MM#129--Debunking The Lies Of History

Welcome to the theory to action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time to help you take action immediately, and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now, here's your host, David Kaiser.

Hello, I'm David and welcome back to another Mojo minute. This is a special week here at the Mojo Academy. It is Liberty week, where we are focusing on those things that help us make help us to live actually a flourishing life in our nation. In our last Mojo minute we tackle the New York Times and how as the paper of a record in the United States and the world, they have completely been deceiving many millions and millions of people. Be sure to check out that Mojo minute. And one of the central tenets of living a flourishing life is the search for and discovery of the truth. That's objective truth, not your truth and my truth. That type of truth is a modern is a postmodern fallacy, but objective truth in any subject, we can almost always find objective truth. If it can't be found, we can certainly rule out many other theories to get closer to that truth. 

And in today's Mojo minute, we explore how for the last 40 or so years, American students who have read the history of Howard Zinn's tragic textbook, the People's History of the United States have learned numerous falsehoods. And it's no wonder now why they have a flawed idea of what our American history is, and was, is a longtime editor Roger Kimball says of the ZenBook Zinn's book, quote has probably done more to poison the minds of history school students than any other work of history. Unquote. How tragic. And Emory University professor of politics and history Harvey Claire writes that, quote, Zinn is taken seriously as a historian, is a very sad commentary on the teachers who rely on his fantasies and a terrible disservice to the students who are forced to read it, unquote. 

Now some backstory and context about Howard Zinn is required here. Howard Zinn was a Marxist believer through and through, there's no doubt about his radical politics. He was a demagogue for sure. And if I were to say something positive about him, I'm sure he was charismatic in his own right. Zinn, though as a historian was constantly reshuffling the good guys and the bad guys based on his warped view and reading of history. That's most regrettable that's terrible. That's getting the truth wrong are not even getting close to the truth, now is in portrays himself as the only historian willing to do the original research. But in fact, he doesn't do any doesn't perform any original research. He lifts large quotes from previously deeply held Marxist historians. And, frankly, most Americans don't view the world this way. They innately don't believe in this Marxist rubbish. Now, you could see that on full display in the most recent Virginia governor's race where many parents of school aged children completely rebelled against the teaching of critical race theory. Because it's just another Marxist radical view of history. And amazingly, Mr. Zahn Howard's in would all of his life deny communism was his major political belief. And how he thought the way he did in fact, he always denied he was even a member of the Communist Party. I mean, if you're going to write about this stuff, some some so widely, you're gonna have to own who you are and what you believe, right? That's what I would think. 

But in his own autobiography, the title of which is quite illuminating. The title is called you can't be neutral. Let's start with just one of the first sentences is the very first sentence of his autobiography, quote, the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle? Unquote. I don't know. Call me crazy. But that phrase, that's that sentence right there. Sounds an awful lot like Karl Marx and Frederick Frederick Engels from their book, the Communist Manifesto, right out of the gate.

And he goes on to say, quote, and undeniably true, verifiable in any reading of history, certainly true for the United States, despite all the promises of the Constitution. He's talking about the history of class struggle. Later on, he would say the communist system would lead to, quote, a rational, just economic system, which would allow a short work day and leave everyone freedom and time to do as they liked. To write poetry, to be in nature, to play sports, to be truly human. Nationalism would be a thing of the past, and people all over the world of whatever race of whatever continent would lead live in peace and cooperation, unquote. Peace and Cooperation all over the world. Hi. Mr. Zinn, communism, has never produced peace or economic equality anywhere it's been tried. The free nations all over the world have documented this numerous times over and over. Nevertheless, you get a sense of where Howard Zinn and where he's coming from, especially in his corrupt history textbook of People's History of the United States. 

Now, Mary Grabar has finally written a book that details how Zinn has pulled off this historical heist. And she's done it in her book called debunking Howard Zinn exposing the fake history that turned a generation against America. Now, if you didn't want to check out the book, which I think you should, but you could also just Google Howard Zinn's errors, because there's so many people that have been speaking up about this historical rubbish. Nevertheless, we at the Mojo Academy, we like books, so we're going to cover Mary gray bars excellent book, because it's a one stop shop detailing America's fascinating story and how bad you can get that history wrong. Completely wrong. Just crazy wrong by Mr. Howard Zinn. Now, here's one example.

