FOR XAVIERS ONLY

Please make sure to address the questions posted here and tie them into

what you thought was interesting or odd from you assignment. Many of

you are still only doing one or the other!

Well...here we are...Many of you have written that you feel lied to and betrayed by past

teachers, textbooks and schools...led down a path of misdirection, smoke-and-mirrors,

and "genuine faux" history. =)

No longer can we use the words "imagine" or "feel" in our textbooks. All of you, accord-

ing to textbook companies (Betrayal of History), aren't smart enough to decipher words

like "sharpen" in textbooks, and thus shorten words such as these by a couple of letters to

make them miraculously understandable. History texts must now pass a battery of tests

given by special interest groups before being put into the hands of our children, rather

than allowing professional historians write and edit them. You've learned not only some

horrifying things about one of America's great "founders"--Christopher Columbus, but also

that he was not even the "first" to come to America, but the LAST in a long line of explor-

ers and adventurers.

Many of you have stopped to ponder: "Is this just the tip of the iceberg? If the story of

Columbus and the Native Americans could be so distorted, what other stories have

been twisted and contorted into something palatable for the masses?"

And you're right...this is just the beginning....

For example, just out of curiosity, how many of you know that our CIA, beginning in the

1950s, have participated in (and sometimes orchestrated) the assassinations and over-

throws of foreign leaders? Ever heard of Patrice Lumumba? I would bet you probably

haven't....

So......Loewen asks the question: "What has gone wrong?" Indeed, something appears to

have gone terribly wrong. What do you think has happened? And, what effect have the

issues of ethnocentrism, eurocentrism, racism, nationalism, and "heroification" had on the

stories we tell ourselves about the beginnings of this place we call home?

What are your thoughts about all of this? What other issues came up for you in your read-

ings?

BE SURE TO TIE IN ANYTHING YOU FOUND INTERESTING OR WIERD IN YOUR ASSIGNMENT

INTO YOUR DISCUSSION!!!

1. Please post an initial response of at least 150 words

2. Reply (2-3 sentences) to at least 2-3 other students' initial postings

If you are unsure how to use Discussion Board, click the "Tools" tab on

your left to access the User Manual.