Episode #18

Factual Manipulation:

Who Controls History?

Did you take the information in your textbooks as the be-all and end-all of everything when you were in school? Have you ever really thought about that? Have you ever wondered who actually controls history, especially in our schools, and online?

In past episodes of the podcast, we have often discussed the diversity of narratives in this country, and the importance of understanding the viewpoint of the minority. Today, we are asking a very interesting question. We would like to know what happens when the institutions that we take for granted to educate us, or the places we go to find out facts, actually control that narrative for us?

Public education is not necessarily just there to teach us how to think and how to be. Tune into this episode of the Dear White Women podcast, to learn about the real purpose of public education, and to discover what happens when institutions actively try to remove historical facts from the school curriculum.

"You're getting a filter on your view of history, and I think acknowledging that is really important." - Misasha

Show Highlights:

An interesting example of a recent attempt by conservatives in Michigan, in 2018, to remove the information about climate change, Roe V. Wade, gay rights, and the KKK from the Michigan schools' social studies curriculum.
Misasha's friend from Harvard, who grew up in the South, had never been taught about the Japanese internment camps in America during WW2.
It's important to acknowledge that we're getting a filter on our view of history.
The difference between republic and democratic forms of government.
The United States of America is actually a Constitutional Democratic Republic.
In a democracy, the majority can impose its will on the minority.
There's a new movement in the current government called The Problem Solver's Caucus, started by a group called No Labels.
Climate change and the new curriculum.
Slavery was economically linked to the civil war.
The results of the research done by the Southern Poverty Law Center about the curriculum standard in different states.
Whitewashing history to hide some of the truth about systemic issues, some of which still exist today.
Harassment often begins behind the scenes in the Wikipedia digital backrooms