tongue, I’m sure, but he just said that Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington in “1881” instead of “1781.

[@tadihagazi8619]

Matthews 22:34-40🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏❤❤❤❤❤❤❤🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘👑👑👑👑👑👌JESUS GODS LOVE BLESSED WOL JESUS BOY

[@nickjitsu]

1:50 "Americans only take their history seriously. Is that because there is only 250 years of it?" 😂 That could only be said by someone who doesn't take their history as seriously as an American!

[@motomartinski5672]

Yes. At 1:34 Matt Frei, in posing the question, already said that he perceived his fellow British citizens seem to _revere_ (i.e. Feel deep respect or admiration for) their nation's history less than Americans. That is actually quite simplistic and very debatable as an observation of the UK populace. Because just as in the US, the UK has great swathes of poorly educated Trumpster-like nationalists with little real knowledge of their nation's long, complex history, yet _revere_ it based on a few rare stories that appeal to them, like the Battle of Britain, The dam busters, the once giant Royal Navy and huge colonial empire. On the other hand there are also a lot of people in the "United" Kingdom that feel more Scottish, or Welsh, or Irish, than British. And there are many folk who do have fairly reasonable historical knowledge - and if perhaps they are pleased that certain forebears gave the world Newtonian physics, initiated the industrial revolution, discovered antibiotics, antiseptic surgery, genetics and so on... they still do not feel an overwhelming need to be reverential, sanctimonious or hubristic about it - especially given that a long history also has many unpleasant threads woven into to it too. And bearing in mind that much of the inherited wealth in UK and grandeur evident in British architecture and it's royalty was created by feudal gangsterism and on the backs of a majority of peaceful, poor landless working class citizens. Indeed as Americans were engaging in the land theft and ethnic cleansing of native Americans, the feudal lords of Britain were behaving similarly (toward their own countrymen) in Scotland and Ireland... Hence the great emigrations to US.

[@joeldwest]

There is a lot of b.s. Nazi-like pridefulness and dishonesty in the USA

[@devtank]

#kenburns is, absolutely, a #milestone in the realm of #information let alone #documentary or #filmmaking. A critical player, he is the #DzigaVertov of our times.

[@A_Chicago_Man]

Good stuff Brits! WTG!

[@abraxaseyes87]

He works for the ministry of truth. As entertaining and historic as Hollywood. Great emotional content but lacking some ugly truths.

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

What sort of history, yes.

[@jasondevon481]

Teachers in this country need to teach all the amazing things we have done, like abolishing slavery, votes for women, abolishing child labour and many other things. All they seem to teach is for kids to feel guilty about the incredible achievements of our forefathers, including the largest empire in history.

[@mixtapesfrommylatepartner]

SAVE CHANNEL 4!

[@sjewitt22]

Some of the founders were sociaists.

[@joeldwest]

The right-washing does stink

[@andethidialbubabibub3261]

No. Americans need to learn something in school that is not about America and how it's the greatest country ever.. Srsly most Americans can't name 3 other countries if Mexico and Kanada are out!

[@arnoldsanders6878]

Get over yourself.

[@someguy2135]

We need Franklin's wisdom now more than ever. "A republic if you can keep it." -Franklin "Join, or die."- Frankiln "Flesh eating is unprovoked murder." -Franklin (azQuotes) "Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." -Albert Einstein (TodayInSci) Great minds think alike! Of course, today Franklin and Einstein would be vegan.

[@someguy2135]

“My refusing to eat flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chided for my singularity, but, with this lighter repast, I made the greater progress, for greater clearness of head and quicker comprehension. Flesh eating is unprovoked murder.” ― Benjamin Franklin

[@AliG-fr9oj]

Is that the enclave flag?

[@adriancalin8688]

If ill Travel to usa 2 month before ill look some Books

[@kennethhymes9734]

Dude sure left a lot of warts out, and a lot of exculpatory BS in, when he did Vietnam. I honestly don't know what the **** he thinks he has to do with telling the truth about America. He is basically a Final Cut effect plus a long term paper, every single time.

[@motivationeyes2852]

Everyone who reads this, we don't know each other and probably never will but I wish you all the best in life and all the luck in the world 🥰💓🥰 I WILL NEVER GET PINNED

[@userI3I2]

Cringe

[@frankmacgabhann6935]

But Burns gave that idiot Shelby Foote a platform in his Civil War series

[@frankmacgabhann6935]

He was a Lost Cause idiot and loved Nathan Bedford Forrest, the hero of Fort Pillow, whose soldiers executed black Union troops AFTER surrender. He shouldn't have been even used by Burns as he was not a historian

[@moussaouiahmed]

...................................................AM

[@Bambino_60]

Hair dye or toupee?

[@vishalsharma-hh2vb]

biden administration👎👎. take back ur rude man mr. dilip singh, 🇮🇳

[@AnthonyD-yy2in]

White Americans tend to forget that they are Europeans settlers, and of course living in a foreign land.

[@SharpCats371]

Indigenous peoples came to the Americas as explorers too. Good thing Muslims did not get here otherwise there would be no indigenous history from what little history they did keep. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness there of, Good Lenten Journey ✝🕊🙏🧎‍♀️🧎‍♂️🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️

[@lynettebishop6295]

If one acknowledges and accepts Spiritualism as I highly suspect Mr. Burns does; you are now able to go to the direct source (i.e. Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John F. Kennedy etc) to obtain first person direct accounts of what took place in history!

[@gigglemaniarunninwild2207]

That ridiculous wig, cringe

[@lukpo1997]

Jordan Peterson

[@userI3I2]

is a grifter

[@Dan-B]

Who’s gonna tell him about the dye job?...

[@titteryenot4524]

It’s more convincing than McCartney’s, to be fair. Just.

[@portcitytrading6923]

Looks fine

[@guff9567]

NOBODY's ever heard of "Ken Burns". Stop making up these names

[@guff9567]

@Simon McCreath Just because you've an uncle called Ken Burns, does no make him famous.