U.S. History: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

[@bazzfromthebackground3696]

I had a history teacher sophomore year, who opened our first class with an anecdote. "History is written by the winners; winners aren't always good." He then spent our entire year subverting our textbook. I remember almost everyday of that class.

[@azaleaacevedo5124]

He sounds awesome!

[@haroldsneed]

Awesome! One less confuse American.

[@taakotuesdays]

he sounds incredible

[@SMunro]

Realy? Mathematical analysis of egyptian history based on hieroglyph development: valianttheywere.blogspot.com/2020/08/linguistic-archaeology-commonly-used.html

[@ericschnautz6603]

Even though that quote is really old and that teaching style is common, that's still cool that you got a teacher like that. Wish my teachers were better.

[@darnedhercules]

"History, when taught well, teaches us how to improve the world, but history, when taught poorly, falsely teaches us that there's nothing to improve." The best line I've ever heard about why really learning about history is so important, especially in this day and age

[@CanalPSG]

I beg to differ. Around 1920, Communist Russia investigated why the French Revolution failed. The answer was, that the Revolution was hijacked by a charismatic head of the army, who could empower the soldiers with brilliant speeches, and in the end stole all the power: Napoleon Bonaparte. In the USSR, there was such a person too: Leon Trotsky. Thus, the communists took their lesson from history, and tried to improve the world by supporting the less charismatic Stalin. This shows it is bad to trust a history book for lessons for the future.

[@ksahnimdl]

CanalPSG so your argument is that communism failed because of Stalin? That is not only incredibly reductionist, but also untrue.

[@CanalPSG]

@@ksahnimdl That was not what I was saying. All I can say is that throwing away Trotsky was not beneficient for the success of the Revolution.

[@cowpercoles1194]

History needs to be taught accurately, with a dedication to truth and integrity, and as little bias as possible, to best identify where the problems actually are, and openly discuss how to solve them. You can also teach history poorly to exaggerate injustices or spin a false narrative, to cherry pick data to prop up a political agenda that is assumed to be true. Case in point, saying that because all Americans don't learn about the 1920s Tulsa riots is proof that there is all-encompassing white privilege and that an invisible undercurrent of system white racism exists in everyone, all the time, even if they are personally racist. Just because this particular horrible event isn't universally taught (I actually did learn about it in high school back in 1986), doesn't mean that white people aren't taught about Jim Crow or that racism is wrong. Usually, history classes teach about lynching, without lingering on specific events due to lack of time in the school year. Also, textbook companies shy away from hyper-controversial content to sell the book to school boards, and then teachers can add more controversial topics that aren't in the textbook (both black and white school boards don't generally approve purchasing books that will cause local political fights).

[@Newt0rz]

@@CanalPSG Dude, it's way more complicated than that. Trotsky's handling of the invasion of Ukraine and later Poland was considered a disaster. Stalin initially got the blame for it, but the moment Lenin died, Trotsky's closest ally, Stalin turned it around on him. No one knows for sure why Trotsky was incapacitated at the time, but he didn't retaliate until it was too late. Stalin was a shrewd manipulator, he outplayed Trotsky. Had nothing to do with 'charisma', or how liked either was in the party.

[@FNButterStrings]

"Ignoring the history you don't like is not a victimless act." Might be one of the most powerful one-liners John has ever spoken.

[@charlesearp6133]

Also ironic.

[@gethinblake4826]

@@charlesearp6133 how?

[@thelockwarden9028]

Which is impressive in and of itself. He’s given us a few doozies. That said, nothing will ever top ‘Eat Shit Bob: The Musical’.

[@DeviantDeveloper]

That's not saying much

[@223Drone]

Now Trump is trying to do that with his proposed "patriotic education".

[@geekgirl_luv4262]

If you’re not uncomfortable at some point during history class, either it’s being taught wrong or you lack empathy for other human beings.

[@_nobodyxi]

Or you're just not a thin skinned idiot that does not understand humans are barbaric by nature The Germans understand that Their history is supposed to teach them of to fall to their darkest ever again

[@sylvesteruchia5263]

Uncomfortable, angry, annoyed, shocked by horrors.

[@Silvarin33]

I had no idea how egregious the slavery system was until this show, and that horrifies me, because I am white southerner.

[@phoe8523]

That is sooo true . . .

[@ThroneOfBhaal]

I'm a military historian and I can tell you humans haven't changed much in thousands of years. We've got a shinier veneer over the top, our technology has improved, but the animal remains. It's especially apparent when you put a sword in our hands.

[@lorihannon-theaker7531]

Best quote ever: “ History, when taught well, shows us how to improve the world, but when taught poorly, falsely claims there is nothing to improve.” John Oliver, 8/2/2020

[@nighttrain1565]

"Ohhh you know, you know the, the, the THING!!" :Joe Biden.

[@johnmichael_]

Such a great quote!

[@walrussquirrel4332]

@@nighttrain1565 Person. Man. Woman. Camera. TV. Business failure who went bankrupt 6 times. Soon to be ex-president. Future inmate.

[@nighttrain1565]

@@walrussquirrel4332 why do libs feel the need to turn everything into slam poetry 😂 shes ded, Sheeeeeees DED.. Dedy ded ded

[@JackZeroZ]

This is deeply problematic. You don’t teach history to brainwash people with agendas. It teach history because it is what happened. It should not serve any political goals.

[@sherylhoward4831]

Growing up in a red state, I was extremely lucky to have a history teacher who "went by the book " as required but added many things that were left out or whitewashed. He required "extra reading" and we discussed topics instead of just lecture. Some parents threw a fit, but he backed up everything he said and luckily wasn't fired. He inspired me to keep learning. I thank God for that man!

[@charlidog2]

Don't thank a god, thank him (the teacher).

[@sherylhoward4831]

@@charlidog2 Did when I graduated. He's dead now.

[@darksteelyurius]

@@sherylhoward4831 Sorry to hear that he passed away. I had a similar situation only my teacher got fired which kinda lead to me looking up stuff on my own after I graduated.

[@sherylhoward4831]

@@darksteelyurius I just wish that more kids would encounter something like that and use their teenage rebellion to ask,"what are they not telling me? And look things up.

[@emilyarmstrong83]

@@sherylhoward4831 I'm with you on that. I didn't even realize racism still existed until college. Like, I grew up in a majority white state and rural state, but STILL. It shouldn't take going to college to cotton onto this crap.

[@twothreebravo]

When I was in the 7th grade (35 years ago) I had a history teacher who when he taught about the Civil War he explained "When you get to high school they're going to start to tell you it wasn't about slavery, that it was 'more complicated'. Don't listen to them, push back against that nonsense, it was slavery." He also taught us about Juneteenth. We were white in a basically all white rural/suburban district. This knowledge has served me well and helped me to always dig a little deeper whenever I read about things and try to be objective

[@lenalongbottom80]

mad respect to that teacher.

[@maryrosekent8223]

twothreebravo Having teachers who love to impart knowledge is such a rich experience. You’re lucky!

[@naturalbeautyfoods512]

I had a similar teacher in 4th grade. I'll never forget the day she taught us this. I'm 40 now and I still find it surprising when I read comments from white people reacting so defensively to the truth. I wonder what their teachers taught them, or should I say "didn't" teach them.

[@BreanaP]

Was absolutely taught (in rural Georgia of course) that the Civil War was specifically fought for "States Rights." Nevermind the fact that the South was fighting for their rights to own human beings 😑

[@guywhopaysrent]

I had a third grade teacher who African American and she didn’t hold back when she talked about the civil war and civil rights movement. Seeing footage of people being beaten and hosed still stick with me to this day and I’m thankful for that

[@footballamateur123]

In college I majored in economics, and my senior year I took a class called "The History of the American Economy." When we got to the chapter on slavery my professor said "I don't really like teaching this chapter because it makes me uncomfortable, so we're going to just skip over it." That's all we talked about slavery, in a course on THE HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN ECONOMY. We then spent the next couple of weeks talking about the economic impact of the Civil War, without once mentioning what the war was even being fought over or how reliant the south was on slave labor.

[@HasJel131]

Sheesh

[@experimentsinliving4302]

Sounds about right. One thing I've learned in college is that going to college doesn't guarantee an education.

[@barryallen871]

That's a shitty professor. Every professor I had loved talking about the controversial stuff.

[@OjaysReel]

WOW!

[@kk8490]

Yikes

[@ryanpagel426]

My U.S. history teacher in 11th grade was a college professor , and just straight up told us the curriculum text books were crap. Then proceeded to teach us about the taking of America, the slaughter of Native Americans and slavery through the years. I guess looking back I'm very thankful he did, for i didn't have to grow up ignorant to the reality that is the United States of America.

[@demonzabrak]

Now let’s be fair here. Most of the native Americans were killed by smallpox, and most of that accidentally. But yeah, our forefathers murdered the shit out of them. Sometimes with smallpox on purpose, after noticing how effective the accidents were.

[@johnnixon]

Dr. Bohlen?

[@justandhans]

The fact you got a college professor teaching you 11th grade history from a 14th grade level is amazing

[@amelia3047]

I had a teacher in high school who would call out shit in the textbook that was whitewashed and I’m so glad he did

[@twothreebravo]

In a US history course in college the professor asked the class when we got to the Civil War "Hands up, who thinks the Civil war was fought over slavery?" I and about half the class raised our hands. He then says, "The rest of you are either too lazy to raise your hands or wrong. Now tell me what you think the reasons were and I'll tell you why they're wrong." He had an entire day's lesson set up refuting all these arguments these kids had. It's amazing how much work college educators have to put into just fixing bad secondary educations.

[@soulslikefan6760]

I remember in high school my teacher got pissed when we got to the civil war in the new textbook. It claimed it was because of states rights. He stopped the class for 2 days to make it clear it was because of slavery. He was a vet, and he was proud of his country, even the horrible parts. He said that pretending we had no issues was an insult to everyone who ever tried to make the US better. Although we still never covered juneteenth.

[@TheRandomeer]

As someone who just graduated with a bachelors in US History, I've never been taught of Juneteenth either before this year.

[@TheMulToyVerse]

I do get the actual point, and it’s a truly great point... but I snickered like an asshole when I read the “proud of his country, even the horrible parts” I know it was meant to paint the picture that he is proud of his country even after factoring in/despite the horrible parts, but yeah... momentarily came off as “proud of his country (overall)... proud of the horrible parts” Again though, I get what the message actually was. Sounds like he is a good teacher for making sure you and your classmates were better informed than the textbook would have left you

[@TheMulToyVerse]

David Smith CA education from the heart of the Silicon Valley... I couldn’t tell ya if any of my history classes covered Juneteenth... if any of them did I’ve long since forgotten, and if they didn’t then I couldn’t tell ya that either All I know is that I first started hearing/seeing the date show up online more and more about 5 years ago and while it’s good that I’ve become aware, people are still only ~generally~ aware of it and what it means I’m a perfect example of that. After hearing it mentioned and circulated online for roughly 5 years, it wasn’t until *this* year that I finally saw anything about it commemorating the whole “2 years after everyone else” aspect of Texas being told that they couldn’t keep slaves anymore... I can only imagine the levels of playing dumb that must’ve happened in ~that~ exchange Texas: Wait, whaaaa? Really? No, no... we totally didn’t know that had become a thing; I mean we knew they were *talking* about it but the memo must’ve gotten lost on the way here. For realsies we never got the letter *~slowly closes drawer with open letter dated 2 years prior~* Oh of course, right away... I mean, we were about to free them anyway cause we were getting tired of waiting for ~YOU GUYS~ to make the first move... well yeah, it’s clear you beat us to it NOW, hahahaha, but I mean, that letter getting lost in the mail and all... *~locks the drawer with letter in it~* 😅

[@kissit012]

Slavery was a bargaining tool that was used during the war to get slaves to switch sides and help the North win. The same promises were made during the revolutionary war and many times in between. Slavery didn't even end with the emancipation proclamation, only certain kinds. Lincoln himself said in a speech in 1858: "I have said a hundred times, and I have now no inclination to take it back, that I believe there is no right, and ought to be no inclination in the people of the free States to enter into the slave States, and interfere with the question of slavery at all." He was not an abolitionist. He admittedly used the same tactics as manipulative slave owners against them for his own profit. Many northern fighters owned, and continued to own slaves even after the war. It was not about slavery, it was just a convenient rallying point to get what they wanted. The economic shift that happened after the war made the north rich and debilitated the south, whereas before it was near the opposite. Just like methods used to support the initial war on drugs made it about race, but it was really about economics. Or planned parenthood arguments surround abortion, but are really about womens rights and autonomy.

