Michael Medved's New Book: The 10 Big Lies About America

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[arual95]

“It ain’t so much the things we don’t know that get us into trouble,nineteenth-century humorist Josh Billings remarked. “It’s the things we know that just ain’t so.”

In this bold and brilliantly argued book, acclaimed author and talk-radio host Michael Medved zeroes in on ten of the biggest fallacies that millions of Americans believe about our country—in spite of incontrovertible facts to the contrary. In The 10 Big Lies About America, Medved pinpoints the most pernicious pieces of America-bashing disinformation that pollute current debates about the economy, race, religion in politics, the Iraq war, and other contentious issues.

The myths that Medved deftly debunks include:

Myth: The United States is uniquely guilty for the crime of slavery and based its wealth on stolen African labor.

Fact: The colonies that became the United States accounted for, at most, 3 percent of the abominable international slave trade; the persistence of slavery in America slowed economic progress; and the U.S. deserves unique credit for ending slavery.

Myth: The alarming rise of big business hurts the United States and oppresses its people.

Fact: Corporations played an indispensable role in building America, and corporate growth has brought progress that benefits all with cheaper goods and better jobs.

Each of the ten lies—widely believed among elites and taught as truth in universities and public schools—is a grotesque, propagandistic distortion of the historical record. For everyone who is tired of hearing America denigrated by people who don’t know what they’re talking about, The 10 Big Lies About America supplies the ammunition necessary to fire back the next time somebody tries to recycle these baseless beliefs. Medved’s witty, well-documented rebuttal is a refreshing reminder that as Americans we should feel blessed, not burdened, by our heritage.

[arual95]

Great new book

[popdonnelly]

Unfortunately, we are now being governed by people who probably believe all ten of the lies.

[popdonnelly]

“The colonies that became the United States accounted for, at most, 3 percent of the abominable international slave trade”

I wonder why demands for reparations aren’t made of the British, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and particularly the Arabs. As for America, the Democrats supported slavery and segregation, and so they should pay the reparations.

[Army Air Corps]

In an ideal world, the Democrat Party would be forced, by law, to pay for reparations out of their own coffers.

[Tanniker Smith]

I liked Orson Scott Card's hypothesis in Pastwatch: the Redemption of Christopher Columbus. Basically, slavery was barbaric, but nowhere near as barbaric as what it replaced: human sacrifice.

Before conquering armies forced the conquered into servitude, the usual practice was to put them all to death, usually in accordance with some ritual or other.

[laweeks]

“probably”?

1. Obama hates this country.
2. His wife hates this country (”America is a mean country in 2008, I’ve never been proud of my country until . . . )
3. His kids probably hate this country as much since the above two dopes actually took them to church with them to listen to that madman of a preacher.
4. All his close friends hate this country.

We’re in a lot of trouble!

[laweeks]

During the Civil War, approximately 660,000 men died in the quest to end slavery.

In most honest scholars’ best opinion, no more than 675,000 Negroes (as they were called then) were removed from Africa for the American slave trade.

660,000 Americans died
675,000 slaves brought to this country

Kinda’ a wash, don’t you think? And they want reparations after that kind of national sacrifice?

I’m so sick and tired of the white guilt involved with this crap. I’ve never owned a slave and don’t know anyone who ever owned a slave . . . there are no Negroes in American who have ever been slaves. How about we get the damn chip off our shoulders, huh?

[AmericanVictory]

Far more of the work was done by immigrants and indentured servants than by African slaves. African slaves were too valuable for much of the hard work. In the age of steamboats on the Mississippi, for example, only Irish and German immigrants were asked to work in the holds. The steamboats were always blowing up and no one wanted to risk valuable property that they owned.

Over 20,000 Irish immigrants perished building the levee and canal system of New Orleans. A man we know of wanted to put up a memorial to them and so proposed to one of the chocolate mayors of chocolate city but, since it was a Celtic cross. The mayor was greatly offended and refused. But it did go up and is there today after the man explained to the mayor that it was really a phallic cross.

[driftdiver]

“I wonder why demands for reparations aren’t made of the British, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and particularly the A”

Because the British, French, Spanish, and Portuguese don’t have any money. The arabs would tell them to go mate with a camel.

[OneWingedShark]

>“probably”?
[snip]
>We’re in a lot of trouble!

You forgot the “probably” between “we’re” and “in”. ;)

[Fiji Hill]

In 1972, arnold Beichman wrote a book entitled Nine Lies About america (Library Press, 1972). The nine lies that he debunked were as follows:

1. "America is a fascist country"
2. "America means genocide"
3. "The Bomber Left is a moral force"
4. "The American worker is a 'Honky"
5. "Our political system is a fraud"
6. "American values are materialistic"
7. "America is insane,"
8. "The American people are guilty"
9. "America needs a violent revolution"

This book is not yet outdated, as demonstrated by the attacks on Joe the Plumber, the rallies against California's Proposition Eight, and the election of a president with ties to the old Bomber Left.