I haven’t been doing much blogging lately, for a number of reasons, not the least being my inability to come up with any more synonyms for “crazy”. Maybe Shakespeare would be up to the task of finding fresh things to say about the clowns running for president, or Republicans in Congress generally, but I confess I am not up to the task.
This post concerns a subject about which there is no need to search for such a synonym. However, it is about synonyms, or the stretching of that classification beyond its appropriate limits.
One of the many ironies with which this country must live is the fact that one of our most ignorant states, Texas, has an outsize influence on our textbooks. When Texas demands that a book be dumbed down, or filled with bullshit, those textbooks often find their way into the hands of kids growing up in states where people think learning is more important than football (or at least equal in importance).
Apparently this has gone viral, and that’s a good thing. Here is an excerpt from a geography textbook published by McGraw Hill, and duly sanctioned by the state of Texas.
The full story is here, but I must say that the title of the piece cuts McGraw-Hill too much slack. By no means can this creative use of the English language be considered a “mistake”, anymore than anyone can seriously believe the Republicans are continually investigating Benghazi in order to get at the truth. It was a deliberate choice of words, used with the intent to revise history, particularly since it was placed in a section discussing otherwise voluntary immigrants.
McGraw-Hill was exposed by a Texas woman, whose video (you can see it at the link) went viral. McGraw-Hill eventually owned up to its “mistake” and promised to rectify its error by “adequately convey[ing] that Africans were both forced into migration and to labor against their will as slaves.” They came to the conclusion after a “close review of the content”, which, we are presumably supposed to believe, was required, because the fact that millions of people “emigrated” here against their wills is a little known fact, known only to history buffs, and certainly not to the panel of propaganda enablers who gave the book their imprimaturs (watch the video).
The whole thing is truly outrageous. And yet, I confess that I don’t feel outraged. Like anyone with half a brain in this country, I am suffering from outrage fatigue. After all, when you consider (as one tiny example) the lack of outrage over the fact that it’s only been three days since a mass killing in Oregon, and it is already both literally and figuratively yesterday’s news, whitewashing slavery seems like such a little thing.
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