tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post8852166051967899114..comments2024-03-28T10:44:30.518-06:00Comments on American Creation: The colonials were better readers than modern AmericansBrad Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17669677047039491864noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-58550681976658685552011-09-16T06:10:29.670-06:002011-09-16T06:10:29.670-06:00.
How could speaking Latin serve the interests of ....<br />How could speaking Latin serve the interests of our economically based society?<br />.Phil Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06756814849309388483noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-65638600977386182742011-09-15T23:33:53.325-06:002011-09-15T23:33:53.325-06:00I remember reading an essay by Forest MacDonald wh...I remember reading an essay by Forest MacDonald where he wrote about how American and French officers in the field together during the Revolution communicated. Most of the Americans didn't know French, and few of the French officers knew English. So, how did they talk to each other? Simple. They spoke Latin to each other. Americans who had gone through grammar school knew it well enough to speak a basic version of it. As did their French counterparts. <br /><br />This is just one small example of how much better, in a crucial way, colonial education was compared to our own educational system.Mark D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05000893614655251587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-12049065205096116702011-09-11T15:52:49.257-06:002011-09-11T15:52:49.257-06:00Wow, Anon! Nice poem!Wow, Anon! Nice poem!Angie Van De Merwehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12617299120618867829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-7416370926886493812011-09-11T13:36:23.237-06:002011-09-11T13:36:23.237-06:00A Wry Memorial
The Swarthy Ones took over;
And ma...<b>A Wry Memorial<br /><br />The Swarthy Ones took over;<br />And made weapons of four planes.<br />The riders had no cover;<br />They suffered dreadful pains<br /><br />That ended once their deathtraps<br />Burst into roaring fires<br />Turning instantly to mere scraps––<br />Cinders––made of former flyers.<br /><br />The burning towers crumpled,<br />And fell into the street.<br />New York was more than rumpled;<br />Briefly, it knew defeat.<br /><br />The nation drew together;<br />We felt collective grief.<br />Anger broke its tether;<br />To express it gave relief.<br /><br />But only ten years hence<br />We're at each other's throats;<br />We've built ourselves a fence<br />Over which the Devil gloats.<br /><br />We've failed to give the orders<br />To build a proper wall<br />Sealing off our borders<br />To the fiends who’d have us fall.<br /><br />Instead, we've made division––<br />Went to war against ourselves––<br />And are mired in derision<br />Sparked by partisan elves,<br /><br />Who forget this blessed land<br />In pursuit of powers lost<br />In close elections manned<br />By fraud. So, tempest-tossed<br /><br />The country is in turmoil.<br />The enemy's our own.<br />He says it's all for Big Oil,<br />And he'll soon usurp the Throne.<br /><br />The heap of twisted rubble<br />Raising toxic fumes for weeks<br />No longer gives us trouble<br />Because of media leaks<br /><br />Designed to throw us off the scent<br />Of whom we need to blame<br />And encourage ruinous dissent<br />That hopes to break the frame<br /><br />That holds us all together<br />And preserves our liberty,<br />So many now doubt whether<br />We really should be free.<br /><br />And each rabble rousing louse<br />Should 'neath these words be pinned:<br /><i>"He who troubleth his own house<br />Shall inherit–––the wind.</i>"</b><br /><br />~ FreeThinke - 9/11/07Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-80742423395667628162011-09-11T10:33:12.481-06:002011-09-11T10:33:12.481-06:00When I first started reading the Founding literatu...When I first started reading the Founding literature I was stunned at what they assume of the readers. When I read Jefferson's letter recommending books to prepare for college, it was clear that even today's college graduates would be unprepared to <i>enter</i> their institutions of higher learning. <br /><br />Bernard Bailen, on the other hand, seems to think it was mere window dressing. Of course they weren't rigorous as a specialist might be today. Still, the Founding Fathers outshine today's graduates of our colleges. I'd take a grounded 18th century man of letters over a sophisticated overly-specialzed contemporary scholar that insulated from the real world. <br /><br />One more thing! The average person respect education and aspired to knowledge even if they had little means for full time study. It wasn't "authentic" to act stupid and ignorant.Jason Pappashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18233796281520274898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-17552222198293782011-09-11T09:02:33.165-06:002011-09-11T09:02:33.165-06:00And don't forget the other jewels of the East ...And don't forget the other jewels of the East written by William <a href="http://www.shakespeareinamericanlife.org/stage/onstage/yesterday/earlyamerican.cfm" rel="nofollow">Shakespeare</a>, a wordsmith in his own right.<br /><br />Even <a href="http://www.monticello.org/site/william-shakespeare" rel="nofollow">Jefferson</a> could overcome his objections to the frivolity of fiction when it came to WS.<br /><br />Per PJ, I have no idea how colonial America limped through history without a Snooky or The Situation.jimmiraybobnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-88439488436187059072011-09-11T06:39:57.507-06:002011-09-11T06:39:57.507-06:00.
Ah, but, we're far ahead of them at watching....<br />Ah, but, we're far ahead of them at watching television than folks were back in the eighteenth century. I have never heard of even one person who watched television or listened to talk radio back then.<br />.Phil Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06756814849309388483noreply@blogger.com