You Are Being Lied To
The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion,
Historical Whitewashes and Cultural Mythsedited by Russ Kick
published by Disinformation Books
400 pp * ISBN 0966410076
Endnotes for "Go Out and Kill People Because This Article Tells You To" by Nick Mamatas
Page 214
"freedom of speech and the free press (among other things)."
Since this book's target age demographic is supposedly ignorant of American history, here is the text of the First Amendment. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Neat, huh?
"early defender of individual rights, was hardly an idealist himself."
For example, Rutland Robert, A. (1985). "George Mason's 'objections' and the Bill of Rights." Constitution: A Bicentennial Chronicle. Project '87 American Political Science Association and American Historical Association, Fall.
"in an attempt to guarantee his own fortune and the continued import of slaves."
Like many Founders, Mason was a slaveholder who also denounced slavery. Such pronouncements were typical and expected, but usually not taken seriously by contemporaries. Demanding that a two-thirds majority vote be needed for commercial legislation would certainly strengthen the positions of Southern slave states and help to perpetuate the institution, rhetoric aside.
"rather than allowing individuals to own their own guns."
The distinction between guaranteeing arms for a militia and guaranteeing freedom of arms for individuals was important even then. When Pennsylvania wrote its own state Bill of Rights, it excluded the "militia" clause found in the Virginia Bill, in spite of the fact that the Pennsylvania legislature copied Virginia's bill almost word for word other than that one change. Pennsylvania's arms clause stated: "the people have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and the State."
"where they presumably had central air conditioning."
This "humidity theory of history" is quite prevalent. William Pierce blamed the heat on another loud-mouthed delegate who refused to sign the Constitution. Luther Martin of Delaware apparently gave a two-day long speech on states' rights during very hot weather. Pierce explained that Martin was "so extremely prolix, that he ever speaks without tiring the patience of all who hear him." See "Notes of Major William Pierce on the Federal Convention of 1787." American Historical Review, January 1898. Note that the introduction of climate control into Congressional chambers has not led to a revival of broad free speech rights.
Page 215
"to sponsor a second constitutional convention'"
American Civil Liberties Union. (1997). "A history of the Bill Of Rights (ACLU Briefing Paper Number 9)." New York: American Civil Liberties Union. Available online.
"rather than as an example of the Founders interest in the "grand experiment" of democracy."
Parenti, Michael. (1996). Dirty truths. San Francisco: City Lights Books.
"allowed both Southern and Northern landowners to remain rich, faltered almost immediately."
For example, Federalist and anti-Federalist alike worked together and purchased large sums of Continental Currency at a heavy discount. Then, the group directed the new nation they had just founded to buy the old scrip back at a much higher price, by replacing it with US currency. There was no need to work out a compromise between the two factions in this case, as supporters on both sides happily agreed to grant themselves a large payoff.
Page 216
"and as a consequence, the government in the United States has been kept out of the news business.'"
Krimsky, George A. (1997). "The role of the media in a democracy." Issues of Democracy, February. Available online. Amusingly, Krimsky insists that the government is not in the news business in an article published by a government-owned and-operated Web site. It is no surprise that his understanding of the origins of the free press is so weak here.
"and many of them wrote, published or financed work on politics, economics and the sciences."
Among the Founders, writers, printers and publishers included Oliver Ellsworth, Robert Sherman, John Dickinson, William Leigh Pierce, William Patterson, Alexander Hamilton, Robert Yates, Hugh Williamson, Benjamin Franklin, James McClurg, James Madison, George Mason, and Edmund Randolph. Not all published solely political tracts, but all were major opinion makers thanks to their access to the media.
"Benjamin Day's New York Sun and James Gordon Bennett's New York Herald were available on the streets"
Street peddling is itself an artifact of mass production, as a significant fraction of the population now had to leave home at a certain point in the morning to travel to a workplace (this may seem oddly familiar to you). In the immediate post-colonial era, people were far more likely to spend most of their time at home, but would travel into central points and town squares and read public postings, including "engrossed" copies of legislation and regulations. Mass production allowed for the privatization of the news-reading process and depoliticized it, in order to better make news an entertainment commodity.
"persons whose position in the social structure gave them the most control over their own lives.'"
Schudson, Michael. (1973). Discovering the news. New York: Basic Books/Harper Colophon.
Pages 216-17
"Give therefore to the first class a distinct permanent share in the government.'"
Quoted in Zinn, Howard. (1991). Declarations of independence: Cross-examining American ideology. New York: Harper Perennial Library.
Page 218
"the mouth of a pointy-headed sock puppet belonging to the ruling elite."
Except when it comes to race. Even every mushy liberal's Fave Founder, Thomas Jefferson, was a proponent of racial separation. While the inscription on the Jefferson Monument reads, in part, "Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free," the quote from Jefferson's statement actually leads to a conclusion more in keeping with the racism of the Founders: "Nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government. Nature, habit, opinion has drawn indelible lines of distinction between them." See O'Brien, Conor Cruise. "Thomas Jefferson: Radical and racist." Atlantic Monthly, V. 28, no.4. Enslave them, and when their work is done, free them and then deport them. That was Jefferson's plan.
"to hang every lawyer with the entrails of every CEO after the revolution comes."
I'm speaking about the moral necessity of hanging lawyers with the entrails of CEOs purely in the abstract. Please don't arrest me or pulp this book. Alexander Hamilton would have wanted it that way, don’t you think?
The views expressed above represent the writer and not necessarily those of The Disinformation Company Ltd.
