I was looking over the Praxis preparation materials yesterday and found my knowledge of the history of the Spanish-speaking world is sadly lacking... So I headed to the Internet to look up some information...
The more I learned the more saddened my heart has become, and not for how much more I need to study to be ready for a test. I am deeply saddened by the pain of the peoples of the world and how much my own nation has had a hand in making things worse, not better, so many times.
I went to bed feeling angry and depressed. After sleeping on this, I've come to the conclusion that our nation has caused a horrendous amount of pain in the last two centuries, and it all comes down to a combination of threes things - greed and selfishness and pride.
They don't teach us all the details of past wars at school, probably because it would not be politically correct. We cannot even discuss present "conflicts" without being shot down as radicals or unsupportive of our troops.
How can we continue on this path, preaching that we are the "good guys" and "helping" all the others who need us to teach them to set up "good" governments while leaving a trail of pain and bloodshed in our wake?
Our culture cares more about our pets than humankind. There is a whole world of human beings out there, and our people don't want to know anything about them except how much they will buy from us. I think most of our people want to be blissfully unaware of our actions around the world that make us look like the bully of a nation that we have been so many times. Then, when we come under attack, we wonder why they don't all love us.
I did find several resources to share with you which, I need to remind myself, is why I'm posting this...
Here is a wonderful place to start. It is a long program that is well worth the time it takes to watch.
The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain: Full documentary by PBS
If we all want to learn to get along together (doubtful that our leaders really do), Christians, Jews and Moslems, we need to learn more about the history of these religions as well as the early interaction among them.
-Here is a quick video, History of the Spanish Empire Oh, this is a great site to explore with short clips on many topics!!! I'll have to go back there to study.
I also learned some about the Spanish-American war...
-Video from Mediarichlearning titled The Spanish American War
-Michael Parenti's videos that I found on You-tube are poorly made, so if you have time to listen to them (don't watch them and listen at the same time, too painful to see all the poor video quality) you will hear some interesting information... The Spanish American War and the Rise of US Imperialism /Real History - It says it is part two, but it really starts at the beginning of the Spanish-American war.
-This tells the story of our invasion of the Philippines Spanish American War the Philippines and Filipino Genocide That last link will take you to a play list of three clips, here is the fourth and fifth.
-An up-to-date look at our relationship with the Philippines (a year ago - President Obama and President Gloria Mascapagal-Arroyo) Obama: We Have Stepped Away From the Precipice Have our leaders ever apologized for our war there?
-A quick look at the Alamo by the History Channel
Learn about American imperialism by watching these videos: Part 1 and Part 2 by Damoninsky. I'm sure there is more than one side to all this, but Damoninsky's work is a good starting point for further study, and if even half of it is true we need to learn from our mistakes and change the way we behave as a nation.
Oh, I'll have to stop writing and get back to studying now...
Please, if you read my blog, leave a comment if you come across any new information to share or have feelings you want to discuss. I feel so alone on this journey at this point...
Added information...
I just found a link from a contact page on Facebook - Wow, this is a wonderful resource - The Anthropik Network -very up to date and well ducumented.
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