Americans

[Neoteny]

And please excuse my ignorance but who is Abraham Lincoln? Where does he fit in this jigsaw?

He is also widely considered by political historians. to be the best American president of all time, #2 being George Washington, and #3 being FDR. Oh yea, and in reference to your first question, pretty much everything that AD said, except he forgot about all of the events leading up to the Rev. War (Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, First Continental Congress, The Stamp Act, The Intolerable Acts, Taxation w/o representation, The Battle of Lex. and Concord, etc.) and we also study some of the different immigration waves in America too.

Yeah, we're pretty proud of our little revolution.

[suggs]

My interpretation of that speech (CLASS WORK, MY SON!) has always been that Lincoln was first and foremost a politician, and so tailored his speeches for his audience-fair play to him.
Secondly, although he didnt like slavery much, he WAS NOT an ardent abolitionist. He was, however, a BIG believer in the union-and thus was prepared to fight a war with the break away geezers down south.
And once the war got under way, and the blacks swarmed to join the North in force, they had the "Big MO"mentum behind them, and the rest as they say
is a cliche

[suggs]

Annoyingly, i agree with Harijammy in the sense that it makes sense to study the history of the most powerful Empire the world has ever seen.

[ritz627]

My interpretation of that speech (CLASS WORK, MY SON!) has always been that Lincoln was first and foremost a politician, and so tailored his speeches for his audience-fair play to him.
Secondly, although he didnt like slavery much, he WAS NOT an ardent abolitionist. He was, however, a BIG believer in the union-and thus was prepared to fight a war with the break away geezers down south.
And once the war got under way, and the blacks swarmed to join the North in force, they had the "Big MO"mentum behind them, and the rest as they say
is a cliche

The momentum also involved Lincoln from keeping any foreign countries from joining the south by exaggerating the so called "win" at Antietam. In reality it was more of a draw.

[muy_thaiguy]

What do you actually do in history class? When we do history we go back thousands of years but you only have a couple of hundred. So I'm just wondering what you actually study. I know you must do the Civil War and WW1 and 2 but what else? Please reveal your secrets.

If it is not American history, does it really matter? Its only a matter of time before our culture war overcomes every other culture in the world. England, Canada, Australlia are all pretty much the next three United States.

We have culturally dominated every first world Asian country.

Our biggest threat in the cultural war is Central America and soccer.

Whether or not anyone agrees, at the rate we are going in 100 years, history classes will start with the discovery of America by europeans. Everything else will be considered part of the dark ages.

I know it will piss all the foreigners off, but your anger is just further proof. You can hate our politics, you can hate our policies, but you gobble up american culture faster than anything.

Not even I agree with the culture war that America is waging, but I won't deny that it is happening or that America is winning.

What you're speaking of isn't "American" culture, it's corporate culture aka consumerism. Thank Coca-Cola, not your forefathers.

Considering that they wanted the Free Market Economy (Capitalism/Consumerism) quite a bit, not a far cry really. Mainly because Britain was forcing the Americans to only trade with them was one of the main causes of it.

[darvlay]

What you're speaking of isn't "American" culture, it's corporate culture aka consumerism. Thank Coca-Cola, not your forefathers.

Considering that they wanted the Free Market Economy (Capitalism/Consumerism) quite a bit, not a far cry really. Mainly because Britain was forcing the Americans to only trade with them was one of the main causes of it.

Fair point.

[ritz627]

Annoyingly, i agree with Harijammy in the sense that it makes sense to study the history of the most powerful Empire the world has ever seen.

So we should study the Roman Empire?

[browng-08]

Annoyingly, i agree with Harijammy in the sense that it makes sense to study the history of the most powerful Empire the world has ever seen.

And tomorrow's ashes...

[Frigidus]

What do you actually do in history class? When we do history we go back thousands of years but you only have a couple of hundred. So I'm just wondering what you actually study. I know you must do the Civil War and WW1 and 2 but what else? Please reveal your secrets.

If it is not American history, does it really matter? Its only a matter of time before our culture war overcomes every other culture in the world. England, Canada, Australlia are all pretty much the next three United States.

We have culturally dominated every first world Asian country.

Our biggest threat in the cultural war is Central America and soccer.

Whether or not anyone agrees, at the rate we are going in 100 years, history classes will start with the discovery of America by europeans. Everything else will be considered part of the dark ages.

I know it will piss all the foreigners off, but your anger is just further proof. You can hate our politics, you can hate our policies, but you gobble up american culture faster than anything.

Not even I agree with the culture war that America is waging, but I won't deny that it is happening or that America is winning.

What you're speaking of isn't "American" culture, it's corporate culture aka consumerism. Thank Coca-Cola, not your forefathers.

Considering that they wanted the Free Market Economy (Capitalism/Consumerism) quite a bit, not a far cry really. Mainly because Britain was forcing the Americans to only trade with them was one of the main causes of it.

Consumerism wasn't actually in existence back then though...The idea of product placement and all that was impossible given their level of technology, so they never would have dreamed us getting to the current situation.

