Alternative Interpretations of History

[Alolan_Apples]

History has a lot of perspectives that it can be told. While it is important to teach our children history, it has a lot of ugly spots that are hardly mentioned. And it can be told with bias. Let’s also not forget that some people would make ridiculous claims that are not just untrue, but also cringeworthy. Some could say that Christopher Columbus got along with the Native Americans and traded European livestock and crops for gold. Some could say that our founding fathers were white supremacists. Some could say that the Civil War was the first war to have nuclear weapons involved. Some could say that Prohibition has caused the Great Depression. And some could say that Diet Coke existed as early as World War II. All of these examples are nonsense. There’s no way that you can have nuclear weapons without understanding nuclear chemistry, and although Coca-Cola existed for over 100 years, Diet Coke wasn’t a product until 1982. If people tell you facts like these when teaching history and you learned about what really happened, this would change how you think on both history and the news. It’s also worth mentioning that beliefs change over time, whether if it’s as long as 200 years or as short as 5 years. Last, but not least, our historical villains have redeeming qualities and positive traits while our historical heroes have done some villainous acts.

For every reason stated above, I have multiple interpretations of history. Reading these may change how you think after what you read from history.

The American Civil War:

• Just because someone is against slavery doesn’t mean they aren’t a racist. While the South supported slavery, the North still supported the idea of white supremacy. There was even a group called the “Free-Soil Party”, which were abolitionists, but also bigots. And supporters of slavery supported it for agricultural reasons.
• Although the Missouri Compromise was popular by both sides as it worked well for 28 years, it was a bad idea from the beginning. First of all, it basically chose which states can have what. Secondly, the issue isn’t limited to slavery. Finally, if any state that crosses the line joins the union and takes sides, the compromise would fail.
• The Supreme Court decision on Dred Scott v Sandford could also be in support of the Jim Crow laws. What’s crazier is that the Jim Crow Laws is a series of loopholes around the amendments that were passed in response to the Dred Scott decision.
• Both sides in the American Civil War are the bad guys. For the North, they basically did significant damage to the South, as they burned down many cities and farms. They basically destroyed not just people and places, but the region’s economy, and up to this day, they are still poorer than the rest of the nation. For the South, they supported slavery and betrayed the United States by seceding to protect slavery. Even if they seceded to protect states’ rights, they were states’ rights hypocrites (they didn’t want the North to have the rights to outlaw slavery).
• The biggest villains on both sides (in my opinion) were William T Sherman from the North and Nathan Bedford Forrest from the South. Sherman’s March was not just the worst part of the Civil War, but was also the biggest disaster to ever occur in the United States. The latter founded a hate group that still haunts our nation up to this day.
• Andrew Johnson was wrongfully impeached. The real reason behind his impeachment was that the Radical Republicans were playing politics. Details are a bit complex, but it was all about turning the South into different military districts, which Johnson didn’t want, but the Republicans did.
• The Radical Republicans were partially responsible for the Jim Crow Laws. While it was the Democrats that passed them, the Republicans were aggressive with their Reconstruction policies. The issues of the Civil War amendments were very polarizing at the time, and they took sides to the extreme when passing these amendments. In addition, they banned the Democrats from voting or holding office in the South to get their reconstruction policies through. The end result: once the Republicans lost control of the South, they lived in political exile in the region for a long time while the Democrats passed these horrible laws that enforced racial segregation and disenfranchisement.
  • This is not to say that the Civil War amendments are evil. They actually did more good than bad. The problem is that at the time, these ideas were very radical. Radicalism is like a pendulum. Once you hold it too far and let go, it will swing the other way as far as you held it. This is exactly why got Donald Trump elected, and why the Southern states passed these radical abortion laws this year.
  • It’s also worth mentioning, though not a Civil War-related example, that whatever happened to the Republicans in the South after Reconstruction is exactly going to happen to the Democrats in California once they lose control of the state (which is bound to happen because of the state’s current problems).
• The Jim Crow Laws are worse than slavery. While slavery fails to acknowledge peoples’ rights to be free, the Jim Crow Laws can’t even respect African Americans’ rights to live.
• Irony: While today’s Republicans keep comparing today’s Democrats to the Democrats at the time, the right-winged party is the Democrats as the left-winged party is the Republicans. Today, it’s the other way around.
  • There’s one thing I agree with today’s Republicans on this issue. They are right that the Democrats are still being more oppressive while the fight against slavery can be compared to the other battles against other immoral things (like abortion, illegal immigration, drugs, and government handouts).
  • It’s also worth saying that the South betrayed America by seceding while the Democrats had control. Democrats today still have less respect for our nation than the Republicans. Seeing them support towards sanctuary cities and embrace communist leaders prove this point. Fortunately, the South isn’t betraying America this time.
  • Speaking of which, another irony is that the region that shows the most respect towards America’s values today was the region that seceded before the American Civil War. New York, once the center of American values, is now supporting anti-American values.

Other Historical Interpretations:

• Everything that’s wrong with Nazi Germany are also true about the key nations of the Allied Forces. Britain took over much of the world. America had systematic racism that existed for a long time, and still lingered after World War II. Soviet Union was lead by a totalitarian dictator that killed 20 million people.
• The most unnecessary war was the Vietnam War. We got involved because France wanted their colony back (when the colony wanted to be an independent nation).
• The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was a short term cause of World War I, but one of the many long-term causes of 9/11. But 9/11 wouldn’t have happened had it not been for the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Revolution, as World War II wouldn’t have happened had it not been for the Treaty of Versailles.
• The 1950s and 1960s were the darkest times of 20th Century in the United States. Most of the events that proved this point are related to the Civil Rights era.
• Richard Nixon actually isn’t as evil as the media likes to portray him.
• Herbert Hoover didn’t start the Great Depression. The Great Depression and the falling stock market were natural processes that are to blame for the mounting problems with the economy, combined with the lack of regulation. Because of that, it was bound to happen. Economists didn’t notice it until October of 1929. By then, it was too late. What makes Herbert Hoover bad is that he didn’t do anything to resolve the depression.