If you know me a bit you know that there are few things I love a whole lot. I love marketing. I love social media. I love crafts and ladybugs. I love flowers and cooking. I love librarianship and curation.
But none of these things claim my heart the way history does. History has been my lifelong friend. When I learned how to read as a kid, one of my first books was about key Native American chiefs. My favorite books when I was a girl included books about Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln.
Lately, history has been in the spotlight here in the US, but not for very good reasons. Sarah Palin, who ran with John McCain on the Republican ticket in 2008 and who is now a key member of the Tea Party, apparently said that Paul Revere alerted the British, not the colonists. People are using this opportunity to get their laughs in or to make Palin’s flub a partisan issue, as you might expect. But I’m not laughing. I am highly disturbed. How can someone who is in the Tea Party (after the Boston Tea Party), which perpetually says they want to bring back the moral integrity of our Founding Fathers, not know about Paul Revere?
For me, this is not an isolated event. When I was a teaching assistant I encountered a young woman who, when asked why we celebrate July 4th, turned beet red. Our Civil War battlefields are turning into strip malls. Historical landmarks are being torn down to make way for condos. When I visited the Abraham Lincoln house, the park ranger who spoke to us didn’t know when Lincoln was born. We are losing our history.
Why does losing history matter?
One of many reasons why I love history is that it cues us in to how we got to where we are. Studying the history of your country, wherever you may be, can explain to you why people live where they live, why certain people or types of people are in power. More importantly, history can teach us what we need to avoid in our future. Imagine hearing the words “Never again” but not knowing that those words became the slogan for remembering the atrocities of the Holocaust during World War II. How could we bear as humans to repeat such a mistake again?
And yet, if we don’t remember, who would be able to tell us these things?
Where Social Media Engagement Can Help
Lately, I’ve been looking at Twitter accounts tied to our National Parks and our historical places. Some of them are neat, but for the most part, these accounts just talk about the commercialism tied to these places. “We’re holding this event today.” “Today you can get $5 tickets.” And that’s fine. That information needs to get out there. But what I’d love to see, and what I think we need, is for people to start reminding us of our history where we spend a lot of our time – online.
There are so many ways this could be done. Here are a few ideas I came up with:
-> Post a historical fact every day. If someone comes to buy tickets and can repeat what fact you posted, they get a 5% discount on their tickets.
-> Have monthly history quizzes – people who answer correctly win a prize, whether a gift card or free tickets to your site. Meanwhile, people learn history and your site gets exposure online.
-> Museums could feature historical figures or events that reflect their galleries
The opportunities really are endless. There are so many ways to get the word out about our historical places while also teaching people why those places are so important.
History is more than dates
Often, when I tell people that history is my great love, they look at me kind of funny and then say, “Oh, I hate remembering dates.”
Let me tell you a secret. So do I!
But history is so much more than “This happened on blah blah date.” For example, you might not remember what dates the first battle of Bull Run happened in the Civil War, but did you know that some of the first shots went through the house of a man who also owned the house where Lee surrendered to Grant at the end of the war?
Did you know that the man who ordered the first shots on Fort Sumter was the prize student of the man who ended up surrendering Fort Sumter?
Did you know that Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln very nearly did not go to Ford’s Theater that fateful night in April 1865?
History is full of these moments, these brief moments in time, when the entire fabric of a nation could have gone a completely different way. That has nothing to do with dates, but it is a rather interesting take on fate.
Would this not be great fodder for online conversation?
What do you think?
How do you think online engagement could bring history back to us? How do you perceive of this problem in our society? Have you experienced it yourself?
I’d love to talk about it with you.
This is post #67 in The Engagement Series. I hope you are *still* enjoying this series. Thank you for hanging in there with me! 🙂
View Margie Clayman's profile
Marjorie,
I couldn’t agree more. When I hear Sarah Palin and people like her who don’t seem to know squat about history and facts, my heart breaks. It’s not funny. It’s a very sad state of affairs that we the people have allowed this country to fall into the hands of those who live in a fact-free world.
Their budget numbers don’t add up, their values are based on myths they created themselves, and they refuse to pay attention to what is really going on in the world. They live in their bubble, believe what they choose to believe, and are being rewarded for it by a bunch of others who believe like they do. The saddest part of Sarah Palin’s mess-up on Paul Revere is so many of her followers tried to edit her incorrect version of history into Wikipedia. The site had to shut down editing to stop these nuts from changing history to fit their own narrative.
Some of my students don’t understand why they need to understand math or science, and accept and respect the facts and observations scientists have spent many centuries studying and publishing.
This whole sea change that opinion and beliefs can be substituted for facts has gone wild, and it’s disgusting, sad, and enraging. I hope we can turn it around.
Sherri
I told my son the story of Xenophon and the 10 Thousand over breakfast this morning. My wife, who confessed she knew little of American history as we packed for a move many years holding a disintegrating copy (mine) of Catton’s This Hallowed Ground, has now read virtually everything there us to read on the Civil War – Shelby Foote’s 3 volume epic included.
I couldn’t agree with you more. Few know who Paul Revere is and some don’t even know his relevance.