As to the main topic, the only social science classes required throughout the country are US History and US Government. Aside from that it's really up to the state and to some extent the school. For instance, in my high school they had classes on World History, the History of Chicago, the Supreme Court, and International Relations to name a few.

[Frigidus]

Annoyingly, i agree with Harijammy in the sense that it makes sense to study the history of the most powerful Empire the world has ever seen.

So we should study the Roman Empire?

I thought we did...

Either way, skipping over America would be as bad a choice as skipping over Napoleon's France, Germany in the early 1900s, or the British Empire. Hm...now that I think about it we learned almost nothing about the USSR...guess there's still some Red Scare left in us.

[darvlay]

Annoyingly, i agree with Harijammy in the sense that it makes sense to study the history of the most powerful Empire the world has ever seen.

So we should study the Roman Empire?

I thought we did...

Either way, skipping over America would be as bad a choice as skipping over Napoleon's France, Germany in the early 1900s, or the British Empire. Hm...now that I think about it we learned almost nothing about the USSR...guess there's still some Red Scare left in us.

I never learned about any of that in my history class.

Just Louis Fucking Riel.

Over and over and over again.

At least that's how I remember it. (I was a pothead)

[ritz627]

What do you actually do in history class? When we do history we go back thousands of years but you only have a couple of hundred. So I'm just wondering what you actually study. I know you must do the Civil War and WW1 and 2 but what else? Please reveal your secrets.

If it is not American history, does it really matter? Its only a matter of time before our culture war overcomes every other culture in the world. England, Canada, Australlia are all pretty much the next three United States.

We have culturally dominated every first world Asian country.

Our biggest threat in the cultural war is Central America and soccer.

Whether or not anyone agrees, at the rate we are going in 100 years, history classes will start with the discovery of America by europeans. Everything else will be considered part of the dark ages.

I know it will piss all the foreigners off, but your anger is just further proof. You can hate our politics, you can hate our policies, but you gobble up american culture faster than anything.

Not even I agree with the culture war that America is waging, but I won't deny that it is happening or that America is winning.

I'm not a foreigner, and frankly, I think countries should study their own history, not bow down to the current "superpower" of the world. Sure we are integrating our culture into other areas, but that doesn't make us that immensely powerful, just our concept of culture. And I would argue that our biggest cultural threat does not lie in Central America, but in the Middle East and areas of Africa. And can you blame them for not wanting to have another country's culture imposed upon them and their tradition?

I would also argue that Central American immigration is part of what makes American culture what it is - it is the integration of many cultures into one. They say that history repeats itself, and quite frankly, I see virtually the same thing we saw with the Irish immigration and the "No Irish Need Apply" signs. We look back at our stupidity then, and yet we are doing it again now. At any rate, the only threat in our "Culture War" is a culture that refuses the integration of cultures. In Central America, they are not refusing our culture, we are refusing theirs.

And by the way, England isn't the next US, we were the next England. They were a superpower way before us.

[Harijan]

What you're speaking of isn't "American" culture, it's corporate culture aka consumerism. Thank Coca-Cola, not your forefathers.

And therein lies the beauty of the American Culture war. Coke is America. Our corporations run our country more or less, and the corporate brands do more for world peace and unity than the UN has ever accomplished.

The Nike Swish and Coke wave are more recognizable world wide than the Christian Cross or Muslim Cresant.

Corporate infiltration and American culture are one and the same. We are Apple, Coke, Nike, Mcdonalds. In recent years foreign corporations are doing the same thing, Nokia, Ikea, Sony, Toyota.

Like it or not the next generation will probably identify more closely with a corporate culture than a national, racial, or religious culture. That is America's greatest gift to the world. Equality through mass marketing.

[ritz627]

Annoyingly, i agree with Harijammy in the sense that it makes sense to study the history of the most powerful Empire the world has ever seen.

So we should study the Roman Empire?

I thought we did...

Either way, skipping over America would be as bad a choice as skipping over Napoleon's France, Germany in the early 1900s, or the British Empire. Hm...now that I think about it we learned almost nothing about the USSR...guess there's still some Red Scare left in us.

True, I am not proposing skipping over America at all, I am proposing not skipping over anything.

[Frigidus]

Annoyingly, i agree with Harijammy in the sense that it makes sense to study the history of the most powerful Empire the world has ever seen.

So we should study the Roman Empire?

I thought we did...

Either way, skipping over America would be as bad a choice as skipping over Napoleon's France, Germany in the early 1900s, or the British Empire. Hm...now that I think about it we learned almost nothing about the USSR...guess there's still some Red Scare left in us.

I never learned about any of that in my history class.

Just Louis Fucking Riel.

Over and over and over again.

At least that's how I remember it. (I was a pothead)

Forgive an ignorant American, but who's Louis Riel? I honestly have next to no idea what Canada's history is...at least next to nothing that doesn't involve America.

[ritz627]

What you're speaking of isn't "American" culture, it's corporate culture aka consumerism. Thank Coca-Cola, not your forefathers.

And therein lies the beauty of the American Culture war. Coke is America. Our corporations run our country more or less, and the corporate brands do more for world peace and unity than the UN has ever accomplished.