[@forthesakeofsanityandsuch9331]

Still better than mine, who was really the gym teacher but took the role of us history teacher 'cause we were short, and taught us nothing but wrestling stats, all about his "great wrestler" son and had us read at random (he admitted this once) from the textbook intermittantly (this was my Junior year of HS!)

[@kaylaguilbault7154]

“If this is the first time that you’re learning about the only coup on American soil…” that quote aged itself 🥲

[@emilysmith2965]

“Only” is now replaced with “first”

[@jamesheaton5421]

I mean, it's still the only effective coup, the idiots at the capitol didn't really succeed at anything but killing some cops and making the republican party look like traitors, which is why they've done such a good job of pretending it never happened.

[@alanmauldin1827]

Well, that coup in N.C. actually succeeded. Trump is a losing loser who list his coup.

[@alangroskreutz235]

Only successful coup.

[@marc21256]

​@@alangroskreutz235Trump's Jan 6 coup was successful. Pelosi Jan 7 coup was also successful. The 2020 election was improperly certified. The rules say it must be certified on Jan 6. It wasn't. But Congress reconvenied on the 7th, called it a continuation of the 6th of January, and certified the election on the wrong day. Had Trump had more support in Congress, the second coup would have failed, and the first would have stood. Trump is an idiot, but don't underestimate evil by dismissing it as incompetent. It will take 100+ years for everyone alive now to die, for the emotions around the events to fall away, but history will record it as two successful coups. Because that's what happened.

[@limbobilbo8743]

Here in Australia we have a similar problem. Allow me to sum it up: "And then all the aboriginal people's just dissapeared"

[@combatwombatcreations8569]

Really at my school we learned about what happened in every state from about year 9 onward Edit: We also learned about racism in America

[@erikstrasburg6411]

Funny Americans also hear something similar about Native Americans.

[@sixstringedthing]

It still blows my mind every time I remember that Indigenous Australians were classified as "part of the flora and fauna" in government documents right up until the early sixties. But then we solved racism by embracing stir-fry and kebabs. So, uh... We're all good now, right guys?

[@DanielHatchman]

Yeah the history lessons were shit in primary school. There is no reason you can't tell kids to be grateful for what we have relative to others but still properly cover all the parts of history we wish we didn't have.

[@johnmoore1495]

“They went to a better place”

[@MrDimSumLee]

"History, when taught well, shows us how to improve the world, but history, when taught poorly, falsely claims there is nothing to improve. So we have to teach it well and continue to learn it." -John Oliver.

[@mr.stauffersnaturechannel]

@Gracchus Babeuf Please post a link that proves your assertion that history teachers are "nationalists." I'll wait...

[@syok1107]

@@mr.stauffersnaturechannel Your reading comprehension hahahahahahah

[@Stu98765]

@Gracchus Babeuf Because 22 people locked in gitmo is equivalent to the almost 1 million in China's camps? I don't agree with what's going on in gitmo but the US isn't harvesting people's organs and locking them up for applying for a passport. Acting like it's fine to commit genocide because another country has 2 dozen people locked up is about the stupidest thing I've heard in a while.

[@k33k32]

I often think, "In order to create a more perfect union...." those words from the preamble of the Constitution remind me that they weren't perfect - neither are we; but we can work to make things better all the time.

[@sc2_Nightmare]

Take it from a German: Knowing your own history is important, no matter how uncomfortable it is.

[@Gymnasiar]

Not only knowing about it but embracing and building upon it.

[@marekwygnany924]

Yeah, hope we'll fucking get us to not appease east europe like the brits.

[@albertalbert4333]

How very well said sir.

[@gottrance4631]

@UCRpthNj3htMjKgxVA1P4jww Agree, half the people here want to compare the US to Germany or many other communist counties who have done evil in the name of good. The US is not perfect because there isn't a perfect nation, but come on!

[@demasa]

Yeah its fantastic, you all still feel guilty for it and its pathetic. regards, the dutch

[@dreynoso8561]

Thank you for addressing this! As a grandfather of mixed grandbabies i want to be able to teach them everything possible from history good or bad. So they can make informed choice as the grow. Im the only father figure in their lives and even though im mixed myself, white and Hispanic, im not African American and I will reach out to my friends who are for help at times. I try my hardest to inform myself to raise them right. This was just a step in my growth. Thank you!

[@jointy33]

As a 30 year old german I want to add that I will never forget my visit with my school class to the concentration camp Buchenwald. I stood in a room as a child where the dead bodies were being rounded up and stacked before burning them. Even the loudest, most irresponsible ones in our group shut up during that day and believe me, it didnt mess with us, it didnt darken our minds, it didnt make us hate the country we lived in, the country I grew up in, the country it is developing itself to be, as we all write our own history. What it did do is broadening my horizon, making me aware for injustice and hopefully gave me the courage, shall I ever face these horrors no matter how big or small to open my mouth and speak out.

[@orlock20]

But it didn't stop the Chinese from building their own recently in north west China.

[@hansfranz8795]

Oh Buchenwald, ich kann dich nicht vergessen Weil du mein Schicksal bist Wer dich verließ, der kann es erst ermessen Wie wundervoll die Freiheit ist Oh Buchenwald, wir jammern nicht und klagen Und was auch unser Schicksal sei Wir wollen trotzdem "Ja!" zum Leben sagen Denn einmal kommt der Tag, da sind wir frei

[@jennifermcgoldrick6323]

@orlock20 chinese grade school kids don't visit those concentration camps 🙄 Stop pretending you don't understand just so that you can bring up another terrible action by humans.

[@muhammedatta666]

And today students should be taught how race hustlers like Ellison and the Dems caused the loss of tens of thousands of lives and hundreds of millions in property, due to Dem propaganda. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJnaqXqwjrplqtU In other words we have not learned much since the blatant misrepresentation of the actual, full, interaction of rodney king and police.

[@PaulTheSkeptic]

One can be a proud citizen of his or her country while acknowledging its crimes. I think maybe that pride might be best represented, for America, by Hendrix's interpretation of The Star Spangled Banner. It was obviously done out of pride but one can't help but to hear the turmoil. Maybe that's not what the apolitical Jimi Hendrix intended but good art often transcends its original meaning.

[@Redandranger]

"History, when taught well, shows us how to improve the world. But history, when taught poorly, falsely claims there is nothing to improve." THIS should hang on the wall of every classroom in America.

[@lauranetta6015]

not only America, everywhere around the world.

[@astrowolvez]

And it teaches that if you dare say there can be improvements then you must hate america.

[@imbabarra]

Cant argue there..

[@gunsandroses896]

@Juho agreed. Down under, we were taught that yeah, the Brits really f*cked up with Indigenous Asutralians.

[@giannaleng1897]

@@gunsandroses896 yeah, my history curriculum in Canada has a chapter dedicated to native Americans and the atrocities of residential schools. One of our books in French Class was a book written by a Native American about the atrocities of residential schools. It was a heartbreaking story but it was eye opening and absolutely necessary.

[@TheFoundnoname]

it is illegal to deny that the holocaust happened here in germany and it is impossible to not learn about it at least 2-3 times in school. we don't sugarcoat it to make sure something like that can not happen ever again. due to this, national pride is low here, but we work to build a better future. we don't dwell in the past, but it is important to know it to move forward.

[@AstolfoBestWaifu1]

As a German person, I think our way with dealing with the past is generally good. But I do not think denying the holocaust should be illegal, I think a person has the right to deny facts and be retarded, there are exceptions, like when you would tell something untrue (without evidence) about another person that would hurt him etc. But saying that the holocaust didn't happen, in itself isn't a problem. You can say that because you are misinformed, and just saying that doesn't really pose a problem. Yes most people who do are nazis, but if I look at the principle behind denying the holocaust, it is no different from just deciding if someone has the right to deny facts, and indeed someone should have the right to do so. As for the history part, I think it's good the way it is, in my school we spent 1 and a half years dealing with the holocaust, which was enough time, to look at everything that happened in enough detail, and also be aware of different things like populism, how propaganda works etc.

[@celiwhaaat6285]

Viktor I think it’s good, that it’s illegal to deny the holocaust. Because as you said most people who deny it are (neo-)nazis and if it wasn’t illegal they would have it way easier. Right now they do it by giving different reasons to why the war started (->revisionism) and saying that the other European countries had the same level of hostility towards minorities. That’s hard enough to fight, but if it was legal to deny the Holocaust that fight would get infinitely harder..

[@samijohn207]

@@AstolfoBestWaifu1 I understand your point of view about having the right to deny facts, but I think this instance would be the one exception to that situation, cause the sheer brutality of the whole thing warrants such a case.

[@hdsempro62]

To me as a German the national pride thing is just... Different. What good has blind national pride ever done? Saw hatred and cause wars. But I am proud of some things, of how we look at our own history and teach it for example, that's not only something important but also something ongoing. I feel like people are proud of being German, but for other reasons than just "Germany is the best country in the world, blablabla, more for things that are actually positive and mean anything for the present or even the future.

[@waszyrowski]

national pride is not a bad thing my Gerry friend. You country's contribution is more than wars you fought - take some pride in your country's accomplishments.

[@300IQPrower]

As a texan who went to private school (as recently as class of ‘18), let me tell you the mental gymnastics are INSANE. We’re taught that Robert E Lee was a “tragic hero,” and that Andrew Jackson was one of the most “effective” Presidents in history. My personal favorite though is books that claim Stonewall Jackson was a “legendary tactician” yet in the same breath add that he died from being shot by his own men. Because he decided to _lead_ a firing squad ambush at NIGHT... _From atop his horse._

[@slimbogoody208]

U can't make this shit up

[@jasonlai1929]

Andrew Jackson died of heart failure.

[@300IQPrower]

@@jasonlai1929 Confederate general Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson and US President Andrew Jackson are two different people. Both are white supremacist warmongering jackasses from the deep south though.

[@yuriichernenko794]

So let's burn america?

[@ST-LEO]

@@jasonlai1929 no one mentioned Andrew Jackson's death

[@PaulMatthis]

"History when taught well shows us how to improve the world, but history when taught poorly falsely claims that there is nothing to improve." Nailed it.

[@tatil8243]

One of the best quotes of the piece!

[@ErutaniaRose]

Everything is grey, and the only way we can step into the light is if we go through the darkness to get there.

[@ErutaniaRose]

@Ok Boomer Nobody has ever taught history properly because there has not been an age of great overall peace. (AkA, there was not peace because people never learned.) Humans cannot learn from their mistakes, or ancestors mistakes, if they are not willing to try. So I suggest you pick ANY two areas of the world, find some general history on them (from any time period) and figure out what they have in common. It might shed some light on what you deem to be "a bs". While you're at it, I suggest you learn some slang tips, since B.S. is never written with an "A" before it.

[@Squalla1]

@Ok Boomer Are you really so dense that you can't grasp the concept of learning from one's mistakes? Have you somehow managed to miss the famous saying "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it" your entire life? Are you _against_ teaching kids actual history for whatever reason? I'd love to hear how 99% of what happened isn't relevant. I'm sure you have an ingenious working for that which isn't at all related to being a conservative dickhead.

[@ErutaniaRose]

@Ok Boomer People do bad things because they are working with what they have and everybody has different skills, experiences, and opinions. Some steal because they need to, others steal because they want to. But, both of them have some sort of issue that needs to be addressed. If we look back at what we have, and why we have it, we can try to fix it. If we sit back, call everything bs, and live without context, nothing will be fixed. We have to learn to coexist. That is starting to happen all across the world, but great change takes time and it takes great effort. So I hope you can be apart of the change and help the world be a better place with the skills you have.

[@PONR2006]

I wish there was a second part to this about US history that talked about US's view of its own foreign policy.

[@ShauntSerelu]

The US's foreign policy has always been: "there's only America and places that are soon to be America"

[@buddhafyre]

I read a great book on that subject....Killing Hope; CIA Misadventures Abroad

[@Anon-on1cw]

The CIA would pop him if he tried.

[@jsrodman]

The US's .. let's say erratic .. foreign policy is easy to mock, but hard to summarize in concise and neutral manner. We have a reasonable number of writers and speakers who are fairly realistic about the roots of US foreign policy and the results of modern US foreign policy. However they're very actively attacked by other people more deeply invested in US exceptionalism. Let's say I don't expect public school curriculums to adopt an accurate and thorough teaching of the topic any time in the next 40-50 years.