As for Sarah Palin – and speaking as a conservative who generally likes far more than he dislikes about the Tea Party – she is what we call “a useful idiot.” Nor is she a “Tea Party” member, but a GOP populist who finds their gatherings a friendly audience. Let’s hope her gaff leads her to understand that she would be better served by not running. If she did run, she’d have a good chance if winning – not just the GOP ticket but the presidency. Remember, it wasn’t too long ago that we laughed at the idea of a community organizer with no record of anything even throwing his hat in the ring, let alone winning.
Celebrity, unfortunately, plays a larger role that judgment or accomishment in our culture today. I hope we wake up soon, too.
Love the idea of linking history with social media. Social media could truly help not just in the aspect of business but also in history which is a very important thing that needs us to be reminded about. Since more people are into social media, this can be an opportunity to bring back and share great historical information in a much easy and enjoyable way. This post is such an eye opener Margie. Thank you for sharing.
Wonderful post about a rather interesting topic. It is hard not to get political when talking about what happened. You handled this issue so well.
I don’t know if my grandparents were a rarity, but I can remember that when they were alive, they were some of the most patriotic people I knew. My grandpa fought in WWII and he took great pride in his service. However, he also detested the massive losses of human life that occurred. He was also not a fan of politicians.
My father is the same way. As a Vietnam vet, he loves his country and the armed services. He won’t even talk about about his time in Vietnam. He is also fairly conservative, but then try and bring up politics with him – it is fun to do once in a while. Like my grandpa, he detests the politicians that put our young men and women in harms way.
What you end up with here are two generations of voters that love their country, love their history, and have a hard time stomaching most politicians. Add in a politician that claims to be incredibly patriotic, yet seemingly has no respect for and knowledge of this nation’s history. What a joke.
@jwsokol
Hi Marjorie,
I’ve been reading your blog for a few weeks, but this is my first time commenting. I’ll start off by telling you that I am also a history lover–I majored in history as an undergrad. I concentrated on European history, but I’m still pretty knowledgeable about US history. My best history skill: I can recite the names of all the US presidents in order. Although I’ve spent my career in marketing (which I also love), I still consider myself a history student.
It always pains me to see history forgotten, or even worse, revised. History as a school subject has always received a bad rap–most believe it’s only about memorizing dates. Unfortunately, many teachers focus on timelines instead of discussing topics such as the relevancy of the past to current events. Most kids don’t know how exciting history can be when it’s taught properly. I think more kids today know the answer to “Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?” than “Who lived at Mount Vernon?”
I’ve written a few posts about history, including one that actually gets a few search hits from Google: “Can You Guess Which US President Only Had One Tooth?” But until we change the way history is taught, I worry that more and more kids will lose interest and simply accept everything they hear in the media. For example, with all of the talk about how “revolutionary” Sarah Palin is in the political world, most people have no idea that VP and then President Van Buren had a similar story more than 200 years ago. But hey, I’m a history nut. Maybe I should have gone into teaching!
-Marianne
Great observation, Margie!
Not only is there a sea of misinformation out there, people aren’t even taking the time to check their sources or take a moment to think about the validity of so-called “facts.”
I recall someone telling me that the seasons happened because the Earth made its trip around the Sun and came closer in summer. Everyone nodded in agreement. I said, “I wonder what the folks south of the equator think about that!” You could see the light coming on in their heads. Furthermore, many of them didn’t know the Earth was tilted on its axis.
What do we need to do so that Common Sense will prevail?
–sandy
Margie,
Just asked my 9-year old grandson who was Paul Revere. His reply, “isn’t he the one who road on a horse to tell the American colonists that the British were coming!”
True, so many people have no idea or recollection of the history of our country and the events that transpired to mold our current world. We constantly stand at a juncture of repeating all the bad stuff because we don’t embrace that knowledge.
Thanks for bringing attention to an underlying state of affairs that our American education system and current social construct have neglected to repair.
Yes, we now live in a world that thinks its better/easier to skim the surface of life and living. How much is technology contributing to this? Information, data, and facts about our history and the world are more readily available than ever before; yet, there is a greater level of ignorance (not knowing).
Rose
Margie,
I find it troubling that so many make such a huge thing of Sarah Palin’s flub; could the problem be that
while casually talking to individuals (making up a crowd around her), including journalists — those she tried to avoid— she simply goofed? I have a favorite author who refuses to give off- the- cuff responses to journalists and the like because of such potential mistakes. (He insists that they send him their written questions ahead of time, so he can get his thoughts in order!) The way the contemporary scene is technologically and media driven, who, even in their right mind, isn’t subject to mistakes? I honestly don’t believe Mrs. Palin will be remembered in history for such errors; nor do I accept everything I hear or see via the eyes of journalists, who are not beyond perpetuating an image that continues guaranteeing them a paycheck. Enjoyed a number of your blogs. Thanks, Robert.
I have wondered the same thing. The problem is that Ms. Palin has made so many flubs that it has become an expectation when she speaks. If these are all accidental, then it’s a true shame that she has not been able to appear more polished in the public eye. I’m not sure what the deal is there.
Even if it was just a flub, I think it’s important to make sure that kids understand that what was said was incorrect. I think that can be accomplished without tearing someone down, certainly.
Thank you for your comment!