Because I'm living in Columbus, Ohio, this particular lie has really stuck out to me when I first heard it and it continues to go on. And it's the need to abolish Columbus Day. Why? Because Columbus, so called exploited the Native Americans. Let's go to gray bar in our book, quote, Xin found the inspiration for the dramatic, dramatic opening sentences of A People's History. Quote, The Arawak men and women naked, tawny and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the islands beaches, and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore carrying swords speaking Oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food water gifts. He later wrote of this in his log quote, they brought us parrots and balls of cotton, and spears and many other things which they exchanged for glass beads, and hawksbills. They willingly traded everything they owned, unquote. This quote a passage from Columbus's log ship blog continues with Columbus's description of the Arawak. They were well built and handsomely featured having never seen Iron they accidentally cut themselves on the European swords. When they touch them. The passage ends with Columbus, Columbus is now infamous words, quote, they have no iron, their spears are made out of cane, they would make fine servants with 50 men we said we could subject subject them all and make them do whatever we want. Unquote. Now there is still staying with the book the ellipses in this passage are Zins not mine. And as we shall see those emissions are essential to Zins dishonest retelling of the Columbus story by leaving out crucial words of the quotations in makes Columbus say something very Different from what he actually said unquote. So based on Howard Zinn's retelling of the Columbus voyage to the New World, it was all about subjecting the Native Americans into slavery into or enrich himself with gold. 

Let's go back to the book gray bars book. In fact, that is far from the truth. European efforts to find a sea route to Asia had been going on for hundreds of years. As William and Carla Phillips point out in the worlds of Christopher Columbus, Columbus's voyage of discovery was a continuation of Europeans ventures of sailing to Asia at first around Africa, that had begun in 1291. For centuries before Columbus, Portuguese and Spanish explorers have also ventured farther and farther out into the Atlantic Ocean. Spain had one particular pressing reason, quite apart from greed for gold, for sailing to East Asia, as Andrew G. Boston quoting Lewis Bertrams 1934 book, The history of Spain pointed out in a Columbus Day 2018 post on PJ media, Columbus sought Eastern even far eastern alliances to end a millennium of Islamic Jihad imposed tyranny against Christendom. When the Spanish Christian monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella recaptured Grenada on January 2 1492, they ended almost eight centuries of jihad ravages, massacres pillages mass enslavement in deportation under Muslim rule. As Bertrand describes it, the situation faced by the Spanish was expelled the foreign or be expelled by him. Thus, Columbus's mission was multifaceted inspired by several different motivations, quote, to reach the East Indies, so as to take Islam in the rear into effect an alliance with the Great Khan, a mythical personage who is believed to be sovereign over all that region, and favorable to the Christian religion and finally, to diffuse Christianity throughout the unknown continent, and to trade with traditional sources and to trade with the traditional sources of gold and spices unquote. 

Ah, did you catch one of the main motivations after for Columbus's voyages after recapturing Grenada in January 2 1492. They ended almost eight centuries of jihad ravages massacres, pillages, mass enslavement and deportation under Muslim rule. Wow. Howard Zinn, as a historian, did you explore that motivation? And by the way, could you have referenced the herb slave trade that went on for over 13 centuries? It's largely been forgotten. Can anybody write about that slave trade as well? Now back to Columbus and his exploitation for gold's for Golden riches. Let's go back to the book. desires to find new lands for more resources into escape enemies and persecution are not impulses unique to Europeans. The natives of North America in quote prehistoric times themselves, came from Asia, they crossed the land bridge, they crossed the land bridge across the Bering Strait to the lands of the Western Hemisphere. When he encountered naked natives instead of the Asian merchants, he was expecting Columbus did not jump to thoughts of working them to death for gold, as in suggest, unquote. 

Let's go back to the book. For example, in his log entry for October 12 1492, Columbus road, I warned my man to take nothing from the people without giving them something in exchange, unquote. Notably, Howard Zinn left that passage out of his book. And we now know that Native Americans weren't the first inhabitants of North or Central America. They came by a land bridge and most likely they killed the peoples that were here before them. And perhaps, if we would be seeking out the truth, we could write some books about that era and explore them motivations of the Native American people and coming across the Lane Bridge from Asia.


Now back to our first quote from Zen that he takes out a context that Columbus wrote in his long in his logbook, quote, they would make fine servants. That's what Zinn totally runs with. It's totally out of context back to the book. The omission right before they would make find servants is particularly dishonest. Here's the nub of what zin left out, quote. I saw some people who bore marks of wounds on their bodies. And I made signs to them to ask how this came about. They indicated to me that people came from other islands which are near and wished to capture them, and they defended themselves. And I believed and still believe that they had come here from the mainland to take them for slaves, unquote. Geez. So Columbus is actually trying to be the right guy here, and more from the book. This is gray bars book in his translation of Columbus's logbook, Robert fusion discusses the context, that Zinn deliberately left out, quote, the cultural unity of the Teneo. The name for this particular tribe with gin with which Zinn labels the Arawaks greatly impressed Columbus. Those who see Columbus as a founder of slavery in the new world are grossly in air. This thought occurred to Samuel Ella Morrison and many others who misinterpreted a statement made by Columbus on the first day in America. When he said the they the Indians ought to be good servants. 

