Truth Wins Out: Publishers should not print Texas propaganda textbooks

Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out writes:

The New York Times reports: "Even as a panel of educators laid out a vision Wednesday for national standards for public schools, the Texas school board was going in a different direction, holding hearings on changes to its social studies curriculum that would portray conservatives in a more positive light, emphasize the role of Christianity in American history and include Republican political philosophies in textbooks."

... Stonewall Jackson, the Confederate general, is to be listed as a role model for effective leadership, and the ideas in Jefferson Davis’s inaugural address are to be laid side by side with Abraham Lincoln’s speeches.

... The board made it clear they would offer still more planks to highlight what they see as the Christian roots of the Constitution and other founding documents.

If this insanity just affected Texas it would be troubling. But, the size of this state’s market influences what appears in textbooks across the entire nation. Worse, once the history materials are printed, they remain in classrooms for a decade, essentially poisoning the minds of an entire generation.

In my view, the major publishers ought to refuse to print textbooks that are pure, unadulterated right wing propaganda. Unlike other books, which people can choose to read, students are forced to read these materials. No publisher is obligated to print religious dogma in the guise of history and they ought to stand on principle and decline participating in this religious brainwashing exercise.

Give credit to devotees of the Lost Cause — they continue their efforts to restore the Confederacy by other means. But the game they are playing can be played by others. If those with a less ideologically blinkered understanding of American history do not fight back, the revisionists will win by default.