[@dylananderson310]

Give it a week

[@meadowrae1491]

As an American I get this constant feeling that I'm being gaslighted by my entire country. I just don't understand how or why people can believe the obvious lies we are being told daily.

[@walrussquirrel4332]

Because they want to. It's beyond absurd how many adults in the US are mentally still children who need fairy tales to help them sleep at night.

[@meadowrae1491]

@Hillary Clinton Let's start with the simplest; that we are the greatest country on earth. Greatest at what, exactly?

[@Shrooms-gud4ya]

1. Because It goes against many peoples interests (not only political but also financial) 2. Because lies such as these are easier to swallow and do not endanger comfort zones of many MANY people 3. Because if a lie is repeated many times, it eventually becomes the truth ( and if the lie is within one's comfort zone then it will not only be protected but even defended from ANY attempts to change it)

[@cyclone5354]

Bill Jenkins I’m tired of people and Americans like you whining about this nation and saying it’s not legitimate and then living on it and making money. F off unless ur leaving if it’s illegitimate

[@fastinradfordable]

Cyclone5 Go tell some native Americans their claim to North America going back ThOUsANDS of years is invalid. They owned every inch of this land while most white people hadn’t even made up the second book in Christianity.

[@williamgregory1848]

Every day, this piece (sadly) ages like fine wine

[@Galimeer5]

"Changing an America that doesn't want to be changed" is the most concise description of history and politics I've ever heard

[@CribNotes]

Clever word twists are not truth by mere default. Sorry.

[@brianbrush5107]

@@CribNotes It's truth by way of the facts

[@ieatcake33]

A lot of this is culturally ingrained into society, and changing something cultural usually requires multiple generations. That’s why racism didn’t just disappear 50 years after MLK

[@AquarianSoulTimeTraveler]

Juneteenth doesn't make any sense that could be any date from the 13th through the 19th!!! This new universe version sucks! Goddamn madela effects!

[@DreDayBoogie]

@@AquarianSoulTimeTravelerYea i need a universe where white ppl never left the caucus mountains

[@kawaiilette2462]

I live in wilmington nc, I am 31 years old... I just LAST WEEK learned about the horrible massacre that happened here. I am educated, or so I thought... they never tought us this in school. I've learned more about our nations real history in the last few months than I have learned my whole life. This is important stuff. The TRUTH is important. Forgotten history is bound to repeat itself.

[@Julia-lk8jn]

Or the other way round: people who cover up history hope that they can repeat it. If the huge majority of Americans never knew about the Tulsa massacre then that's not a coincidence. It's a decision to keep it out of school books, news papers and public memory.

[@chillier]

I’m 66 and feel the same way.

[@reallyWyrd]

Same.

[@danieldaw1778]

I'm a black 25 year old college graduate. I grew up in New Jersey. The first time I heard about, well, really, any of this stuff, was when I took an African American history class in college. Or like, the first time I heard that George Washington (yes that George) started the seven years war/French and Indian War (yes, I'm not lying) was in a college US history course. Essentially, most of my US history knowledge from kindergarten to senior year of high school was either bullshit or like, the barebones stuff that made everyone look passable. And I was educated in New Jersey, which actually had one of the best education systems in the country. Seriously. We're second. Though to be fair, college education is included in that so I guess that's a plus for NJ?

[@gott9712]

Imagine us Germans teaching history like "there was Hitler but we overcame him and now there is no more antisemitism" All of which would be wrong

[@mortuos557]

Wouldn't that be nice if it were a correct abbreviation of history? Would've been a way more comfortable history, and also we wouldn't have idiots vote afd...

[@glittery_cucumber]

Ironically, that's how Americans usually view the Third Reich chapter of German history.

[@lesliewu3208]

Germany is an excellent example of what you get with a few generations of self hating propaganda and it is clear you can fall off the ships on both side of this matter.

[@mortuos557]

@@lesliewu3208 we're not hating ourselves. We're just kept aware of what happened, so no one can misconstrue it without backlash. We wouldn't want someone to repeat our mistakes. The Germans alive today aren't at fault for what happened. But we inherited the responsibility to make sure that this will not happen again. That's not self hatred though. That's knowing your history and owning up to it. Someone who is just proud of the achievements of their ancestors without owning up to their failures is doing themselves a disservice.

[@ktran7282]

@@lesliewu3208 it is definitely not self hating Big news, you can acknowledge what crimes your ancestors and your country have done, remembering it on memorial days, listening to the victims who survived and their descendants and at the same time being a patriot Have you ever seen how germans celebrate their country during soccer world championship or Oktoberfest?

[@Josh_Quillan]

What really staggers me about "the worst day in America is better than the best day in any other country" is not that meatheads say it, it's that nobody seems in any way aware of how completely untrue and toxic that is.

[@DaretoExplore]

That moron has probably never traveled outside the US. And probably hasn't traveled much inside the US either. US has the worst healthcare system in the world, on top of the racism, xenophobia, mass shootings and opioid epidemic. Even our democratic elections are being threatened now.

[@evanhoffman7995]

It's like they don't even acknowledge the possibility we could be better. To me, the most important and revolutionary part of our constitution is not representative democracy or separation of powers - it's the fact that it can be changed. The founders knew damn well that what they came up with was not perfect and shouldn't be expected to last forever, and that each generation would have to adapt it for their own needs and times.

[@Minumer]

I'll let people get away with saying that just as soon as we have universal healthcare, lmao. Bare minimum.

[@Josh_Quillan]

@@evanhoffman7995 I really don't think the ability to change your laws is particularly special or unique. Basically every country can do that. Much more critical is the will and understanding of zeitgeist required to actually use that ability to benefit the nation, which going by current evidence the US seems to lack in most practical terms. There's a murderous gun rampage epidemic sweeping the nation, cops are not keeping the peace or upholding the law, cities are ripping themselves apart because of car-dependent infrastructure and zoning like it's still 1953, nobody can afford rent, let alone healthcare... how does the political class respond? By reversing laws permitting abortion, banning loads of books and demonising trans people. Smooth recovery there.

[@michaeladkins6]

@@Minumer Holding your breath for that long is unhealthy. No charge for that medical advice.

[@daniellecouch2122]

One of the best episodes. Still crying. I"m almost 50 yrs old and trying to relearn history. Much love to John Oliver and the writing staff of Last Week Tonight.

[@glynnismajor]

Right? I'm almost 43 and from Louisiana. I've learned a lot of "trapped in the closet history" from a particular account I follow on Instagram but this episode is so important that it became an instant favorite. If I were a teacher- my students WOULD HAVE TO WATCH THIS.

[@WildwoodClaire1]

Right you are! I consider myself reasonably well-educated in American history, but that is due to personal interest, and LITTLE THANKS to the white-washed, often subtle but sometimes explicit, racist nonsense I was taught as a child growing up in Tennessee. For example, I was well into adulthood before I ever heard the name Emmett Till, or anything about Tulsa or WIlmington, NC, and only recently learned about "Juneteenth." Yes, even now as a recent retiree, I am STILL learning about things hidden away in our jumbled national history cellar.

[@glynnismajor]

@@WildwoodClaire1As a kid I thought Juneteenth was also called James Earl Ray day as well because of the racists I was surrounded by. The first person who ever told me that was a police officer.

[@emilyb.8219]

My mom is 57 and she's been working hard the last few months especially to relearn history. It's inspiring to me when older adults are willing to acknowledge they've been wrong or misinformed for decades and do their best to rectify it. So many just double down on what they've always known, no matter how off the mark it is.

[@mihaimoldo]

If you're interested watch this further : m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/hWXGmqqgfbt7j8k There are a couple of books mentioned throughout the video and they seem worth your while.

[@zaynab-to-a]

True story: my mom is black, and she grew up in a really bad neighborhood with gangs and roach-infested apartments, but she did really well in her school and ended up being the second (my aunt is older than her) person in our family to ever go to college--software engineering. College was where she learned that dinosaurs were not fictional.

[@thatsagoodone8283]

Thanks for sharing! A really funny, believable and inspiring yet somewhat sad story. Cool that your mom impoved her life that much!

[@kristyna.kocianova]

Your mom sounds awesome! So happy that she got this far :)

[@Julia-lk8jn]

That is one cool story, thanks for sharing. If I may ask, when did your mom go to college?

[@TheDoorspook11c]

Sounds like yall are from Texas! Seriously. Check the ed curriculum in TX.

[@Deladus]

I have a former coworker in their late 30s or maybe 40s who did not believe dinosaurs existed. Also, she did not believe in outer space.

[@georgegeisert4329]

My school decided to SKIP the chapter covering "Discrimination Against African Americans" because they deemed it to be "less important" than other chapters like "Leisurely Activities of the Last 1800s". Depressing

[@zackclark1425]

Typically

[@msjkramey]

@Kerstin Muir um, actually mayonnaise took off in the 1700s, so us white people were eating moist sandwiches while being racist at our picnics, thank you very much

[@detrockcity3]

oh, it's just that leisurely activities in the late 1800s already includes discrimination against African Americans

[@msjkramey]

@Patrick J Mims exactly! Our ancestors were monsters but they had condiments at least! (On a serious note, what OP said is effed. We need to get our priorities straight)

[@salvagemonster3612]

Nope didn’t happen

[@sugarycloud9977]

For those of you who are a bit confused about why scientists would put in the effort to recreate some random mummy's voice; Nesyamun was a priest in Thebes, during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses XI. It is thought that him singing, or rather humming melodies played a big part in his duties for ceremonies and rituals. Imagining that his voice hasn't been heard for thousands of years on this earth, and is now "back" for us to hear, makes the work put into it seem much more worth it, at least in my opinion.

[@hellrazoromega]

I'll never forget what my first college professor said: "Your college math professor hopes you remember what you learned in high school math, your English professor hopes you remember what you learned in high school English, but your history professor hopes you forgot what you learned in high school history." As a college history instructor now myself I couldn't agree more.

[@sinfulxsociety]

Ironically the only subject I was in advanced classes for is history in highschool and they did a decent job in my opinion

[@Kkidzz]

@@sinfulxsociety ...an anomaly in this joke of a country's educational system.

[@veronicablake5389]

thats just plain stupid

[@HexIsme]

I have good news for you: I have zero attention span for uninteresting things, and U.S. history was completely and utterly uninteresting from elementary to high school. Finding out that a good chunk of it was white-washed bullshit is not surprising in the least, but it's certainly depressing. Though, I suppose it also explains all the irrationally proud freedom boners. Difficult to get psyched for your country when you know what evils that country has visited upon its own people. Denial is easier than accepting painful truths.

[@Beavereaver]

So you were brainwashed by your communist professor and now you’re doing the same to unsuspecting kids.

[@NoahOfTheArc]

People keep saying they don't want to talk about this or that because it's "too political", but hiding that information is just as political as sharing it.

[@bennyton2560]

especially when it's the people in power dictating what is political and what is not

[@GnarledStaff]

People are trying to make thinking and intellectual pursuit political so they can say tell people not to do it.

[@lewisfraser4153]

"Too political" has become another way of saying "I'm too sensitive to have my beliefs challenged"

[@obrigaah]

@@lewisfraser4153 for real. history is political.

[@lewisfraser4153]

@@obrigaah absolutely, history doesn't care about politics, only facts. If someone can't set aside their moral convictions for facts, I don't want to know them

[@shortcutDJ]

I went to elementary school in the 90's in Belgium and we got taught that our king Leopold expanded our country by integrating Congo in our nation, he made it "better" for the locals. He made our economy stronger, and increased the size of our small nation. what was really happening was kept from us. There was not a word about the atrocities commited.

[@patrykkarcz7859]

Well, he definitely fought hard with potential overcrowdness in Congo... And "overhandness" as well

[@Etatdesiege1979]

Damm! I attended a private school in Belgium in the 90’s 5eme et 6eme. Lycee de Berlaymont and even the nuns and the fathers there taught so about how bad the Belgians were in the Congo. Funny how things work. Some people regardless of their background just love the truth. I guess that history about he Congo is the one that is taught in public schools?

[@sarahdev.1268]

I went to (catholic) school in the 00s and was taught about it in an apropriate way, but still too short and too vague. I think it really depends on the teacher, they may have to come up with this themselves. What is in the curriculum for history about Congo?

[@romainrutayisire4273]

@@patrykkarcz7859 what was he fighting for??

