This video is a brief example of the problem that we are facing. This is a reasonable representation of a History Channel program. The fact is that not many Americans, with the exception of history majors/minors, study history to any great extent. Those who haven't enrolled in a college may get even less of an opportunity to study history; therefore the History Channel is the most popular source of history for many of its viewers.
I propose that The History Channel focus on academically sound historical information and case studies rather than presenting topics such as Ancient Aliens, Big Foot, The Yeti, or even Star Wars as it pertains to modern science, which belong on the conspiracy theory or science fiction channels. While those are all interesting topics, they are not suited for a channel that claims to be portraying an
accurate history of the topics it presents to a population not well educated in history to begin with.
There are many topics in history which would be interesting to the average viewer, set aside the educational value. Some of these topics include (in no particular order or level of importance):
- Civil Rights
- French/Industrial/American/Mexican, etc., Revolutions
- World Wars
- The history of Globalization
- Architectural History
- Anything Else not requiring the intervention of Aliens or mythical creatures
I think it would be cool to also review American history as it is perceived by other countries/cultures that played a role. You know most of those "history books" have a rather slanted point of view (by the given author, who may or may not have an agenda), so it would be interesting to hear the perspective of the same historical events by non-Americans. :-)
ReplyDeleteThat is a very good point and very true. No SINGLE recollection of the past is enough to be called a sufficient coverage of history.
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