A brilliant analysis – as is the norm with John Oliver’s host of Last Week Tonight program on HBO – of just one example of how misrepresenting history either through ignorance or for purely ideological purposes is NOT priceless. This is precisely why education can either make a nation – if remained properly shielded from ideological (and I might add cultural) influences of the day – or break it otherwise because nations cannot survive under false pretences/illusions that solve nothing but rather exacerbate issues we all face today wherever you happen to live. In America as in other countries around the world people are beginning to realise this simple reality which may well be the starting point for change or a continuation that leads to a social/political meltdown. This idea of rewriting history is in fact NOT a new one and has been deliberately used by Nazi Germany and more recently in the in the Middle East to help undermine the rights of people whether through occupation or racial cleansing or to control political narratives for preserving control in many dictatorships throughout the Middle East and elsewhere. I do hope we all begin to understand the importance of preserving an untainted version of history and protecting our education system altogether because this is indeed the only way to preserve national integrity and allows nations to build/develop through their own true/honest experiences. I hope we begin to make this a central component of any activist work we do – this is really important and needs concerted effort to come up with practical solutions that help safeguard (or develop) these protections.
Hope you enjoy this clip;