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July 4, 2006

Howard Zinn Denounces Old Glory

If you're flying Old Glory this Fourth of July, you had better take it down at once, unless you want to risk the disapproval of Howard Zinn.

Zinn is best known for writing "A People's History of the United States." The fashionable cynicism and rabidly anti-American tone of this "Marxist tract" (as David Horowitz describes it) more than makes up for its lack of footnotes "and other scholarly apparatus." As a result of its popularity among leftist college professors in fields ranging from history to women's studies, it has sold over a million copies. In a coda to the 1995 edition Zinn explicitly states that he has no interest in objectivity: the point is to brainwash students into hating America — or, as Zinn puts it:

I wanted my writing of history and my teaching of history to be a part of social struggle. I wanted to be a part of history and not just a recorder and teacher of history. So that kind of attitude towards history, history itself as a political act, has always informed my writing and teaching.

In other words, history owes nothing to truth: it is just a weapon to be used in the Left's propaganda war against the United States. Here's how Zinn's book describes the American Revolution that we've been celebrating today:

Around 1776, certain important people in the English colonies made a discovery that would prove enormously useful for the next two hundred years. They found that by creating a nation, a symbol, a legal unity called the United States, they could take over land, profits, and political power from the favorites of the British Empire. In the process, they could hold back a number of potential rebellions and create a consensus of popular support for the rule of a new, privileged leadership.

And all this time I thought it had something to do with liberty.

Given his paranoid hatred of this great country, it's hardly surprising that today is not Zinn's favorite holiday. You might say Zinn is to the Fourth what the Grinch is to Christmas. He's calling on Americans to "Put Away the Flags."

According to Zinn, God does not bless America, and patriotism is "one of the great evils of our time." Did you think there was something special about this country? Not at all. After all, our ancestors fought with Indians and Mexicans — cultures that qualify as politically sacred due to their conspicuous lack of success.

Zinn chastises Americans for a long list of alleged crimes both ancient and modern, but our ultimate crime, according to Zinn and his ilk, is our "arrogance" — i.e., our belief in ourselves. He hates the flag because it attests to the fact that not all of us have succumbed to cynicism and self-hatred. Some of us are naive enough to believe all that stuff about liberty and American exceptionalism — including me, which is why my flag is flying and I hope yours is too.

Hat tip: DUmmie FUnnies

Posted by Van Helsing at July 4, 2006 6:57 PM

Comments

Posted by: Berkeley Bob at July 4, 2006 8:08 PM

Posted by: Doug at July 4, 2006 9:04 PM

Posted by: General Jack D. Ripper at July 4, 2006 9:30 PM

Posted by: D.J. Templeton at July 5, 2006 1:29 PM