Today is Columbus Day here in the United States, though you wouldn’t know it by talking to many Americans, for whom Christopher Columbus is little more than a name on the calendar. This morning, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few things, and I remarked to the young cashier that the store seemed especially quiet for the holiday. “It’s a holiday?” she asked.
“Columbus Day,” I said. “Oh. Right. I think I heard this girl say something about it. She said it was, like, the day Columbus died. He was the guy that founded Ohio or something, right?” Close. Columbus is the capital of Ohio. If ever you wondered how it is that so many can believe in Atlantis, ancient astronauts, or alternative history, you have your answer. The depths of American historical ignorance continue to astound me. (I’m sure other countries have similar problems, though I don’t live there to know firsthand.) Of course, Columbus himself was no better. In many ways, he behaved like today’s “alternative” writers, nowhere more prominently than in his adamant refusal to accept—against all evidence—that he had discovered a new continent, not a new path to the Orient. He died still holding the official position that he had found Asia, not a new world. He also, like his alternative counterparts today, produced a book of alternative speculation called The Book of Prophecies (1501-1505) in which he argued that his voyages were marked out in the Bible as harbingers of the End Time, over which Spain’s Catholic Monarchs would preside as the Last World Emperor of medieval myth. In his mind, he felt he had contributed to bringing about the return of Christ. Compare this to Erich von Däniken, who believes he is bringing about the return of the aliens. At least Columbus had some genuine discoveries to his credit. But today there is something worse that just ignorance. I was talking with a professor of communications who teaches introductory journalism and mass communication courses for a major university here in New York State, and what he had to say shocked and surprised me. His students, both traditional college-aged students and non-traditional adult learners, simply cannot tell a fact from an opinion, or distinguish between news stories and opinion columns, or between professional journalism and random internet screeds and blog postings. This is quite horrifying when we stop to think how many must take Ancient Aliens for truth because it appears on TV. One of the first assignments in this professor’s introductory media literacy course is to bring to class a well-reported, professional news story to critique, and over the two years this professor has been teaching the course, he said anywhere from half to two-thirds of the class brings in pieces of internet writing that just aren’t news writing, including opinion blogs, website comments, and—increasingly—content farm websites that are laid out like news sites but use user-submitted, unedited content like Examiner.com and Huliq.com. Is it a coincidence that ancient astronauts and Atlantis are to be found haunting the pages of both sites? This immediately made me think of how Huliq.com fooled skeptic Benjamin Radford and the editors of Discovery News because the site looks like news even if much of it reads like ungrammatical, childish scribbling. Never mind the number of people who take The Onion for truth. I suppose we could blame the internet, but after two decades of online life, there really isn’t any excuse for not being able to tell truth from fantasy, or facts from opinions. It is, however, an important reminder that no matter what is posted online—or broadcast on TV or the radio—someone will believe it.
8 Comments
John Lowe
10/8/2012 05:50:08 pm
I am not sure if this is the fault of our students or our education system. There are not too many students who are interested in Geography or History on their own. When teaching I tried to tie subjects students were less interested into things that they were interested in. For example, when teaching the Geography and History of a country we would watch ten or fifteen min of Bizarre foods related to the area. Students loved this and were more attentive to their study of the area afterwards. Given a better school system I think our country as a whole would improve.
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Julianne
10/9/2012 03:15:27 am
And yet, life goes on - because knowledge of historical "facts" is so over-rated.
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John Lowe
10/9/2012 07:48:20 pm
I was not addressing the fact vs. opinion issue in my post, only the lack of Historical and Geographic knowledge that many Americans possess.
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Julianne
10/10/2012 01:36:23 am
Um, I actually wasn't commenting on your comment, Mr. Lowe. I was commenting on Jason's blog post. I hadn't even read your comment. What would make you think my comment was directed toward you at all?
John Lowe
10/12/2012 06:42:44 pm
Read my post. Maybe you will figure it out.
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10/12/2012 11:24:23 pm
"Lies My Teacher Told Me" actually contains sloppy research and lies. I have an article about one of the lies from that book coming out in the next issue of Skeptic.
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10/18/2012 10:09:32 am
Hi Jason,
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10/18/2012 10:47:11 am
Liberalism hasn't always been tied to postmodernism, but I do see your point. It is certainly due to postmodernism, which itself tends to favor liberal points of view, that we have so many who want to "choose your own" beliefs. As the generally liberal Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynahan said, we are entitled to our own opinions, but not our own facts.
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AuthorI am an author and researcher focusing on pop culture, science, and history. Bylines: New Republic, Esquire, Slate, etc. There's more about me in the About Jason tab. Newsletters
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