[@patrykkarcz7859]

@@romainrutayisire4273 personal wealth

[@Bombadillio]

Speaking truth to power with incredibly raw wit and wisdom once again. Thank you John Oliver and Team

[@sassyalbatross2933]

I grew up in Illinois were I was taught that Native American were “functionally extinct” despite being indigenous myself all the way trough high school. Illinois wanted to make sure I felt like a fool so when I said I was native my second grade teacher said “ok so how about you play the pilgrim today” and when I said I didn’t want to be the bad guy she said pilgrim were the good guys who taught native how to use technology. My teachers in high school made me come in, in full dress just to laugh at me along with my classmates and talk about how my culture was “silly”. The same teacher who called manifest destiny amazing because now we had Disney land. Total bullshit. It doesn’t surprise me that in talking about white supremacy you left natives out because when talking about the redskins changing their name almost every news channel said natives were “waiting” for years. We weren’t waiting.

[@WildFyreful]

I'm so sorry your teachers did that to you. That's fucking gross of them to do that! D:

[@Antonio953digit]

You're absolutely right, native americans were wronged just as much as black americans. Unfortunately, history is written by those in power but they do not own the truth

[@darthknightwingphoenix2081]

I'm so sorry.

[@TheRiptideRaptor]

Sassy Albatross Where in Illinois?

[@casucasueq4479]

Grief shouldnt be a competition.

[@QuestionEverythingButWHY]

"Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor." --James Baldwin

[@wild-radio7373]

WORD! ♡

[@Rebecca-qx1et]

Absolutely correct!

[@mimosakura795]

Very true, sadly most can never grasp that fact. And being poor means you'll always have to work 3 times harder to make it.

[@Ulyssestnt]

Man those are true words my friend..

[@camelopardalis84]

Tell me about it. Paying x amount for a pair of shoes once a year instead of twice as much every five years ...

[@omikamalhotra2583]

Last year in my AP Language class, we had a class discussion about racial inequality (since we were reading Huckleberry Finn), and I mentioned the Tulsa Masaccare only after reading about it in a book. My 40-year-old teacher was shocked because that was the first time she had learned about it.

[@renelough6554]

It truly sucks that Huckleberry Finn is used as a placeholder lesson for young adults to learn about Slavery. One - Twain is white. Two - fiction is not history nor activism. [I don't care how realistic it appears - based on a true story, doesn't compare to historical accounts.] 3 - though Mark Twain was an abolitionist, many of his works handled religious dogmatism. He was extremely anti-religious and felt brutalized by Christianity in particular. I would argue Huckleberry Finn is actually about exposing the evils justified by Christians under their cherry-picked Christianity. One of those evils being racism. That is why Jim is the most true Christian/Jesus/Moral ex. of Goodness - it is to mock the Christian racists he grew up with. That is also why Huck's most infamous line is “All right then, I'll go to hell”. Mark Twain is paraded as this white savior, when really he was an okay person, but a damn good writer. Using Huckleberry Finn to illustrate the abolitionist movement is just inadequate and dilutes/distorts Mark Twain as a writer. He is one of my favorite writers, I love him to death. However, I don't think he should be taught in schools because if schools can't teach/ say white supremacy, they can't handle racial slurs in fiction. Twain is not uncommon example of a lot of white people knew Slavery was wrong, just some white people decided to rationalize it, which makes it more heinous and corrupt. I read Huckleberry Finn as a preteen, then also had him assigned in my AP english class. This is all just to piggyback on your point. And curious what you think about the continued assigned reading of Huckleberry Finn?

[@LemonadepieX]

For real?! I know she’s only AP Lang, but that’s crazy!

[@lisettegarcia]

@@renelough6554 - based on the criteria you laid out against Twain, you should delete your comment as -- if your pfp is to be believed -- you aren't entitled to educate or inform regarding racial justice education.

[@lisettegarcia]

And how many times you gotta post different editions of the same comment in response to one video? Virtue signalling much?

[@ianstephenson9721]

I first heard about Tulsa freshman year of college (2018), and I feel like that was early

[@timothycaver3768]

John, I think what you’re doing with this show is simply outstanding. I have no idea how broad the reach is but I get choked up sometimes listening to you break down the flaws and the lies and cover-ups in this country that are killing the little people. While you may be a lone voice in the wilderness at times, I know people are watching and learning. I’ve learned a ton from your shows but if one white person learns (and changes) from this episode, you should be forever proud of the impact of your platform. Bravo young man. Bravo..

[@ozzyosborne7656]

Bright minds like John Oliver and his team are the reason this world is still worth living in. Thanks for keeping people informed you marvellous human being.

[@Random-Saurus]

Imagine history books in Germany teaching about the Holocaust like that... "Germans have always been very efficient, so they made an agreement with Jews and other minorities and even political opponents, who were eager to work for the great Reich. They were given the opportunity to build their houses on a camp ground where they would live and work together as a community; mining, working in factories, cooking or making lamp shades and knive sheaves... But some of them were lazy or vicious, so they had to be punished accordingly. Some Jews couldn't work because they were too old and fragile or still too young, so they were sent to a different kind of camps with great sanitary installations where they would live together happily ever after."

[@ruairiodonohoe2533]

Ikr

[@JanChrissD]

As a german, i am so greatfull for the strong democracy we have. Writing, selling ore promoting those kinds of schoolbooks would be a hatecrime here.

[@PuddingXXL]

This!

[@rickgiles7955]

Wow, u hit the nail on the head

[@camotee1680]

In Japan, their history books told them that the Pearl Harbor incident was in retaliation for having Tom Cruise as the Last Samurai instead of Chuck Norris. And every time they apologized, they were just using government funds to have a celebration of sort

[@nrdy2theXtreme]

"History, when taught well, shows us how to improve the world. But history, when taught poorly, falsely claims that there is nothing to improve." - John Oliver

[@jamesq.5913]

He was quoting Jon Lewis😉

[@evilspyke5760]

he should take his own advice.

[@joshuaking7470]

@@jamesq.5913 Another example of appropriation hopefully nrdy2theXtreme will correct it

[@chazdomingo475]

​@Bill Jenkins You're sad because you're white but you don't feel like you've got privilege. Maybe you should try being less jealous and petty and perhaps your condition would improve as well

[@evilspyke5760]

@@chazdomingo475 go check how well your white privilege gets you in China or Zimbabwe.

[@boutchie06]

John Oliver is brilliant! We’re lucky to have him.

[@GamerdevilPro]

As a German it's mind-boggling to hear how history is taught in the USA. We are getting taught how important it is to know about history in order to not repeat it. Learning about the horrors of WW2 and the whole buildup to the 3rd reich is the most important part we are getting taught in school and we do so for multiple *years*, often accompanied by visits of memorials, concentration camps and reading literature (notably the diary of Anne Frank which we read in 7th grade) and newspapers of that time. There are still things that we can improve here about our history lessons, especially the more recent history but the difference in quality to the US is astonishing.

[@PIlotrcm]

If America did to the Confederacy what the allies did to Nazi Germany at the end of WWII, we wouldn’t be having these conversations. Reality is the racist south was left to fester and take over that area again. A very real and domestic terrorist group, the KKK, came about and was never snuffed out immediately.

[@adamtattersall6232]

We were on the wrong side - Patton

[@fastinradfordable]

News flash. Germany also has taught kids incomplete history. Hell. Just 80 years ago.....

[@mojoman2001]

Americans learn that German history, too.

[@emilsinclair4190]

@@fastinradfordable just 80 years ago.... 80 years is a long time.

[@grantwardo]

"History, when taught well, shows us how to improve the world. But history, when taught poorly, falsely claims there is nothing to improve." Beautiful

[@michaelshusterman324]

Truth

[@ZhangtheGreat]

But see? That's exactly how those in power want it taught, because if we want to improve _our_ situations, they see it as a threat to theirs. Since they're in power, why would they want to change anything?

[@HyBrithe]

I am an ignorant 45 y/o white male from the Midwest. I coughed uncomfortably a little at Joy talking about George Washington, as far as I knew he freed his slaves too but not under what conditions. The knowledge available today is more prevalent than what I had in school. It's uncomfortable for white people to hear the awful truth of what has happened to black people in American history and I believe as a defense mechanism, many white people distance themselves from that history. My Grandparents were immigrants and didn't own slaves, I treat black people fairly, I live in the North, I can talk to a black person in the eyes... etc. But my grandmother who is still alive once told me she was upset in the late 80's with all of the "colored" TV shows that were on. While I admit my ignorance to the plight of black people and their history, I hope that I can continue to learn and gain wisdom from these events.

[@sarahgraves571]

I appreciate your honesty and transparency. That is how change will happen as we open our minds to the truth, our hearts and minds know the next steps to correct the injustices then and now.

[@dantatadangote4700]

If only there were more White people like you 🙏 thank you for being candid ❤. It's not about assigning blame but more about bringing reconciliation so as to move forward stronger together as a nation.

[@Silburific]

You sound like a good person. The thing you seem to realize, that more white people need to, is that acknowledging that racism exists and is baked into the foundation of the US as a whole is _NOT_ a personal attack on all white people.

[@zackosborn1731]

Your not ignorant or inherently evil just for being white and being raised in a white county. Ever wonder how the Africans in Liberia fared vs. The ones that got to stay here? Save your white guilt and self flagellation, you nor your grandma did anything wrong.

[@zackosborn1731]

@@Silburific How is it baked in? Can you show me the law or amendment passed that did this?

[@sarahwatson3192]

Im Native Canadian… we’re a footnote in Canadian textbooks. At least we were when I graduated in 2015. Legit all that’s taught here about native Canadians is that their are 3 groups in Canada. The Iroquois, the Algonquin and the Inuit. The only reason my seventh grade class knew that residential schools were real was because my Teacher made sure she kept several books written about survivors and families in the class. And the first time I found one of those books I cried, I finally felt seen and my teacher made sure that when I chose to do my weekly book report on one of those book that everyone in my class understood that what I was saying occurred, it was true and it happened after Anne Frank’s Diary was published. I’ll always remember that teacher because she never once called me an Indian, told me I was exaggerating, or that my beliefs were made up. She stood up for me and made sure my voice was heard in that class.

[@komuc]

Fellow Canadian here. Just want to let you know that Native History has been incorporated into staff training as I recently joined a municipal government. It certainly cleared up some misconceptions I’ve had for years and helped me to understand more where Canadian society, as it is now, came from and the need to continue teaching this history to others.

[@oldmanriver1955]

Australia has national curricula for English, Math, Science, Geography, History, etc, for Kindergarten to Year 12. The commonality makes national mobility much easier.

[@brianneporchak3023]

Canadian here. I'm not sure if it was due to the proximity to Ipperwash, or how recent the murder of Dudley George was, but I remember having several teachers spend months focused only on the culture of various Indigenous communities across Canada, only to end with the several week gut punch of colonization and residential schools. All I remember learning in Grade 4 history was how awful the feudal system of England was, and the systematic genocide of Indigenous peoples and their cultures by the newly forming Canadian government and its continued abuse through to the present. I did also find that some teachers preferred to focus on American slavery, like they could hide our crimes behind those of our neighbours, instead of showing how awful both tragedies were and are.

[@Allouette-1337]

This is horrifying, but I want to assure you that as a class of 2018 graduate, where I was, our education was much more complete, including the horror of the residential schools, the Indian Act and the 60s scoop. I live on treaty 1 land, in the homeland of the Metis people, so maybe that helped, but I want to promise you that things are bad, but they are getting better, slowly.

[@shannawelch563]

I grew up in a small southern town and didn’t learn about Juneteenth until a few years ago when I got a job as a lifeguard at a predominantly black YMCA, and by predominantly I mean I was the only white employee, and member and they celebrated Juneteenth. I had to ask what it was and my favorite member, Charles, told me about it. The members at that Y were my favorite of any Y I ever worked at and they really opened my eyes on a lot of things. To this day I keep up with a lot of those members and I’m really thankful I worked there.

[@mikeoley13]

I grew up in Detroit, I’m 39 years old and learned about it 2 years ago 🤯🤦‍♂️

[@djcj101]

Bill The Extreme Detroit has a lot of liveries

[@danieltaulbee9888]

I hadn't heard of it until I binge-watched Atlanta last year.

[@justincastillogayray]

I first heard about Juneteenth at least 20 years ago. There's a book with that title . Blackish did a Hamilton-inspired episode on it just a few years ago.

[@FutureCommentary1]

Look I attended a HBCU in Alabama 20 years ago, and even took an Honors Class in Black History. Didn't learn about Juneteenth until this year. That's crazy.

