Thanks to a close reading by Sandy Levinson at Balkinization, we learn the significance of the following text, which Jeb Bush (AKA “The Smart One”) just signed into Florida law:
…the history of the United States, including the period of discovery, early colonies, the War for Independence, the Civil War, the expansion of the United States to its present boundaries, the world wars, and the civil rights movement to the present. The history of the United States shall be taught as genuine history and shall not follow the revisionist or postmodernist viewpoints of relative truth. American history shall be viewed as factual, not as constructed, shall be viewed as knowable, teachable, and testable, and shall be defined as the creation of a new nation based largely on the universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence.
did you understand one word of that? because i sure didn't. is it even in the mandatory american english language? i'm fairly well trained in most dialects of that language, and i sure as hell don't recognize any of it.
Posted by: r@d@r on June 9, 2006 1:39 PMHistory as I write it, or approve of it, not as you write it or approve of it.
Posted by: m on June 9, 2006 3:37 PMI'd think we could figure it out only by skimming the textbooks Florida approves.
Posted by: Joyful Alternative on June 9, 2006 7:59 PMIt appears that the writer is an admirer of Rumsfeld's style of communicating.
Posted by: Bendra on June 10, 2006 7:11 AMThe meaning would be clear to English lit post-grads and to the religious right. "Genuine history" means "the accepted myth," with George Washington and the cherry tree being a fairly benigh example.
"Revisionist history" means any attempt to correct genuine history with facts. "Postmodernist" refers to anybody who thinks that humans, by and large, don't actually have a very accurate idea of why they believe (or write) the things they do.
"Relative truth" is the result of approaching the official line, the accepted truth, with skepticism and/or the scientific method. I.e., testing every hypothesis that comes along.
The law's basic message, then, is "The Bible says it, I believe it, and that's all there is to it."
Posted by: CCRyder on June 10, 2006 8:13 AMAre they not allowed to mention slavery, then?
Posted by: Martha Bridegam on June 10, 2006 4:55 PM