• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Saturday, June 3, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured

My American Indoctrination

Stephen J. Lyons by Stephen J. Lyons
10/26/21
in Featured, Opinion
Donald Trump hosting Independence Day events at Mount Rushmore

Donald Trump hosting Independence Day events at Mount Rushmore. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

“President Trump pressed his case Thursday that U.S. schools are indoctrinating children with a left-wing agenda hostile to the nation’s Founding Fathers, describing efforts to educate students about racism and slavery as an insult to the country’s lofty founding principles.”

The Washington Post, September 17, 2020.

I remember my initial indoctrination. I was an average student in Dewitt Clinton Grade School, on Chicago’s northwest side. Above the blackboard in our homeroom hung an ancient loudspeaker that blared the impossible-to-sing Star Spangled Banner every morning at eight o’clock sharp.

We were ordered by our teacher to place our hands over our hearts and face the music, so to speak. Afterward, we had to pledge allegiance to the flag: “…one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Our assembly hall had two portraits: one of a slaveholder, George Washington, and one of a slave emancipator, Abraham Lincoln. We were taught that all white founding fathers were beyond reproach, almost saintly. Thomas Jefferson’s Black mistress was never mentioned. Nor were his, or Washington’s slaves, ever referenced in the history books we were required to read, memorize, and then parrot in our homework essays.

Pounded into our young, impressionable brains was the tale of Christopher Columbus “discovering” America, even though there were millions of native Americans residing here at the time of his amazing discovery.

Manifest Destiny was sold to us as a necessary pacification of those hostile Indians. No one mentioned the wholesale slaughter or the rapes. The courageous General George Armstrong Custer was ambushed at Little Big Horn by red savages, but we never learned about the battle of Big Hole, when US troops slaughtered 90 members of the Nez Perce tribe.

Air raid drills were also a regular feature of our indoctrination in public school. We were told to put our heads down on our desks as if somehow that would protect us. We believed it would. Sometimes we were made to quietly march — “single file, Indian style” — downstairs to the air raid shelter and wait for the all-clear signal.

Never was it explained in terms we could understand why we had such air raid shelters. Something about a potential bomb and a mushroom cloud. No one explained to us that the only country ever to employ the dreaded atomic bomb was our own United States, and that the dropping of bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed tens of thousands of innocent Japanese men, women, infants, and babies.

Hiroshima, three months after the atomic bomb was dropped
Hiroshima, three months after the atomic bomb was dropped. Photo: AFP

Later, our indoctrination excused the slaughter as indispensable to ending World War II. We were left with no other choice. The pilots who dropped the bombs were to be thanked for their service to democracy and for preserving America’s exceptionalism.

The urban riots in Chicago that followed Martin Luther King’s assassination were sold to us by our mayor as proof that Blacks were by nature violent and that they were a threat to our way of life. Mayor Richard Daley refused to “build back better” those neighborhoods. I do not recall anyone explaining how those neighborhoods were systematically deprived of basic necessities like access to healthy foods, decent housing, and functional schools. Nor was I told why drugs were intentionally funneled into those parts of the city I dared not enter. 

Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon sent thousands of our young soldiers to their death and addiction — gutting the potential of an entire generation — to Vietnam because of the “domino theory.” If Vietnam liberates itself from the control of France and the United States then all the countries in Southeast Asia (and beyond!) will fall to communism. 

After 9/11 we invaded Iraq because of phantom “weapons of mass destruction.” We had to bomb the poor sovereign nation of Afghanistan because Osama Bin Laden was hiding there. It turned out he was chilling in Pakistan, our well-financed ally in the War on Terror. OK, collateral damage of innocent Afghans was unfortunate but, hey, stuff happens in war.

Today’s Indoctrination

Today, the indoctrination continues apace with new ways on social media to sway those who would dare to break ranks. President Donald Trump warns that the street protests against police brutality and racial injustice in Portland, Minneapolis, Kenosha, and elsewhere are perpetuated by “disgraceful anarchists” and are a real threat to “suburban housewives.” 

We are further instructed that “The only way you will stop the violence in the high crime Democrat-run cities is through strength!”

Or by joining your local armed militia. Example: Kyle Rittenhouse.

Finally, I do hope that whatever re-education plan the president draws up (and I’m confident that, like so much of what he creates, it will be like nothing we’ve ever seen before) will define with precision America’s “lofty founding principles.”

Perhaps I am a slow learner, but given our country’s checkered history of genocide, conquest, and racism I am more than a little confused.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Globe Post.
ShareTweet
Stephen J. Lyons

Stephen J. Lyons

Author of four books of essays and journalism. His most recent book is 'Going Driftless: Life Lessons from the Heartland for Unraveling Times'

Related Posts

A man holds US, Taiwan flags
Business

US and Taiwan Ink Trade Deal as China Issues Warning

by Staff Writer
June 2, 2023
A noose is seen on makeshift gallows as supporters of US President Donald Trump gather on the West side of the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021
National

Militia Leader Gets 18 Years in Prison Over US Capitol Attack

by Staff Writer
May 26, 2023
A billboard showing the debt limit is seen in Washington, D.C.
National

US Republicans Upbeat on Prospects for Debt Deal

by Staff Writer
May 19, 2023
Military hardware rolls through Dvortsovaya Square during a Victory Day military parade in central Saint Petersburg
National

Pressing Russia, US Shares Nuclear Warhead Data Under Treaty

by Staff Writer
May 16, 2023
A man holding a gun
Opinion

The NRA’s Continuing Agenda of Fear

by Stephen J. Lyons
May 12, 2023
US Panel Recommends Nonprescription Use of Contraception Pill
National

US Panel Recommends Nonprescription Use of Contraception Pill

by Staff Writer
May 11, 2023
Next Post
President Donald Trump takes off his mask at the White House

Mr 'Immune' Trump Back on Campaign Trail With a Roar

A man waves a rainbow flag as he rides by the US Supreme Court that released a decision that says federal law protects LGBTQ workers from discrimination on June 15, 2020 in Washington,DC.

Unmasking the 'Right to Harm:' the US Supreme Court and the Attack on LGBTQ Lives

Recommended

A man holds US, Taiwan flags

US and Taiwan Ink Trade Deal as China Issues Warning

June 2, 2023
Migrants waiting at the Turkish border.

Beyond Numbers: Confronting Europe’s Broken Border System

May 30, 2023
A noose is seen on makeshift gallows as supporters of US President Donald Trump gather on the West side of the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021

Militia Leader Gets 18 Years in Prison Over US Capitol Attack

May 26, 2023
Customers queue to enter a re-opened Zara clothes shop

EU Targets Fast Fashion in Push for Durable Goods

May 23, 2023
A billboard showing the debt limit is seen in Washington, D.C.

US Republicans Upbeat on Prospects for Debt Deal

May 19, 2023
Military hardware rolls through Dvortsovaya Square during a Victory Day military parade in central Saint Petersburg

Pressing Russia, US Shares Nuclear Warhead Data Under Treaty

May 16, 2023

Opinion

Migrants waiting at the Turkish border.

Beyond Numbers: Confronting Europe’s Broken Border System

May 30, 2023
A man holding a gun

The NRA’s Continuing Agenda of Fear

May 12, 2023
US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

A Supreme Folly 

April 24, 2023
Transgender Army veteran Tanya Walker speaks to protesters in Times Square near a military recruitment centre

Tennessee Is A Drag on the First Amendment

March 26, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
An earthquake survivor reacts as rescuers look for victims and other survivors in Hatay, a Turkish province where hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the earthquake

Heed the Call of Our Broken World

March 1, 2023
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post