[@traditionalnative]

When I was getting my GED in San Francisco 3 years ago, I vividly remember the first sentence on the first page of our US History portion was, and I quote, "Native Americans lived in the United States." Yes, past tense. I actually cried and had to take a break. As a full blooded Oglala Lakhota, seeing my education tell people they had succeeded in a complete genocide of my people and all the other hundreds of tribes was horrifying and hurtful. One word, lived, seems small, but the meaning behind its placement and the history makes it so much more. It set the tone for the entire US history portion.

[@amonisacat]

That is awful. I understand words are a little frivolous in the face of it, but I'm sorry you had to endure that salt to the wound. Equal parts, congratulations on your GED and I wish you the best!

[@deusexaethera]

Sometimes I wonder if educators occasionally insert into their curricula intentionally inflammatory statements like the one you mentioned, to draw attention to parts of history that they believe are overlooked.

[@traditionalnative]

@@amonisacat I appreciate that, thank you! I wish you the best as well.

[@aescius1455]

Just to be clear, it is conventional to talk about history in the past tense. Pretty much everything found in history textbooks is written in the past tense. This is just an academic convention, like how when referring to a work of literature, you use the present tense.

[@PaperMario64]

I can’t imagine. It sickens me. I’m black with supposedly Native American ancestry. My mother taught me about the killing of Native Americans along with Slavery. Even as a kid, I could never understand how folks could pledge allegiance or chant “USA!”, like mindless robots. Folks in this country want to preserve their cognitive dissonance. And that’s wrong. We learn and grow and do better but we ignore and erase our mistakes. Shame from terrible actions help you to avoid those actions.

[@jesusdiscipledon1499]

“Meehhh” - Ramses II, c. 2000 AD

[@CKingwasntavailable]

2000 BC?

[@steffen3382]

Oh man that glorious quote made my day!!!

[@jesusdiscipledon1499]

@Piecemaker1975 It was a joke. Ramses II was the most Egyptian sounding mummy name that came to mind and the likes agree. Facts aren’t important. It’s 2016 AD.

[@jesusdiscipledon1499]

@Christian King He may have said “meeehh” in his day but I was referring to the last sound he technically made when they forced the air through his 3D printed air cavity. There’s also a joke that this will he seen in thousands of years when “2020 ad” would be relative hogwash. So just go with a general “c. 2000 ad”. The Egyptians didn’t do everything in 3000 BC. But they sure seem to have done everything circa 3000BC. You aren’t wrong. You just aren’t left.

[@bogdanh635]

More like 2020 AD

[@marianamalfaro]

Thank you! There is so much to unpack, ... and more and MORE... lets keep UNPACKING.

[@mollyrogers5851]

As a Tulsan, we were only required this year (2020) to teach and learn about the massacre in schools. For years, our own city, the city where the very atrocity occurred, lied to us about how large the district was, how bad the damage was, and, most importantly, how many people had died. I was 19 years old and a freshman in college before I even heard the word "massacre" in reference to the event. They tell us 35-40 people died, and close to 100 people were injured. It has taken nearly a hundred years for the real truth, the deaths of close to 400, mostly African American, Tulsans, to come forward. It has only been in the last year that Tulsa has even considered changing the names of establishments and streets to ones that no longer reflect racist town members. Our city has tried so hard to cover up this horrible, horrible thing, and it's time to stop.

[@kinge007]

Wow, I can only imagine how that makes all your cities citizens feel. Tulsa has a lot to repair.

[@LokiTheClever]

@@kinge007 Victim complex rim jobber

[@LokiTheClever]

Changing street names is just a pretentious means of appeasing political correctness. Humans are flawed, if a racist cured cancer and the technique to do so was named after their surname would you want that technique name changed? We need to give credit where its due, sometimes even bad people do things that ultimately lead to good things. Its the saying goes "A broken clock is right twice a day"

[@mollyrogers5851]

@@LokiTheClever That's the point. It's a superficial, shallow change that barely even acknowledges what happened, and yet it took almost 100 years to get even that.

[@jakeverbeek]

as a dutch person I've been realizing the past years that, as a child, I was taught almost nothing of our major role in slavery in the 16th and 17th century. in our history books it's literally called "The Golden Age"

[@mielema5157]

Good point, as probably the last of the colonialists to stop slavery. Maybe it's also time to relook the cultural norm of Zwarte Piet and the blackface thing on little kids as well.

[@MijmerMopper]

Fellow Dutchy here. In my experience it was mentioned and specified as being the horrific foundation of our wealth, but not really dwelled upon. And the whole Indonesia thing got moved along real fast too. South africa never came up.

[@whaddyamean99]

As a Canadian, we were never taught a single thing about slavery in Canada

[@user-yv2cz8oj1k]

We had 'nationalists' as they like to call themselves become very vocal when statues in England, of men who maybe funded art galleries and the arts, but made their money through slavery, had their statues thrown into the rivers during black lives matter protests. Personally I'm all for judging historical figures for all their actions, not just the ones they wanted to be remembered for.

[@WaddickLawnCare]

@@whaddyamean99 you may not have been but others were! I don’t get this argument? My country learns this! How the fuck do you know? Your a single citizen in one town of your entire country, people need to grow up and realize they don’t speak for anyone but themselves!

[@adrianquintanilla850]

This says it all. “History when taught well, shows us how to improve the world, but history when taught poorly, falsely claims there is nothing to improve”. - John Oliver

[@chacecrowell]

Exactly how I'd describe the teaching method the left is promoting except their version leans more heavily on the 'things won't/can't improve' than 'things have greatly improved'. I'll pass on guilt-trip teaching

[@matrixphijr]

Chace Crowell You sound like that father. Maybe get some blackout curtains and a good pair of sunglasses and lock yourself in your room so you won’t have to deal with the horrible leftist world anymore.

[@Peter-qz3sn]

@@chacecrowell Teaching the flawed history of America is not guilt-tripping. Nobody wants or needs you to feel guilty about your countries history, but the damage of pretending like everything was awesome is harmful especially to the people who have historically been oppressed. Things have changed and they will continue to but as john said nothing is linear, despite American progress, there was still nuance withing the story of America and pretending like it's black and white (or simple) only serves to make people feel good and that is not the job of history.

[@Iris-hx6ox]

@@chacecrowell Party tribalism drowning in its own Kool-Aid won't improve things either. You should take those blinders off because you can't see the forest for the trees.

[@letitrip5139]

@@chacecrowell you are certainly entitled to your interpretation. I think the left accurately states that things haven't improved as much as a lot of people think they have and if we are honest about that we can become the America we pretend to be

[@twopheat7888]

This episode should be required curriculum in all schools in the US.

[@generaltso6914]

So much worse 2 years later!! June 2023 and book banning is rampant in red states to reduce Black History

[@Rowsy91]

or they could just teach proper history?

[@Confron7a7ion7]

Whenever someone tries to tell me the civil war was about states rights I always ask "Which state right was being taken away?" Spoiler, it was the "right" to own humans.

[@Himax9]

One of the things the articles of confederacy really railed on was the "right to pursue their lost and stolen property". By which they meant runaway slaves. The North had a silent policy of NOT allowing slave catchers to operate in the north. So yeah, when people crowed about "states rights", it really WAS about slavery...

[@matrixphijr]

Himax9 Exactly. The fact there was a huge amount of overlap there allows for the contortion of history into, “Oh yeah, it was about states’ rights.”

[@Confron7a7ion7]

@@matrixphijr As far as I know there wasn't any real overlap. It's my understanding that the reason it was framed as a states rights issue was to convince poor people, who would never have enough money to own a slave, to fight a war for the rich who could afford slaves. Which would make sense since you obviously couldn't expect them to do their own dirty work.

[@RichardX1]

There were also some tariff disputes, but slavery had become the dominant issue of contention by the time Southern states decided to leave the Union. (Ironically, the Union might not have pursued emancipation as quickly if the South hadn't seceded)

[@stingywingy1607]

@@RichardX1 the north paid nearly all tariffs since they had all the major ports and the legislation that lead to the most if not all of the tariff dispute was drafted and passed during the war.

[@rachelmcdonough1506]

As a history teacher, it took me a long time to finally watch this because it hits incredibly close to home. So many people have accused me of "leftist brainwashing" for wanting to tell my students the truth about history.

[@xiala_]

It’s not leftist brainwashing, it’s the ugly, unpleasant truth. It’s our history whether we like it or not. And as a student of teachers like yourself, I am grateful to have not been shielded from it. I am grateful to not be ignorant. To be ignorant of how not just the best, but also the worst of our nations past... Of how it has had its grimy hands all over our nations present and therefore its future... Nothing could be more unjust. We learn history to grow from it. To see how it has affected the present. To know what needs to change. So, ultimately I appreciate history teachers like yourself and my own. I would be ignorant to the reality of our past and present otherwise. Thank you for your honesty, Rachel.

[@Laeiryn]

Made year 1 French students do posters on ex-French colonies and after our walk around for everyone to look at each others', one kid frowningly said, "I'm starting to get the impression that the French were the bad guys." Just a few steps from there to "...oh crap, my own empire is just as bad, isn't it?"

[@gordonjones9658]

🗣Rachel McDonough Stand Strong 💪🏾🤜🏾🤛🏾👌🏾

[@michiganscythian2445]

I have a BA in history and people often tell me that I only learned liberal history in college and that “they only taught you what they wanted to teach you.” Uh... do you know anything about university level history beyond survey courses? Primary sources, lots and lots of primary sources. Most of my college research was on horse husbandry during the high Middle Ages and I spent most of my senior capstone course reading 17th century Dutch tax laws and the Dutch were pretty darn capitalist during that time. I know a few professors were left leaning but didn’t really interfere with our research beyond “are there enough sources on the subject?” or “make sure you address the opposing argument”

[@metalDCM8]

Racists: facts don’t care about your feelings.

[@Monker4444]

I am grieved to confirm that I also grew up in Tulsa and was never really taught about the massacre. In my textbook, there was one paragraph devoted to it, and it was described as the "Tulsa Race Riots" where tensions between the whites and blacks boiled over and resulted in the burning of "Black Wallstreet." That is as much information as I ever received on it. It wasn't until the death of George Floyd and that I started to hear the general public talk about the Tulsa Massacre, and that was enough to make me go research it myself. It was my own history, and I had to go looking for it myself when I was a full adult because it wasn't taught to me in school. It wasn't a series of "Riots," like my textbook described it. It was a full on massacre and the whites were the full on aggressors. There was nothing equal about it. Just a bunch of whites who were incensed to see so many black families succeeding in business and making happy lives for themselves. And it all started when the whites were told they weren't allowed to lynch a black boy. That's what really happened, in my own hometown, and I never knew about it. I'm furious about this.

[@paulmccarter908]

Your comment deserves so much more recognition than it has. You are an improved American.

[@ROCeinstien]

@@paulmccarter908 or a impoved human being

[@thoomolong]

Most people don't know about it. I learned about it in my 20s. When the movie Rosewood came out in the 90s, I thought it was a loose re-telling of Tulsa Massacre. But no, the Massacre in Rosewood Florida 1923 was another instance of a black community being destroyed and the black families who lived there being lynched and killed. And I only last year did I find out about the Red Summer of 1919 which were massacres of black communities across the country.

[@lesetjavangrond8313]

Sorry you had to find out like this must devasting emotionally, thing is we know all about that in Africa and we not surprised by the current protests in your country and im glad you dd your own research cause governments all over the world like feeding us with propagandish lies

[@ayenul]

“The only coup d’etet ever to take place on American soil” Ah, I can see this episode was produced in the Before Times

[@PPunkShorty]

Growing up in the Caribbean it took me a while to realise this is why many Americans speak the way they do. Their view of history is badly skewed. You couldn't do Caribbean history without learning first about the Native tribes and then the transatlantic slave trade. But you know what else we did? The American, Russian & French Revolutions. Many others too, the US invasion of Puerto Rico and of course both world wars to name a few. Our history was so broad passing history was hard but I'm glad we touched on so many things. It's an injustice to not teach the good and bad of history.

[@JLucas_RS]

Brazil is the same. I think most of Latin America is. American (Yankee/North American), knowlege of history and geography is so bad, that it's actually a meme here.

