When in school you may have been told that it was Thomas Jefferson who came up with the idea to found the University of Virginia. But do you think it's possible that Sally Hemmings, his educated slave and mistress, had a part in it?The History Bluff thinks so.
(Pictured is the son Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings had together).
(Pictured is the son Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings had together).
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by The History Bluff.
Update 2/12/09 - Caveat lector (reader beware), the History *Bluff* is sort of The Onion of history. Funny stuff, but not real.
I think that sounds like protecting ignorance, and I don't think there's anything valuable about that.
And with regard to "rewriting history," well, that's not what satire is. It is not an attempt to corrupt actual history for advantage, but a tool (in theory) for pointing out things like hypocrisy or simple absurdity (and sometimes just for fun, which is perfectly legit). It can be funny because of its very distance from reality--the humor is in the contrast between the two.
And if occasionally satire is lost on people, well, I don't think that's an argument for getting rid of satire; I think it's an argument for becoming more aware.
You're talking about what students should do. I'm talking about what students actually do.
The whole idea of rewriting history is offensive, because there's so much real history to explore without having to make BS up.
Maybe I'll start a rumour that Hitler invented the bikini.
The correct question isn't, "Do you take the time..." The correct question is, "Shouldn't you take the time?" If you're a student, like Violet said, a bit of misinformation is the least of your problems.
And when you're a student surfing the web for information, do you take the time to read every single page, or really explore in-depth why a site has a particular name?