The harm Zinn did
NBC-Owned History Channel to Air Howard Zinn’s ‘The People Speak’
Comment:
The harm will continue for a very long time. It's interesting, and it must be dismaying to genuine liberals, how these Left icons (I.F. Stone is another recently-exposed example) turn out so often to have been working for the communist enemy.
Howard Zinn, the old America-hating historian and, it now turns out, Communist Party USA member, is lionized by the liberal arts academic left, which is the large majority, and by the usual half-educated Hollywood and media tools. These will insure that his rotten legacy lives on and on. Zinn apparently is some kind of intellectual father figure for Matt Damon, who seems to have been instrumental in getting the History Channel to sully itself by becoming a mouthpiece for Zinn's poison. "The People Speak," indeed. Now that this junk is on video with the History Channel brand on it, generations of school kids can be indoctrinated and demoralized. How nice. Next, no doubt, will be a hagiographic film bio lovingly directed by Oliver Stone, music by Pete Seeger.
(Aside: Some may point to Zinn's service in WWII as exculpatory. But that's not necessarily so, pending more information about the course and timing of his seeming patriotism in those days. Here's why:
Leading up to America's entry into WWII, CPUSA switched from one side or the other, according to orders from Moscow. Initially, instructions were to be on Britain's side, as Hitler had wiped out the Left when he took power in Germany. (The communists actually facilitated that by refusing to ally themselves with "softer" leftist groups, selling them out instead, and dooming themselves in the process.)
But in 1939 Stalin and Hitler suddenly became allies by signing a non-aggression pact: The two powers agreed to divide Poland, Stalin would become a supplier to Hitler's war machine, and Stalin would get the Baltic states. The idea was for Stalin and Hitler to enjoy a post-war Europe divided between them. So, Moscow sent out a directive to all its foreign puppets, including CPUSA, that they must now reverse field and oppose the war against Germany. CPUSA dutifully and immediately issued strong condemnation of any US involvement in the "capitalist" war of Britain against Germany, resistance that included attempts to sabatoge US military aid shipments to Britain.
That all changed on a dime in 1941, when Hitler double-crossed his ally Stalin and invaded Russia. Moscow immediately sent orders to its foreign pawns that all good communists should immediately AGAIN switch sides, and now flock back to the Allied side. Which they did. As committed communists, their fight was on the side of Stalin, whichever side that was at any given moment. The question is whether Zinn's war sentiments followed that pattern, directed by CPUSA under orders from Moscow; if so, it would indicate who he was really fighting for.
For me, the naive and idealistic American communists, the ones who deserve forgiveness, were the ones who bailed in 1939 when Stalin allied with Hitler. But the ones, like Pete Seeger and Lillian Hellman, to name just two, who stuck with Stalin even then, deserve nothing but scorn. Based on his writings and late membership in the Party, it would appear that Howard Zinn belongs in the latter category.)
Byron
Comment:
The harm will continue for a very long time. It's interesting, and it must be dismaying to genuine liberals, how these Left icons (I.F. Stone is another recently-exposed example) turn out so often to have been working for the communist enemy.
Howard Zinn, the old America-hating historian and, it now turns out, Communist Party USA member, is lionized by the liberal arts academic left, which is the large majority, and by the usual half-educated Hollywood and media tools. These will insure that his rotten legacy lives on and on. Zinn apparently is some kind of intellectual father figure for Matt Damon, who seems to have been instrumental in getting the History Channel to sully itself by becoming a mouthpiece for Zinn's poison. "The People Speak," indeed. Now that this junk is on video with the History Channel brand on it, generations of school kids can be indoctrinated and demoralized. How nice. Next, no doubt, will be a hagiographic film bio lovingly directed by Oliver Stone, music by Pete Seeger.
(Aside: Some may point to Zinn's service in WWII as exculpatory. But that's not necessarily so, pending more information about the course and timing of his seeming patriotism in those days. Here's why:
Leading up to America's entry into WWII, CPUSA switched from one side or the other, according to orders from Moscow. Initially, instructions were to be on Britain's side, as Hitler had wiped out the Left when he took power in Germany. (The communists actually facilitated that by refusing to ally themselves with "softer" leftist groups, selling them out instead, and dooming themselves in the process.)
But in 1939 Stalin and Hitler suddenly became allies by signing a non-aggression pact: The two powers agreed to divide Poland, Stalin would become a supplier to Hitler's war machine, and Stalin would get the Baltic states. The idea was for Stalin and Hitler to enjoy a post-war Europe divided between them. So, Moscow sent out a directive to all its foreign puppets, including CPUSA, that they must now reverse field and oppose the war against Germany. CPUSA dutifully and immediately issued strong condemnation of any US involvement in the "capitalist" war of Britain against Germany, resistance that included attempts to sabatoge US military aid shipments to Britain.
That all changed on a dime in 1941, when Hitler double-crossed his ally Stalin and invaded Russia. Moscow immediately sent orders to its foreign pawns that all good communists should immediately AGAIN switch sides, and now flock back to the Allied side. Which they did. As committed communists, their fight was on the side of Stalin, whichever side that was at any given moment. The question is whether Zinn's war sentiments followed that pattern, directed by CPUSA under orders from Moscow; if so, it would indicate who he was really fighting for.
For me, the naive and idealistic American communists, the ones who deserve forgiveness, were the ones who bailed in 1939 when Stalin allied with Hitler. But the ones, like Pete Seeger and Lillian Hellman, to name just two, who stuck with Stalin even then, deserve nothing but scorn. Based on his writings and late membership in the Party, it would appear that Howard Zinn belongs in the latter category.)
Byron
posted by Byron | Sunday, August 01, 2010
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