[@hayleyleiberman8491]

You're right, and it frustrates me that I had to memorize all the U.S. presidents, their political party, and what years they were in office, but never learned about the French or Russian revolutions in school. I was never taught world geography and it was so embarrassing to ask my Korean roommate in college to show me where Korea is because I couldn't identify it on a map (After that incident I taught myself world geography so that it wouldn't happen again). I'm glad that your school system didn't fail you in history, because mine sure did.

[@adamtattersall6232]

I dont think u kno shit about anything

[@realmrdrew]

@@hayleyleiberman8491 Did you get any history of WW1 and WW2? What happened before the US even existed and the native tribes in Europe and Euro-Asian areas? The silk road and Asian culture. Nordic cultures in EU etc ? Just curious.

[@baileyjorgensen2983]

I think that this is a pretty standard curriculum in America too. At least this is pretty much what I learned.

[@SLOosterhoff]

Kids should indeed learn the full story. Even if it is depressing or dark. The past can't be ignored.

[@ArtoriaZz2137]

@ItsStillRealToMe DamnIt for history part it's called propaganda.

[@nicolelanham4775]

If ignored, it begs to be repeated

[@LazyHermit]

Much like proper parenting, every kid has to go through the trial and understand the world isn't all joy and happiness and sometimes we are not on the right side. I think my switch was turned when I saw Watership Down as a kid.

[@evansusmc]

Nicole Lanham no one is “ignoring” it. But I’ll be damned if I’m gonna feel guilt if something I nor my ancestors had anything to do with.

[@nicolelanham4775]

@@evansusmc I didnt say it was being ignored. I said if it was, then history begs to be repeated. However, there is some history that is being suppressed. And if you dont learn that, you have a higher chance of repeating previous mistakes that didnt need to be repeated

[@kittystarr8874]

It’s easier to swallow a sweet lie than to choke down a bitter truth.

[@shayboogie3682]

Kitty Starr- so true and so sad and so true...

[@abiyoyo9831]

What lie?

[@isunlloaoll]

When you try to expose or even just entertain anything that deviates from the accept norm, people immediately turn and laugh at you. Society is made up of sheeps and shepherds, any sheep that deviates from the flock will be punished or left bebind.

[@wjsproductions1784]

Exactly. I wish I could accept the simple, idealistic history I was taught in school, but that would be extremely selfish and false.

[@danielabramovitch328]

I remember seeing this bit and recognizing that textbook from my 4th grade. I even remember the "How can this be true?" feeling from all those years ago when reading the passages about slavery not being so bad. Those passages let some kids point to the book and say, "See." If that's all someone learns, then they grow up wondering what all the fuss was about. When those of us who learned more try to point out what crap we were taught, some folks get upset. Of course, back then many people didn't seem to look critically at stuff like "Gone With the Wind". They really worked to keep us separated.

[@janitorzack2214]

" History repeats itself cause no one was listening the first time. "

[@coloneluseless524]

Not going to lie, I really like this format of John’s show without an audience. It could just be since I only watch this on KZbin 🤷🏼‍♂️. But who watches TV nowadays.

[@mateo130]

I only started to watch him since the covid from Europe but sitting alone makes the whole thing more serious with some laugh moments. Should be kept like this.

[@andtheinternettkills]

An audience laugh can be a crutch on which to lean on. Bad jokes and points can pass as funny if the audience laughs. The first episodes made this way were painful to watch, but he's gotten a lot better. The worst has to be real time with bill maher, if there was no audience the show would be absolutely unwatchable.

[@TheNotoriousDUDE]

@@andtheinternettkills Absolutely. I honestly have no idea why Bill Maher even calls himself a comedian.

[@wbc1]

I watch Last Week Tonight on TV and I prefer this format too.

[@ashamancito4630]

TV host or streamer? :D Cant tell the difference right now.

[@LMSPetRescue]

I won’t forget a project I did in middle school about slavery, we had a bunch of options (luckily none from the perspective of slave owners), but one of them was to write a diary from the perspective of a slave from the time they were taken from their home country until the they arrived at their destination. We had to provide sources and such to prove we researched it and I remember it being a project I was both very interested in and felt sick writing because even at 12 I knew it was probably worse than whatever the paper were that I was reading said happened and they were horrific. I also remember that being the best history teacher I ever had because every part of history he’d put it in perspective, he didn’t glorify things and he’d have us act out things where we were all the ones who the change was needed for and it stuck with us. We learned about how horrible factory work was and how quickly things got off track by having the whole class have to act as a factory worker doing their task at a certain speed and then pass it on for the next person to work on, when teaching us about who could get a job at a certain time period he’d have us all stand up and start calling out things like “if you’re not a male sit down.”, if you’re not white sit down, if you’re not the oldest in your family sit down, all to show how the jobs were distributed at the time. I remember a few parents made a fuss but all of us loved it, because he didn’t spare anything. He taught history as it was and made it so we could actually visualize it and put it into perspective without glorifying it if we were on the “benefiting” side. I just felt like sharing because talking about how washed out history books have been reminds me of the one teach I had who said “fuck the book, fuck the school board I’m teaching history”

[@Thejanjan39]

Sounds like a fantastic teacher!

[@msjkramey]

Sounds a lot like some lessons I got growing up. One of them that will always stick with me is the debate on how to "pack" slaves onto ships. There were two main methods. One involved putting way more slaves onto the ship and having them packaged like sardines chained on their sides. That method would allow a lot more slaves onto the ship, but more would die from overcrowding. The other method was to chain them flat on their back, which would lead to a higher percentage surviving, but less "cargo." It was a cold and brutal cost-benefit analysis We also had this field trip to the Baltimore Museum of Industry as a kid (amazing place that teaches both the hard truths and makes history fun for kids). I remember being a tiny kid saying that I would definitely have protested for equal pay for women and POC because it was absolute bull that it was so unfair. Then, they had us all pile into a room and start sewing buttons onto pockets. After that, they gave us each a slip of paper that told us our backstory. The boys all were making twice as much per button as the girls. My persona was making almost nothing despite being a master seamstress and needed to feed 3 kids with a disabled husband who couldn't work (these were all based on real people). They had us sew buttons for a while and gave us our wages as we went. Then, they asked if anyone was sick and tired of the way things were going and wanted to strike for better pay and conditions. I remember how deflated I felt because I wanted nothing more than to strike with everyone else, but I kept thinking about my fake family and I couldn't afford to do it. The only people that didn't strike in that exercise were the people who needed it the most. The boys had enough money that they could afford to miss work for a bit, but the women and the immigrants didn't have that luxury. It felt awful even in make believe land to hang my head in shame and try to stitch buttons faster because my workload suddenly doubled from the protests because I just couldn't afford to stand up for myself. It was an amazing exercise that shows that change is scary and as much as people want to be a part of progress, sometimes all you can do is keep your head down and try to keep food on the table. And it's pretty fucked. I ended up crying later that night because I felt so ashamed that I didn't do what I believed was the right thing, but I also didn't feel like I had a choice, and I felt so helpless. When I actually started working as a teen/adult, I found out quick that shit still isn't much better

[@angelsartandgaming]

My friend had to do an essay about slavery and had to do illustrations. Said friend came to me because I'm the artist and she's not, plus she didn't want to draw it. I agreed. It was honestly the hardest and uneasy thing I've ever had to draw, and I've drawn grimdark gore before. But this wasn't like grimdark gore where it's fictional horror, this happened in real life. I drew a man weary, dirty, scarred, and bloodied carrying a large boulder, barely able to move or lift it while by him lay another man motionless with the silhouette of a slave owner whipping said laying man. I never posted this picture anywhere and in hindsight I should have. But I actually cried and was shaken after I drew this piece. The worse part was my friend got a C... for making it "too dark" or "not family friendly" or some shit like that. Teacher, I've never met you, but history was never family friendly.

[@tegantalks9612]

I’m Canadian and recently there has been a push to learn more about the horror of the residential school system. As hard as it can be to hear, it’s important to learn about.

[@SondreGrneng]

"the worst day in America beats teh best day in any other country" That's something that could only ever have been said by someone that has never been outside the country.

[@kiereluurs1243]

He probably could not point his own country on a map.

[@orlock20]

It also depends on when it was said. For instance, the average person in the U.S. was wealthier by 1820 than the people living in Europe at that time. Also the 1940s and 1950s saw better living in the U.S. just because other rich countries were rebuilding after WW2.

[@brock5946]

@@orlock20 Is wealth the indicator how a country is doing or is there a bigger picture?

[@orlock20]

@@brock5946 If Europe was a state in the U.S., it would rank between Mississippi and West Virginia in terms of wealth per person. Those two states are the poorest states in the U.S. Europe also has high taxes and small militaries yet their debt per GNP is as bad as the U.S. or worse. It's so bad in France that when the government tried to raise taxes again, the population revolted in the streets for over a year and the tax never happened. With nothing to cut and no extra taxes, it's debt is just going to balloon. The UK is so poor that over 1 million patients last year were treated by unqualified personal. It also had to sent patients to France for surgery. Germany is so poor it doesn't even have a functional military since the money went to paying pensions. That's why there is so much fuss about the U.S. military leaving Germany.

[@sebastianwallin3726]

@@orlock20 Wealth also depends on how you measure it. I bet you measure wealth at all times by USD. That way you will always favor the country that owns that currency. Also some of the international banks for currency exchange is American owned and hence scews the exchange rate from American perspective. If you look at gdp for European countries you will see that by this measure 2014 was far harsher than 2008. Even though we in Europe experienced no recession in this time period. The explanation is the change of value by currency. If you were to measure the economies of EU and US by euros the economies would look different.

[@huntermiller4863]

I’m a Junior in high school and I wanted to say: When we were taught US History in 8th and 9th grade, we weren’t taught any of that. I didn’t know that Tulsa was the sight of a terrible massacre or that Wilmington had a coup d’état. I feel like I need a refund for my history classes.

[@Julia-lk8jn]

Yay for internet. I'm old enough to remember a time before smartphones. If you ahve one, you basically carry the largest library humanity ever build around with you. Of course at the same time, it's also the largest collection of ad-driven games, gossip, silly memes, pornography, music ... It is what we make of it.

[@tliish4996]

If you really want a shock, look up John Sevier and the Franklinites, the anti-Cherokee terrorist outfit that Franklin, Tennessee is named for: rememberingtheshoals.wordpress.com/tag/chickamaugas/ These terrorists specifically targeted pregnant women and children of all ages, using the slogan "nits make lice" to justify their child-killing.

[@FeenixT]

Go look up the Trail of Tears and Andrew Jackson, and how we’ve mistreated Native Americans since the 1600s. It’s shameful. Real history shows you how those in power truly can take advantage of those who have no power purely in the interest of Nationalism

[@joxysurge9631]

They're is a great vídeo about Wilminton and it's lost story , it was a cover up, it's here on You Tube!

[@LadyhawksLairDotCom]

Hell, yeah. Me, too. I have a college degree and didn't know about the Tulsa massacre until after George Floyd was murdered. I graduated top of my class in both high school and college. If it was there to be learned, I would have learned it, but it wasn't in ANY of the books I read.

[@MedTech37572]

“The only coup to take place on American soil”...that didn’t age well.

[@PeterWake]

Beat me to it.

[@anthonymacconnell8817]

The only successful coup maybe works better

[@vgverog]

Both from white supremacists at that.

[@christianmaroon8807]

Just came to the comments to say the same thing lmao

[@brandondavidson4085]

Yeah there have been lots of attempted insurrections. The Whiskey Insurrection, the Bundy Standoff, etc.

[@WooShell]

TIL that here in Germany I learned more about American history than most Americans know.. and that this show probably provided more history education to HBO viewers than their federal school system.

[@dontmisunderstand6041]

The US doesn't have a federal school system. States are given near unilateral authority to design their school systems however they like.

[@yokotama672]

I'm German and i sometimes feel like i was educated better on american history than some Americans were.

[@pragmaticcynicism6911]

Virtually all mandatory history education in the US is to get citizens to support the war machine.

[@kev9622]

@@blackandcold Apparently grammar isn't being taught either.

[@shiraxilonscillofyk6191]

That's probably true and this is coming from an American who's had to teach themselves history in wealthier school districts I've been to. The best history class I had was when I lived in a poor black neighborhood and my teacher taught us a bunch of stuff but the best part was that he wasn't afraid to talk about racism, slavery, the kkk, and so forth and he spoke freely. Nothing was sugar-coated. He's one of the best teachers I've ever had and he was a friend. That poor school was as cold as reality and although it's been falling apart, it's history lessons still hold true because no matter what, you can't change the past.

[@mr.cangieter8758]

You're not alone 😂.

[@nihalm2684]

I'm an Indian and it's absolutely appalling that americans are so arrogant about their own history. In our history books, we have a better understanding of basic US history than americans themselves, we learn in depth about US slavery, the US constitution, the bill of rights, European slavery, US imperialism and also a whole chapter on nazi Germany. We also learnt in depth, since I'm from CBSE, about the French revolution and it's ideals. And this is all addition to learning about our own countries history!!!

[@josh0g]

"The less you know about history, the easier that it is to imagine you'd always be on the right side of it." Nailed that one.

[@MartaWomack]

I thank goodness for my mother when I was growing up in the '50's and '60's. In first grade, while taking a bus with my mom, some white guy started bullying a very pregnant black lady to give up her seat for him. My little tiny white mama stood up, got in his face and gave him some choice words, then my mom invited the pregnant lady to sit in her seat. Mom hovered nearby to make sure the lady was safe from further abuse and that she got off the bus safely. Mom was tiny, but fierce! I grew up to understand that all people deserve equal respect. I've taken up her mantle ever since. Hate is a useless and destructive emotion and a very negative way to live.

[@EonStormcrow]

I would only disagree that hate is useless. Channelled properly, hate can be very useful in a very beneficial way. However, given its naturally potent destructive nature, oftentimes, as you mentioned, being hateful is a very negative way to live.

[@teckchuonting4582]

👏👏👏👍

[@ThunderStruck15]

Grailsarvas in all likelihood she would have been vilified for doing so. You seem to think nothing ever happens in life, and disbelieve everything. It’s a sad way to live.

[@Julia-lk8jn]

you mom sounds like some awesome woman.

[@pontiacgpse]

Thank you for your heartfelt story. It is Very moving!!

[@Angry5704]

This feels like a weird, necessary, and kind of avoidable-feeling follow-up to the Confederacy episode. Also, this is from someone who recently found out one of my ancestors fought for the South in the Civil War. Y'all need to grow a pair and accept that your ancestors did inexcusable things. Just accept it and move on, it makes it easier on literally everyone.

[@ellarweegadsden8483]

But blacks are constantly told that they should accept all that's happened to them and move on.

[@Angry5704]

@@ellarweegadsden8483 That's different, 'cause shitty things are still happening to black people.

[@Angry5704]

@@ellarweegadsden8483 However, I must say, though it's definitely less widespread, black folks whose ancestors did shitty things also need to accept that. The descendants of Louis Farrakhan shouldn't be proud of him.

[@ellarweegadsden8483]

Who's Minister Farrakhan killed? How many people has he bombed. Please be specific. And we know all about disloyal blacks. They've been around forever. Remember, all of our ancestors came from Africa, but not from the same countries. We've never been one. That's why it's been so easy to subjugate us. So, what's new.@@Angry5704

[@Angry5704]

@@ellarweegadsden8483 I'm not comparing Farrakhan to slave owners in terms of atrocities, and I never said black folks were all a monolith. I wasn't intending to offend you, so I apologize.

[@briannick5211]

I highly recommend reading “lies my teacher told me” by James Loewen. I was required to read it for my AP US History class during my sophomore year in high school. It goes in detail about how American History book are portrayed incorrectly and the social injustices associated with their connotations, much like what was described in this video.

[@viyanhandley7997]

As a high schooler who just finished taking US history in a school I consider more privileged and equipped than most, I’m horrified and dismayed that one of my largest takeaways from class was “yes, slavery was a cause, but states’ rights was as important if not MORE so.” And to anyone saying this is show has turned into “left wing propaganda,” providing an accurate summary of US history shouldn’t be interpreted as political, or, as John said, CERTAINLY not even CLOSE to more political than completely glossing over white supremacy in the textbooks MY FELLOW STUDENTS AND I ARE TRYING TO LEARN FROM. We don’t care about sides, we just want the truth so we can form our own opinions. How can we do that when we aren’t even given a factually accurate summary?? To dismiss the facts Oliver so eloquently and logically lays forth just because more of the right side is publicly foaming at the mouth with both calculated and ignorant racism and Oliver shows some very warranted contempt for that, is disgusting. Thanks for correcting my own ignorance Mr. Brit, Adam Driver would be proud, and I am too. :)

[@dudeonbike800]

Looks like we have a lot of books deserving of the burn pile!

[@LibbyK009]

Noah Vale -- From a letter from Lincoln to Horace Greeley: ( www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/greeley.htm ) "...My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, *and is not either to save or to destroy slavery.* If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union...."

[@AquarianSoulTimeTraveler]

Juneteenth doesn't make any sense that could be any date from the 13th through the 19th!!! This new universe version sucks! Goddamn madela effects!

[@Hegeleze]

Oliver is cherry picking his "facts" as much as the other side. If you want to know about slavery go read Time on the Cross first, then you can dig into the source material and read its detractors.

[@ethanpartida9059]

Hegeleze using quotation marks around facts doesnt make them not true

[@josefking9216]

I remember one day in like 6th grade I came home and told my parents what I had been learning in school, mainly history. They took me to see my great grand mother Pawnee aged 93 at this time. She told me story’s of hiding in woods from klans men, young blacks hanging from trees on the road home from school. Also how there were no more slaves but the land you worked on was not yours and you had to pay most of what you made on it to keep it, keeping you stuck. After my world was shaken enough and now back at school I asked my teacher about what I was told. She said very simply “it’s not in the curriculum” and walked away from my desk. However this answer was not satisfactory to me so I stood up and said “ I want to know why people hate me so much for so little, and why don’t you tell us about this.” I was sent to the office, my parents were called, on the way home dad said he was proud of me and told me “always search out the truth more so when it hurts.” R.I.P old man world could use your wisdom right now.

[@user-mb9nm7bq5e]

Pawnee? Like in parks and rec? That’s so cute

[@josefking9216]

Be r I’m not sure if it was spelled the same she did not have a birth certificate so ya “ paw-wa-knee” is what we called her.

[@user-mb9nm7bq5e]

Josef King your story was great btw, thanks for sharing

[@DrUrlf]

Germany has learned a bunch of super important lessons from reflecting on it's darkest history and teaching about it intensely. The US didn't go that route yet but when it does a lot could change for the better, especially socially and between different societal groups.

[@yaboicolleen]

I had this argument recently with my mom. It stemmed from her wondering aloud why I felt the need to dwell so much on the past (in this particular instance, it was difficulties I had with having undiagnosed learning disorders as a child). And then she decided to compare it to "Black people complaining about slavery," that because neither of us ever owned slaves, we as white people shouldn't have anything to feel bad about. The thing I tried to tell her, but I doubt stuck at all, was that the reason we look at the past is because it shapes the present, and that while yes, our family doesn't own slaves doesn't mean we haven't benefited from a system that allowed Black people to be viewed as and treated like livestock.

[@bazzfromthebackground3696]

Oh you have one of those "I don't *think* I'm racist" parents, too?

[@dpetrov32]

You are very brave to stand up to your parents who feed you, clothe you, give you computer, phone and internet. You are very brave to dismiss your ancestors, who have worked very hard for many generations to get to you. You deserve recognition for standing up for the Truth - Black Lives Matter. Powerful.

[@nthperson]

Yes. And with the demise of chattel slavery came what economic historians term "wage slavery". Many freed Blacks had no alternative once Reconstruction was dismantled to go to work for White landowners as sharecroppers. Henry George analyzed the situation in his writings, with lessons that remain true to this day.

[@overdose8329]

Ok so your family might’ve benefited from slavery at some point (depending on when they immigrated to the US) well so what? What’re your parents supposed to do about this? If they’re not racist and just going on about their daily lives. If you’re not filthy rich there’s not much you can do about the current situation anyways because the entire political system needs to be changed to get anything meaningful done.

[@nthperson]

@@overdose8329 You make several good points. Even if we as individuals respect the rights of others as equals, the systemic issues people face and must overcome disproportionately affect persons whose opportunities have for centuries been marginalized. Thus, perhaps what is most amazing is that so many people have managed to rise above their situation at birth to achieve greatness (however greatness is defined). Hierarchy exists in almost every society. Systems of law, of taxation and public policy favor some (usually an elite minority) at the expense of the many. The situation in the U.S. is not unique. We have a degree of racial and ethnic segregation. Within groups of people there is also an easily recognized class hierarchy. The path toward the just society continues to be misunderstood and resisted by those who understand what must be done. A good starting point for anyone seeking solutions is to read the newly-published book, "#WeAreRent," by British author Fred Harrison.

[@jeffreyhk306]

Telling the dark and unsavory stories of American history is not unpatriotic as well. Acknowledging your country's iniquities and injustices serves to help future generations understand that progress is something that has not come free, and that oftentimes contemporary issues are not new. People who fail to recognize the trauma of history tend to be the people who benefit the most from it.

[@deusexaethera]

I once saw a bumper sticker that said "Blind Faith In Bad Leadership Is Not Patriotism". (Directly below it was another bumper sticker that said "Semper Fi", the slogan of the US Marines, which gave me immense respect for the person who had both bumper stickers on the same car.) The same sentiment can be extended to blind faith in _any_ aspect of your nation.

[@ElvishShellfish]

There is some fear on the right that I think comes from a valid place: fear that only highlighting the negatives of our history will cause our youth to be totally disillusioned with the American project. A lot less unifies us now. It's really important we grapple with these concepts, but we also need to be careful in how we interweave them in our curriculum. The positive lessons are needed as well as the negative, otherwise disillusionment can yield despair and tribalism. Still, I do think these corrections are needed: this is the path we must go down-we must grapple with our past. We can't afford to remain ignorant of the traumas of history, but we must retain (or regain) our national optimism in some capacity.

[@syedmohsin18]

Freedom to question the government is the only reason many people want to live in America .

[@Alexander_Kale]

Or you could just instead burn the statues of people and elks you don't like....

[@beamersbeamer6514]

Andrew Dussault it’s kinda of hard to think about optimism when so many are in poverty living on the streets, tent cities growing, health care out of control, watching brown shirts gas peaceful, yes peaceful protesters, people working multiple jobs just to pay the ever increasing rents, seeing the hate on the internet, seeing how so many murica a are so stupid and we have yet to feel the full effects of the COVID economy.

[@nickk8269]

I've been saying this for a while. Imagine how powerful an accurate teaching of us history would be, where students can actually debate, analyze, and work through both the triumphs and atrocities of our history, as they occurred simultaneously. And yes, it's possible that things were both good and horrible as a result of the same damn thing. We must teach a constructive and useful history, so we can learn from it.

[@christinebogart3477]

Parents have tremendous power over schools and what is taught in schools. If teachers are not allowed to teach anything except revisionist history, then things don't change. The people who control school curriculum are at the state level, and most school districts will not oppose them because it will cost schools funding and accreditation. If parents don't like a teacher, they usually are able to get that teacher removed (at least in "right to work" states).

[@goldengryphon]

@@christinebogart3477 You still have to fight the unions and the Board of Education. It's not nearly as simple as you paint it. There are school districts and states that insist you "teach to the test", so that the students do better on standardized tests so that the school district gets more money. It's a bizarre circle and one reason why some of the carp that *should* be taught isn't.

[@Sachaannstarart]

The laugh you gave me at the end of all the heaviness was much appreciated! 👏🏽👏🏽

[@stephenkane1074]

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” ― George Orwell, 1984

[@yourhuckleberry6757]

Funny... We're still celebrating European genocide and st Patrick's day.... Why isn't it The 1492 project... There's history there that's been covered up... What was happening in Spain... Who is Columbus anyway....

[@iBallz_]

... but George Orwell died in 1950? Did he went back to the future? :P [ ...I know that this is just the name of his novel from 1949.. I am just having some fun here =) ]

[@TH-hy9kr]

Textbook editing and censorship scares me badly as well as all the cancellation culture of both the left and the right. They're both terrible groups of people.

[@andronalin658]

@@spacewooly actually, it's from Testify and in that song they're quoting Orwell

[@TH-hy9kr]

@@iBallz_ it's a great book. Highly recommend it. It's amazing how we just keep failing to get better and continue to cycle through similar/same stuff despite because we refuse to teach real history and learn from it. I've been trying to steadily unlearn my U.S. elementary and secondary school history to learn the truth. We paint all the people as perfectly behaved god-like beings instead of flawed people who were trying, by their standards of the day, to do what they thought was right. We're they great? Heck no! Can we learn to be better from them? Yes. What will kids learn about our time 100 years from now? We are slightly enlightened monsters, but monsters still.