In fact, Columbus observed offered this observation. In explanation of an earlier comment he had made theorizing that people from the mainland came to the islands to capture these Indians as slaves because they were so docile and obliging, unquote. So all of this is still on the first few pages of Howard Zinn's book it's it's just a cartoon of history is full of lies and innuendo. Finally, gray bar pulls the real motivation from Columbus's own logbooks and meeting the Native Americans, quote, but literally the first, but literally the Explorer, his first concern, was the hope that he expressed in the initial comment about the natives in his log was for the Indians, freedom and their eternal salvation I want in need. This is a quote from Columbus's logbook. I want the natives to develop a friendly attitude towards us, because I know that they are people. They are a people who can be made free and converted to our holy faith more by love them by force, unquote. Doesn't sound like a person who's trying to enslave people. This is just a very small, small sample, but you get the idea. 

And I would strongly encourage you to read gray bars book, she does a great job of debunking this horrific textbook. But sadly, it's a textbook that sold over two and a half million copies. And it's no wonder young people are so angry about our country, because they've been taught and filled with lie upon lie. Now here's the ultimate kicker, Zinn's opening quote about Columbus and the American Indians weren't his original research. You can't make this stuff up seriously. He pretty much this Xin he pretty much plagiarized them from a guy named Hans Konak. Or Hans coning, I'm sorry. Hans coning wrote a high school textbook titled Columbus his enterprise, exploding the myth and here's where a gray bars research is fascinating. Quote, Konings book is the source for Zins indictment of Columbus, which is the opening gambit
are the opening gambit I'm sorry, other people's history. The first five and a half pages of A People's History of the United States are little more than slightly altered passages from Columbus, his enterprise. The coning book, the text, on pages one through three of the Peoples History Zins opening narrative about how Columbus cruelly exploited the generosity of the airwalk drive is paraphrase mostly from Columbus's passages 5158 51 through 58. From the middle of Zinn's Page Three to the middle of page four, he follows koonings pages 59 through 70. Then on the bottom half a page for it At the top of page five, he uses Konings, pages 82 through 84. Xin lifts wholesale from Kooning, the very same quotations of Columbus unquote. 

So there you go. Howard Zinn writing lies and then plagiarizing those lies as his own, can't make it up. gray bar goes on and on in the book, but you get the point. So in today's Mojo minute and most, especially during our celebration of liberty week, let's always try to read professional historians that have no other agenda than to seek out the objective truth. I know they're very hard, or they're they're much harder and harder to find these days. If you want to learn more about Christopher Columbus, you can get a much more balanced portrayal from Samuel Eliot Morrison's Admiral of the ocean sea. It was written in the 1940s. But there are a lot of great folks out there republishing those close to classic works was actually republished in 2008. And there's now an audible book format of that Admiral of the ocean sea. And another book Columbus by Philippe Fernandez armesto was another good book recommended to me by a librarian when I asked about staying close to the primary documents or writing a biography about Columbus. Evidently she had read this biography was written in 1992. 

And in terms of just general history, a book I can recommend we have covered it in a previous podcast, Wilford McClay is the land of hope and invitation to the great American story is one such book was written in 2019. It's gotten great reviews from all over the spectrum. And we'll be covering more and more professional historians on these podcasts. Especially those who respect the truth as they discover it, who seek the truth on their studies and then the writing. Because the American story is more diverse and more equally enthralling than most people know, Howard Zinn's shameful distortion of the facts of American history. And his blunt message that Americans should be ashamed of their history should be outright rejected. We're certainly flawed. No one's saying we are a saint. We certainly had a flawed history but we constantly decade by decade by decade are trying to make this a better country. And that's enjoyed by most Americans.

 So thank you, Mary gray bar for sitting in the facts straight and writing this book. Howard Zinn's shameful books should not be taught in any American school any longer. It's complete indoctrination. And finally, we should know in this week of liberty that we're celebrating here at the Mojo Academy, than America is an exceptional country, despite all the naysayers out there. And let's pray God that we will continue to seek out the real history and the real truth.


Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this theory to action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at T Mojo academy.com where we have everything we discussed in this podcast as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo on