VIDEO: Ken Burns' anti-American lies

If you read "'The American Revolution' - Ken Burns' new, woke version" (WWW 18/11/25), you'll know that I didn't think much of Ken Burns' latest opus. The production values were fine, but the overall message was skewed hard to the liberal narrative.

Most of the reviews in the mainstream media were predictably positive. There wasn't a lot of fact-checking, nor was the phrase "revisionist history" much used. That's because the huge success of The Civil War has made Ken Busns something of a national treasure, virtually untouchable. Hey, the Obamas love him, the Bidens love him, and... wait for it... his series are on PBS, the font of all that's Great and Good in America.

Walt is relieved, then, to find that not everyone drank the Kool-aid. [The followers of Jim Jones actually drank Flavor-aid. Ed.] Negative reviews from a number of conservative outlets, including National Review and Amac, argue that the series is "bad history" and "ahistorical woke nonsense".

But wait, there's more. Only today did Ed. stumble upon this video by Matt Walsh, an American political commentator for the Daily Wire and host of  The Matt Walsh Show.

In this episode, Mr Walsh takes a close look at The American Revolution, which he calls "a piece of sophisticated anti-American propaganda." "There is a neverending effort to make Americans embarrassed of their history," he says, "and to give credit for its achievements to people who don't deserve it. American history has been rewritten for this purpose." Listen up!

VIDEO: "The American Revolution" - Ken Burns' new, woke version

For the last couple of nights, I've been watching bits and pieces [There was hockey on the other channel. Ed.] of The American Revolution, the latest offering from revisionist historian cum film-maker Ken Burns. It's streaming (also avaible over the air) on PBS, the soi-disant Public Broadcasting System, which is like so-called National Public Radio (NPR), only with pictures.

The fact that this new series is on PBS should tell you what to expect, which is not exactly what they tell you in the introductory summary...

"Thirteen American colonies unite in rebellion, win an eight-year war to secure their independence, and establish a new form of government that would inspire democratic movements at home and around the globe. What begins as a political clash between colonists and the British government grows into a bloody struggle that will engage more than two dozen nations and forever change the world.'

...or in the official trailer.

 

Do you see any warning signs there? No? Let me give you one. The narrator chosen by Mr Burns is one Peter Coyote (born Peter Robert Cohon).an American actor, director, screenwriter, author... and political activist. In "The Theater of Protest", Mr Coyote explains his approach to effective, nonviolent protest, which he developed while teaching a class at Harvard. He emphasizes that protests are ceremonies, an invitation to a better world. He says protests should be led by wimmin, for "inclusivity", and that "monitors with whistles" stop violence. Get the idea?

Other commentators, who I'd never heard of but are presented as historians and writers, include a good DEI mix of Jewish women (one of whom seems to have a slight palsy), black men (including one with blonde dreadlocks), and other mild-mannered, instantly forgettable liberals academics. No Shelby Foote here! 

I was not surprised, then, to learn that the American Revolution was not so much about freeing Great Britain's American colonies from the tyranny and taxation of King George III, as about partnering with Indians Native Indigenous Americans and strong, independent wimmin to obtain justice for the oppressed Negro African-American slaves. As Johnny Carson would have said, "I did not know that!"

The series suffers, in comparison with Ken Burns' The Civil War, in not having photographs to work with, so the visuals are mostly oil paintings of the principal actors involved -- politicians, soldiers, statesmen and the like -- all "marble men". 

We hear, occasionally, the words of common white people, taken from their letters, but we learn little about them. You'd almost think that the only common people of any consequence were the slaves who are quoted and talked about out of all proportion to the numbers of such people in America at the time. Even George Washington's black man-servant gets his 15 seconds of fame, plus a heroic image on his black self at Washington's side going into battle.

This is only a preliminary comment. If the rest of the series is like the first two episodes, I won't be writing about The American Revolution again. But I'm not going to say "Don't watch it." The accounts of the battles are pretty good, so you can just zap through the woke bullshit and still learn parts of the nantion's history that the too many Americans have forgotten.

VIDEO: Francis in Canada - the Pachamama road show

Today is the feast of Saint James the Great, also known as Santiago Matamoros, the Patron of Spain. In Spain, the temperature this afternoon was in the vicinity of 40 degrees Celsius, with wildfires making much of the country seem even hotter. In Rome, there were no wildfires, and the temperature rose to only 36. One might suspect that Pope Bergoglio travelled to Canada -- he arrived on Sunday -- to beat the heat. 

But we mustn't impute motive. The given reason for his "pilgrimage" was to apologize yet again for the role of members of the Catholic Church* in co-operating with the government's "policy of colonialization of Canada's indigenous people" by housing and educating their children in residential schools, for a century ending in the 1950s. 

Francis had already grovelled (well, sort of) before a delegation of First Nations and Inuit elders in Rome, four months ago, but that wasn't good enough. Canada's pinko prime minister, Just In Trudeau, pressured the Pope to come in person to engage in a multi-million-dollar publicity stunt against the Church's "abusive, colonialist, and culture-suppressing" missionary activity in Canada. And here he is. 

* It must be noted here that it is dogma that Holy Mother Church, founded by Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, cannot err. If Francis had apologized for mistakes or misdeeds of the Church, that would have been the gravest heresy. That's why the text of his apology, delievered just hours ago, must be read very carefully. Here is the key part of what he said. (The emphasis is mine. Walt)

"I am here because the first step of my penitential pilgrimage among you is that of again asking forgiveness, of telling you once more that I am deeply sorry. Sorry for the ways in which, regrettably, many Christians supported the colonizing mentality of the powers that oppressed the Indigenous Peoples. I am sorry. I ask forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the church and of religious communities co-operated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools.

"Although Christian charity was not absent, and there were many outstanding instances of devotion and care for children, the overall effects of the policies linked to the residential schools were catastrophic. What our Christian faith tells us is that this was a disastrous error, incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is painful to think of how the firm soil of values, language and culture that made up the authentic identity of your peoples was eroded, and that you have continued to pay the price of this. In the face of this deplorable evil, the church kneels before God and implores his forgiveness for the sins of her children. I myself wish to reaffirm this, with shame and unambiguously. I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous Peoples."

Regular readers will know that I hold no brief for the man who calls himself Pope Francis. But his apology, unlike many of the statements which he makes up as he goes along, seems to me well thought through, appropriate and correct.

Other may take a less charitable view. Our old friend Michael Matt, editor of The Remnant newspaper, has just put together a minidocumentary on the residential schools, which he intends as a blow against woke revisionist history, or -- he puts it more bluntyly -- fake news.

Mr Matt calls the Pope's "pentitential pilgrimage" part of the "Pachamama Road Show", another attempt  to exploit indigenous peoples to push a new Woke Order, the success of which depends on a thoroughly discredited Christian Old World Order. Whether or not you think Francis is doing the right thing -- or trying to -- you should watch this video and consider what's really going on here. 

   

Also in this video: What about Francis’s alleged coverups of sexual abusers such as Fr. Julio Cesar Grassi and Bishop Gustavo Oscar Zanchetta? Francis covered for them, and now they're in jail! Who's going to apologize to the victims for Francis's role in those coverups? Mr Matt's Remnant Underground videos are always worth watching... and sharing!