The Nike Swish and Coke wave are more recognizable world wide than the Christian Cross or Muslim Cresant.

Corporate infiltration and American culture are one and the same. We are Apple, Coke, Nike, Mcdonalds. In recent years foreign corporations are doing the same thing, Nokia, Ikea, Sony, Toyota.

Like it or not the next generation will probably identify more closely with a corporate culture than a national, racial, or religious culture. That is America's greatest gift to the world. Equality through mass marketing.

If that is our greatest gift, we can't be that great of a country to begin with.

[suggs]

I think the Nuke alone probably gives the Yanks the edge of the Romans.
In terms of land mass (and discounting the Med. sea) it must be quite close.
But the key factor is the USA's GLOBAL dominance, which the Romans had.
(eg the Chinese in 100 AD were in a relatively stronger global position than they are now).
Like it not, The Yanks are Huge.

[ritz627]

I think the Nuke alone probably gives the Yanks the edge of the Romans.
In terms of land mass (and discounting the Med. sea) it must be quite close.
But the key factor is the USA's GLOBAL dominance, which the Romans had.
(eg the Chinese in 100 AD were in a relatively stronger global position than they are now).
Like it not, The Yanks are Huge.

Yea, we just need to continue that dominance for another 600 or more years or so to be considered as dominant as the Romans. But I guess being a world superpower for about 50-60 years is about as equivalent...right?

It's not just power, but the duration of that power that makes the empires what they are. We are not nearly at the level that the Romans reached, nor do I want to be. That much power is not right.

[darvlay]

What you're speaking of isn't "American" culture, it's corporate culture aka consumerism. Thank Coca-Cola, not your forefathers.

And therein lies the beauty of the American Culture war. Coke is America. Our corporations run our country more or less, and the corporate brands do more for world peace and unity than the UN has ever accomplished.

The Nike Swish and Coke wave are more recognizable world wide than the Christian Cross or Muslim Cresant.

Corporate infiltration and American culture are one and the same. We are Apple, Coke, Nike, Mcdonalds. In recent years foreign corporations are doing the same thing, Nokia, Ikea, Sony, Toyota.

Like it or not the next generation will probably identify more closely with a corporate culture than a national, racial, or religious culture. That is America's greatest gift to the world. Equality through mass marketing.

Great post.

Horrible and fucking scary. But great.

[bellaraphon]

america's history is small? australia has been a country for only 107 years, and the aborigines history isn't recorded well.

[Napoleon Ier]

AH yes....Blame the corporations....last resort of the flailing leftist

No doubt though we should all dismantle the big evil companies that put fruit on our table all year round, provide us with luxury clothing, technology and let's not forget, those vile ignominious carcerans, the jewels in the crown of the vast corporatist conspirators, the pharmaceuticals that provide cheap health care to millions....

No! We lust the days of old when all men were happy gatherers eating berries off the trees and sharing all goods in common around a campfire whilst smoking bizarre plants and playing hippy anthems on primitive reed pipes. It's those nasty corporations that screwed it all up.

Peace out man111

[InkL0sed]

Has nobody ever seen the flaw in that quote in your sig, Napoleon?

[Neutrino]

AH yes....Blame the corporations....last resort of the flailing leftist

Use of the word "leftist" as though it were an insult: last resort of the flailing rightist.

No doubt though we should all dismantle the big evil companies that put fruit on our table all year round, provide us with luxury clothing, technology and let's not forget, those vile ignominious carcerans, the jewels in the crown of the vast corporatist conspirators, the pharmaceuticals that provide cheap health care to millions....

No! We lust the days of old when all men were happy gatherers eating berries off the trees and sharing all goods in common around a campfire whilst smoking bizarre plants and playing hippy anthems on primitive reed pipes. It's those nasty corporations that screwed it all up.

Peace out man111

I thought you of all people would have been firmly Anti-Corporation. The rise of corporations has surely done some variety of horrendous damage to the almighty grail of Traditional French Culture.


P.S. The joke only works if you mix 1's with exclamation marks.

[unriggable]

AH yes....Blame the corporations....last resort of the flailing leftist

No doubt though we should all dismantle the big evil companies that put fruit on our table all year round, provide us with luxury clothing, technology and let's not forget, those vile ignominious carcerans, the jewels in the crown of the vast corporatist conspirators, the pharmaceuticals that provide cheap health care to millions....

No! We lust the days of old when all men were happy gatherers eating berries off the trees and sharing all goods in common around a campfire whilst smoking bizarre plants and playing hippy anthems on primitive reed pipes. It's those nasty corporations that screwed it all up.

Peace out man111

No doubt we should all support the corporations that pay prison wages to oriental workers and treat them like shit.

[Ham]

What do you actually do in history class? When we do history we go back thousands of years but you only have a couple of hundred. So I'm just wondering what you actually study. I know you must do the Civil War and WW1 and 2 but what else? Please reveal your secrets.

We go back a couple hundred years and everyone forgets everything and thinks George Washington invented the peanut.

That sums up what most people tend to remember.

WE BE SMARTZ !!!!