Things which piss me off.... Teachers sprouting ignorance!

[Vesayen]

Remember the maine!"

Children, we went to war with spain because they blew up our ship the maine, in their harbor! When we confronted them they were quite shocked and claimed they didnt do it! Afterall, why would they want to blow up a civilian ship for the hell of it in a very crowded commercial harbor, which killed several dozen people on the docks and downed 3 of our their own commercial ships! Those dastardly Spanish-it was all part of the trick!








Three years ago we began sending down subs to investigate the wreckage of the main..... a two years ago it was anounced that it seems the ship exploded because of technical failures in the ship, not foul play...... So that whole Spanish American war was kinda unjustified if you use the Maine as the reason......... Yet schools all across America continue to teach history we KNOW is wrong........ when is the truth gonna be told lol?










MORE then that however I am pissed off at an idiotic discussion I had with a teacher two years ago... I'll never forget it lol. We just finished two months on American expansion westward and were about to start on the 1920's...... The teacher asked me what manifest destiny was. My response:

"Manifest destiny is the justification of aggressive, traitorous atrocities towards the indigenous people of the continent, coupled with random acts of aggression against anyone who has land we want in the western hemisphere"


Before I continue my story, I just want to say I am NOT some liberal nut...... I have extreme opinions from both ends of the spectrum and I average out as a moderate. I'm glad we took out sadam, but I am pissed that our "president" stole the election......

My teachers response was so pathetic he should of had his teaching licensee taken away. I will NEVER forget this conversation merely because his response was so mind boglingly idiotic.

“Ves, it wasn’t aggression, it was manifest destiny! We needed to expand west to fulfil our potential of a great nation!”

Before you point out the obvious counter statement, don’t worry, it’s exactly what I said lol

“Mr. ******, that sounds familiar…… who said that? Oh yes, wasn’t that Hitler about Poland in 1939?”

“It was nothing like that, it was manifest destiny!”

“Mr. ******, manifest destiny is just a word, its used to try to conquest what happened. “Manifest destiny” sounds nicer then “150 years of atrocities”

“Ves its simple, it wasn’t aggression. If we wanted our nation to become great and grow, we needed the land!”

“Like nazi Heinzpack(sp?), “breathing room”?



He kicked me out of his class for talking back and I got a 3 days of suspension for calling my teacher a nazi……. Which I DIDN’T say lol! When my parents found out what happened they laughed(both being history buffs like me).

[geeslaka]

I'm still in high school so if I know a teacher is going to say something I'll argue about that teacher doesn't see me that day.

[RGBVideo]

[off-topic in off-topic]
You use the term "lol" way too much. Remember, it means that you're bursting much of laugh with a loud voice. Are you usually doing that in the end of every sentence?

[Vesayen]

From now on I promise to use the word LOL less often just for you. Happy?

Thinking about the story and typing it up I WAS laughing by the way, as it was funny as it happaned.

[geeslaka]

I just laugh at a teacher when I see something growing from their ears.
BTW - What does an ignorance plant look like?

[Solly]

The problem with ignorant teachers lies in the fact that many of them don't know the real world and hence are ruined by left-wing ideologies and misinformation.

[The Emperor Fabulous]

The problem with ignorant teachers lies in the fact that many of them are too afraid to speak against the idea that this country is infalible in its history and hence are ruined by right-wing ideologies and misinformation.

[Jaguar]

This thread did have me LoLing. We had to fulfill our destiny as a great nation??

[Kidlicious]

That teacher of yours is particularly bad. Teachers are regular people for the most part. They have their own prejudice like everyone else. And they don't know everything, like students and some parents think they are suppose to.

That being said, I would like to recommend a couple books to you. They will help you recover from the crap they teach you in school.

1) Howard Zinn's, "People's History of the United States"

2) James W. Loewen's, "Lies My Teacher Told Me"

Here's an example of a myth that is taught as fact in US high schools. Several people here at poly have fallen for it . America: The Land of Opportunity . It's normal for a kid to enter high school pondering the question, "Why are people poor?" That's natural because no one wants to be poor, and everyone want to know what makes people poor so that they can avoid it. People come out of high school with no understanding of the social structure and how it makes people poor at all. Either do they come out with any understanding of how a persons status in society determines their attitudes about how society works.

So what happens to a student who is poor or becomes poor? They think they are inadequate, because that's what they were told in high school.

[Sirotnikov]

While the teacher story is amusing and you were right, I don't see anything wierd about the reason for the spanish war.

As it seems to me (I'm not expert on this though), the ship exploded, and the americans decided it was the fault of the spanish and declared war.

Whether the Spanish really did it or not, doesn't make america any more or less justified, since at the time, america (supposedly) honestly believed it was spain's fault.

So even if the ship was not really bombed by them, it is still correct to say that the americans went to war over what they believed to be one-sided agression from the spanish.

[Elok]

That's not ignorance, it's a mildly perverted ideological perspective. The teacher sounds like he was aware of the murders, etc., in question but believes they were justified under the circumstances. You, on the other hand, come off looking more than a little confrontational and *****y. Which is worse is your call...
The case with the Maine is more like real ignorance, though it's a fairly minor detail as far as I'm concerned.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Sirotnikov
So even if the ship was not really bombed by them, it is still correct to say that the americans went to war over what they believed to be one-sided agression from the spanish.

There was of course a real reason for the war. It was Imperialism. The US wanted to be an Imperialist power.

[geeslaka]

and it still does.

[Jaguar]

1/10

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Sirotnikov
As it seems to me (I'm not expert on this though), the ship exploded, and the americans decided it was the fault of the spanish and declared war.

Whether the Spanish really did it or not, doesn't make america any more or less justified, since at the time, america (supposedly) honestly believed it was spain's fault.

So even if the ship was not really bombed by them, it is still correct to say that the americans went to war over what they believed to be one-sided agression from the spanish.

Erm, not quite. Read up on the "Yellow Journalism" of William Randolph Hearst. He thought it was in the best U.S. interest to go to war with Spain, and the Maine incident was just the catalyst he was looking for. There wasn't widespread speculation of the explosion being the fault of the Spanish until Hearst used his newspapers to make false accusations, spread rumors, etc., thereby manipulating public opinion to believe the Spanish were at fault.

Those in power, of course, would/should have known better, but they thought a war was a good idea, too.