[@Blanco8x8]

"Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history. And somehow, the War was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was. The people of the world are terrified by the Fire Nation. They don't see our greatness. They hate us! And we deserve it! We've created an era of fear in the world. And if we don't want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness." - Prince Zuko

[@ryanbarthel5352]

Legit the realization that every citizen of every first world country needs to have

[@MrKasnif]

America

[@lainiwakura1776]

That's more comparable to Japan during WWII.

[@lainiwakura1776]

@@MrKasnif lol

[@3COI]

@@lainiwakura1776 but it's the history of America since WWII

[@SarahAndBoston]

I grew up in Tulsa and the race massacre was mentioned exactly 0 times in my history class. I learned about it 20 years later on a Netflix documentary.

[@laylamorrison9596]

Same here, I live in Okmulgee, and I didn't find out about it until last year.

[@pwnagepanther5857]

Jason P I don’t think my brain can wrap around such a braindead statement but I’ll try for a little before it hurts too much to use my noggin with its neurons not lighting up

[@Scorch428]

cool. u "woke" now? rofl its ok to learn from the past, but not hold it in others faces, especially those who had no say in the matter and werent even alive at the time.

[@tracyroweauthor]

@@Scorch428 no one is shoving it in anyone's faces. Systemic racism still exists and it affects millions of lives. Teaching our students our full history mitigates that racism and puts black American's current struggle into context. BLM exists because white Americans don't have this context and believe people of color are protesting about something that's no big deal. The fact that you made such an odious statement that made this all about you proves you could have benefitted from a real education.

[@Scorch428]

@@tracyroweauthor can u deal with it more quietly then? us regular ppl trying to get shit done. no need for your race wars

[@dndx0527]

This remains one of my favorite LWT pieces during the Void era and it also gave me one of my favorite quotes: "history when taught well shows us how to improve the world but history when taught poorly falsely claims there is nothing to improve."

[@jacobjanek9244]

I’m 18, and went to elementary school in Illinois. I remember a class activity where we had to list the simple pros and cons of slavery, as if there was arguments on both sides to be made.

[@msjkramey]

I mean, there *are* pros to slavery. The thing isn't to ignore the benefits. It's to ask yourself: what's more important? Exploiting workers through full-blown slavery or pseudo-slavery is great for profits, but that's not the world that I want to live in

[@thatlycantomboy]

17, also from Illinois, had the same thing happen to me. there were two black kids in the class including me, and I got kicked out for arguing

[@msjkramey]

@alugwin lol I'm not arguing for slavery. It's a very obvious thing to be against. My point is that you're gonna come up against people who say they want an "intellectually honest" debate (even when that's not true) and you've got to be prepared for their reasoning and to show empathy even when you think they're trash people. Saying there's no benefit to slavery is just untrue. It highly benefits the minority, but it hurts every person trapped in that system. The benefits aren't worth the suffering. That's the argument you've got to make sometimes. It's annoying but sometimes you need to do it

[@msjkramey]

@alugwin play your own devil's advocate sometimes. Roleplay as someone you disagree with. It'll help with debate strength and general compassion/understanding, even if it doesn't make you feel someone is any less wrong. Maybe you'll even change someone's stripes for the better. Understanding others is the first step

[@msjkramey]

@@thatlycantomboy that's shitty as hell. I had a similar situation (but about my gender) during a field trip but it actually ended positively. We were all assigned little cards assigning us our wage and background in a textile mill. They had us sew buttons on commission for a while then encouraged us to start a strike for equality. Even though I was sewing faster than the guys, I was basically making half because of my gender. I had heard about the exercise before and was super excited to protest, but when my card said that I was a single mother with 3 kids, I couldn't do it even tho it was make believe, and I felt really ashamed. Most of the protestors were white, non-immigrant boys who could afford to lose wages and would be more likely to be rehired anyways. It was a small thing but it was my first wake up call to how shitty things are before I experienced them firsthand

[@xerneis743]

Today on "I Didn't Believe We Need to Have This Conversation But Here We Are and We Really Need This Conversation"

[@dorianmearns7407]

This is making me appreciate my 8th grate history teacher even more. He made sure to cover everything and let us know that our country is not sunshine and rainbows.

[@st3pwise]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqaldaWEmbOenas

[@Julia-lk8jn]

Sounds courageous, I wonder into how much trouble he got for that.

[@lanskandal1181]

18:30 "The only coup on American soil" Ahh, but not for long.

[@BeniSinca]

"the less you know about history, the easier that it is to imagine you'd always be on the right side of it."

[@mariannecontrino6297]

Yes, that stood out to me too. So well said.

[@questionforquestion]

I mean, it's a completely useless exercise though. If you went back in time with your own morals, you probably wouldn't suddenly adapt to the morals of the time, and if someone with your DNA had grown up in that time period they wouldn't be 'you' at all. If you ask a kid what they would do, it's disingenuous to say 'no you wouldn't have because you'd have been a different person'. I suppose he was trying to teach them to be socially conscious, but I remember history teachers doing that sort of thing a lot as a kid and the logical inconsistencies were always more interesting to me than the dry statistics.

[@user-yv2cz8oj1k]

I don't know, certain people in Germany were wearing uniforms designed by Hugo Boss. And if you aren't privy to all the plans.

[@evaedwards6328]

As a student in SC, one of the things that didnt sit right with me when learning about slavery was how we spent more time talking about ways slaves were disobedient than we did talking about the horrors of slavery

[@madymoomoomoo0530]

And how they called the Civil War the Northern Aggression (at least in my school!)

[@walker3060]

@@madymoomoomoo0530 to be fair it was quite literally northern aggression. They invaded the south not the other way around.

[@darianvargas7624]

walker3060 The south attacked Fort Sumner and Considered taking Washington DC many times. Richmond, Virginia and Washington DC are very close to each other.

[@Sean.Cordes]

@@walker3060 Except for a few things here - 1. The South shot first at Fort Sumter, forcing Lincoln's hand, so to say. 2. The South made MULTIPLE attempted incursions into the North (or did you forget about Gettysburg and a few other pretty important battles?). It would have been impossible for them to sustain an offensive war though, literally. The Union was ALWAYS going to win, even if they had not invaded. It just would've taken rather longer. And 3. The Supreme Court has long decided that secession is not a thing that is permitted by the Constitution and thus, the South were traitors to the republic. Point is your post is bullshit and smacks of Confederacy apologetics.

[@Julia-lk8jn]

@@walker3060 "War broke out in April 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina just over a month after Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated as the President of the United States." And it took me an entirety of one minute to find that information. That's why I fact-check before I post about history. There is no such thing as "done with learning".

[@JDuel100]

I remember my favorite class in High School was history. It was the last class I had, and I'd spend sometimes almost an hour talking to my teacher. Talking about things I had read or that he hadn't covered. I remember going to Mr. Clark one day. He had looked upset and I asked him why. He'd wanted to go into detail about certain topics, and had been shut down. He did a lesson about the Trail of Tears, and I learned later he had his job threatened after angry letters from parents caused an overreaction by the school board. I remember there were entire sections of the book he was forced to skip over. I think it was the thing that made me realize how the narrative of America is fictitious, and how a hundred tiny defeats lead to it.

[@oldfrend]

that is truly sad, when a history teacher isn't allowed to teach the whole truth. there should be a law immunizing teachers who taught something that was factually true.

[@TitoTimTravels]

I never had a history teacher. In Texas it is only coaches. Someone thought they needed to teach a class to be "real" teachers. So they gave them history...

[@maazkalim]

Pilgrims facing persecution!°

[@georgeesquivel7725]

@@TitoTimTravels common in alabama too to this day

[@Skiritai]

It also depends on where you live: I grew up in a small town in rural Illinois and our history teacher spent a month on the French-Indian War, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and WW2. He wanted us to understand deeply that America was not a perfect nation, but it was a nation of Americans, not African-Americans or English-Americans, just Americans. And you know what? He voted for Trump in 2016 and says he'll do it again. Why? Because United we stand, divided we fall, and the Democrats have played Race Politics since their conception.

[@olyokie]

By far best political commentary on the tube. Little billy maher could learn alot from this guy.

[@PenguinBooHelix]

When I was in school my text books on USA history were a whitewashed version and when I had a essay about the civil war I was given D- because I wrote actual quotes from the South (the terrorists) on the reason for starting the war. My teacher at the time said that I made up the quotes, that the keeping of slaves was not the reason for the war and that the South were not terrorists that they were freedom fighters. I wrote my essay using history books from other countries and information from documents in the library of Congress.

[@yyjpyy]

After many arguments over the states rights vs slavery "debate", I started slicing the matter another way: "do you wish the South had won? Would things be better had the country been split into two? How long until the south abolished slavery on its own accord?"

[@cameronsitton501]

@Damdu Dak It was. It literally was. You are objectively wrong if you think that the Civil War was not fought over slavery.

[@oopc.2458]

@Damdu Dak Try reading the states' secession declarations, the ones they themselves wrote to explain their reasons for seceding. Nearly every single one of them explicitly says slavery. If I'm remembering right, one of them even only mentions slavery as the reason.

[@alexamann5729]

@Damdu Dak Yes, because it was. Every single argument that is brought forth can be broken down to "But we want to keep on having slaves". Especially the all time favourite argument that the secession was about state's rights. Could you remind me please which state's right exactly had been discussed for several years, even decades, before the war broke out?

[@emilysmith9048]

@Damdu Dak Remember to always put "for slavery" after State Rights....

[@dancepiglover]

I had to pause the video after hearing that woman read about “lazy,” “disobedient” slaves. I can’t imagine what that would be like for a black child to read in school. I’m actually white, but that made me tear up. 😥

[@thezdbailey]

I broke down at the slavery game they still make elementary kids play. What a disaster. To shape kids minds that young doing shit like that?

[@magentaMegi]

Hm, so why no mention of Native Americans or other types of slavery. They are atill present but widely ignored. Somehow it is just based on money.

[@markfoster1520]

@@magentaMegi I guess Indians need to riot. "Redskins on the Warpath!" the headlines will read. Don't you see, the Powers that Be! took racism...based on race....and extended it up to Capitalism....whoever has the capital! I don't....so I'm ran over....for my own good...."he can't handle money....he'll hurt America acting like that!" I'm trying to live....but you just keep it all bottled up....because you know what's better for me. I'm often called a lazy & disobedient clerk.....because it's easier to justify their actions against me...with that on the official record. They told you your Official Record would follow you! See? See?

[@AS-my3sw]

@@magentaMegi Yes, exactly. We killed enough of them to make them no longer an economic threat.

[@thezdbailey]

@@magentaMegi You're right.

[@JamoSimcity47]

I remember getting into an argument with my former freshman year history college professor about what the Civil War was about. He wholeheartedly said and believed that "the war had nothing to do with slavery, it was strictly about the economy of the south." To which I replied, " you do know slavery was the economy of the south, right"? That shit keeps up at night, cuz he's been teaching for 15+ years before I had him...

[@kyomawolf2]

I was taught, that the civil war was less about the slavery, but more about northern states showing dominance to the southern who tried to become independent. And slavery was just the thing they told their population. (may be wrong, I'm from Germany)

[@keithbushsuarez7445]

The constitution of the confederate states literally said quite clearly they were breaking from the United States in order to preserve slavery and white peoples’ dominance over black people. Don’t believe me, google it for yourself, anyone who reads this. The document is free for anyone to read it for themselves. Just a heads up on all that.

[@Skiritai]

You're both right, it was the economy of the south, but the Civil War was also about (yes) slavery, state rights, federal overreach and other details.

[@johntomblin]

@@kyomawolf2 The reason there was a war is because the South tried to secede and the North wasn't going to let that happen (not uncommon with attempted secessions). The point here though is that the reason they even considered seceding in the first place is that the North wanted to end slavery and the South's entire economy was based on having slaves so they basically said fuck you we're out of the union. So there are a lot of factors but the primary one is that the South used slaves to amass wealth and power so they didn't want to free them. So it is about 'states rights' and 'the economy' but specifically, it's about the right to own slaves and the southern economy having been built on the backs of slaves.

[@TitoTimTravels]

@@kyomawolf2 I was taught, in Texas, that the main reason was the North was controlling the cotton exports and taxation. So the South had to fight to survive. Slavery was an undercurrent, but barely mentioned in class. My history class was full of crap... but that was/is Texas.

[@rustyreturns9754]

This tape should be shown in every high school in America.