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Teflon
Sense of History & Collective Sin
A Response to “The
Dark Side of Obedience”
A
Letter from Wilson Moses
Dear
Rudy,
I have read your commentary at [your] site—“The
Dark Side of Obedience”
After
some initial resistance, I have to accept your point about
collective sin. I have a friend and colleague, a black
man, who refuses to accept any blame for America's foreign
policy, despite the fact that he has served in the military.
In
my view, if African Americans accept U.S. citizenship, attend
the schools, use the libraries, appeal to the police, sue our
enemies, and register our deeds at the county court house, we
have to accept the fact that we are up to our necks in the
system.
We
have to accept blame for the crimes committed in our names.
We cannot scapegoat Lynndie England. We cannot
scapegoat General Sanchez or Secretary Rumsfeld. We cannot
scapegoat Dr. Rice or Secretary Powell. We cannot, as Jefferson
did, scapegoat George III. We cannot even scapegoat George
Bush II. So long as we are part of the system, we share
the guilt.
As you say, this country has a Teflon sense of history.
Nothing sticks. Our motto is "That was then.
This is now." Of course pseudo-history is always with
us. Try a Google-search on the words "Jeffersonian
democracy" + Iraq. You will find quite a few links.
Have we forgotten that this country fought a "Great Civil
War" in order to rid ourselves of Jeffersonian Democracy?
Oops!
I forgot. The Civil War had nothing to do with the
Jeffersonian slavery based economy; it arose from the
irrepressible patriotic impulse of the American heroes,
Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, who resisted the intrusions
of big government in Washington, and "beltway
politicians," a bunch of liberals wanted to take away our
guns and our freedoms.
The
Mexican War was fought in order to avenge the massacre at the
Alamo, and because it was our manifest (self evident) destiny
(came from God) to pave a pathway to the Pacific. Only a year
later, after California had been justly and appropriately
annexed, did gold become a factor in California history, that is
in 1849.
The Spanish/American war [What? That's not the same as the
Mexican War?]. No, kids, it's not the same!
The Spanish American War happened like this: Suppose you
were a kid on the playground, and you saw a big bully (Spain)
messin' with a little kid (Cuba), well you ought to step in and
help. Right?
[NPR
interviewed a teacher-of-the-year laureate, who taught the
Spanish American War with exactly this analogy].
And
while you were at it, maybe you could sorta liberate the
Pacific. After all we had already "opened up Japan to
free trade," and set up a democratic government in Hawaii.
So why not scarf up the Philippines, while we're liberating Cuba
from the iron heel of Spanish rule. Never mind if the natives
resist with a bitter guerilla war. (which is still remembered by
Islamic jihadists in the Philippines, today) [Hey wait
a minute! There ain't no Arabs in the Philippines.]
No,
kids, but there are, however, Muslims in the Philippines.
They have been there since the 13th century, and they
have a historical memory of the recent Spanish American War,
even if we Teflon-brained Americans do not. The
"Jihad against the Americans" in the appropriately
named "Moorish lands" of the Philippines lasted from
1898 to 1946, when the Philippines were granted independence.
How
many of us, in teaching the history of the Philippines, make any
mention of the jihad tradition? How might American foreign
policy in the middle east be interpreted by radical Muslims in
the Philippines or by moderate Muslims in Indonesia?
So Rudy, you have awakened my conscience. Black historians
can teach courses on black heroes struggling against the odds to
triumph over American racism. "It is altogether
fitting and proper that we should do so."
"But, in a larger sense," I think I also have some
obligations to place in the hands of my students the writings of
the Great White Fathers.
I
want them to read in their own words of Thomas Jefferson's
endorsement of Indian removal, Ulysses S. Grant's condemnation
of the Mexican War, and Teddy Roosevelt's cheerful butchery on
San Juan Hill. If I do no more than supply them with
the actual words, written by the Great White Fathers, that may
have some effect. It is not necessary for me to offer any
liberal biased commentary at all, and far be it from me to do
so. The fair and unbiased presentation of the
documents, will stick to the minds of some of my
students.
I
have complete confidence, rooted in experience, that not all
American brains are Teflon-coated.
Wilson
Moses http://php.scripts.psu.edu/dept/history/faculty/mosesWilson.php
posted 24 May 2004 * *
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updated 15 December 2007 |
