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Episode 026: Thomas Effing Jefferson

Texas keeps threatening to secede from the union, and at this point you wouldn't catch me trying to talk them out of it. The Texas Board of Education has just voted to remove Thomas Jefferson from the state history curriculum.

Thomas.

Fucking.

Jefferson.

Don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.

If you aren't an American, you probably already know who Thomas Jefferson is and can skip ahead a bit, but for those of you educated aboard this sinking ship of a country I live in, Thomas Jefferson was a humanist and enlightenment thinker that penned the Declaration of Independence, the Jefferson Bible and served as a US congressman twice, was the second governor of Virginia, was the US Ambassador to France and aided the French Revolution, served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington, the second Vice President of the United States under John Adams and served as the third President of the United States during which time he bought the Louisiana Territory (which INCLUDED PARTS OF NORTHERN TEXAS, you fucking cocksuckers) from France, DOUBLING SIZE OF THE UNITED STATES. After that he founded the University of Virginia, which he designed himself.

And if after all that, if you still doubt he was a patriot, he DIED ON THE FOURTH OF JULY.

So, in honor of one of the most forward-thinking men in history, I have decided to against writing a summary for the Atheist News podcast this week. Rather, I would like to honor one of the greatest testaments to free-thought ever committed to paper: the US Declaration of Independence. I'm not going to post it in its entirety, in fact, I am not going to post anything from the actual Declaration; you can find that easily enough online (and if you haven't read it, I strongly urge to you to so.) What I am going to do is post a snippet of Jefferson's first draft of the Declaration that was so radical it was ultimately struck from the final draft by his peers in Congress, despite his protests.

So--without further ado--I give you Thomas Jefferson on King George III and slavery:

... He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating
it's most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of

a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying

them to slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable

death in their transportations thither. This piratical warfare,

the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian

king of Great Britain, determined to keep open a market where MEN

should be bought & sold
...

If you live in Texas and you aren't a glossy-eyed revisionist historian, I strongly suggest that now is the time to invest yourself heavily in local politics.

Atheist News this week: this, this, this, this, this and this.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on March 30, 2010 at 10:58pm

No doubt they won't be happy until their history books read "And on the 8th day, God created the USA." Rewriting the books imo is like 10 times worse than book burning.

I am SO using that!

Permalink Reply by moJoe on March 26, 2010 at 5:03pm

I understand that, and I may be overreacting, but this isn't really about how awesome he is--I was just going where the mood took me while I was writing the above bit of spewage.

The core of the matter is this: not teaching about a historical figure because he is damaging to modern day beliefs or political philosophies is complete and utter BS. History is history, cherry-picking what gets taught to strengthen a political party via some sort of blanket indoctrination scheme is reprehensible. When comparing the two on the merit of their historical gravitas alone, I'd drop-kick Sir William Blackstone in a second for Thomas Jefferson (or any number of other historical figures.)

You talk about what they said, what they did and then you talk about all of the consequences of their words and actions as objectively as possible. It's not that difficult.

Permalink Reply by Travis Megee on March 27, 2010 at 1:35pm

I suppose I am bitter about who was selected to represent the community needs in the curricula. I do agree, history has happened, just report it with no bias, if possible. Having said that, I do realize that throughout our sordid past, it has been those that win that write history, thus bias and lack of information. I believe the Egyptians were notorious for writing about their wars in a way to show that they always won, even if it was a retreat-strategic withdrawal-ass whooping.

I would think that as the secular movement strengthens and people start coming forth in their beliefs/ideas that we may attain more influence in these types of matters. This would preclude us from having to knee jerk into litigation to remedy this issues.

Permalink Reply by moJoe on March 29, 2010 at 2:48pm

I take your point about the winners getting to write history. Even though I can't bring myself to take the whole thing as the gospel truth, that is one of the reasons I really enjoyed "A People's History of the United States," by Howard Zinn. I appreciated the unique light it put on history as a counterbalance to the entirely pro-US light that I was caused to read under when I was younger.

History--when probed for causal relationships--seems immune to objective analysis. But I would very much appreciate an effort in that direction, rather than this one ("this one" of course being the actions of the TBA.)

Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on March 30, 2010 at 11:02pm

The core of the matter is this: not teaching about a historical figure because he is damaging to modern day beliefs or political philosophies is complete and utter BS.

Spot on. I loathe Ronald Reagan with a burning passion, but believe he'll have a place in the history books as having significantly transformed the Republican party. Whether for the better or for the worse ... not for me to decide. History is what it is and we make of it what we make of it. But to censor history because we find it distasteful?

Will Texas hurry up and secede already?

Permalink Reply by Travis Megee on March 27, 2010 at 1:26pm

Yes Joe and Bro, I do like it when you guys ramble. The time is fine. I hold that Bro is more childish than Joe. I say that because Bro is more like me in the random directions he is liable to take a conversation in, and it usually involves something questionable.

Permalink Reply by RevRyn on March 28, 2010 at 3:34pm

keep rambling....Richard side not of making the show longer would be cool too. Just like in everyday conversation, It usually gets even better when you veer off topic..preconceived notion filters don't activate as quickly:)

Permalink Reply by Sandy on March 29, 2010 at 2:33pm

I like the rambling -- until you start repeating yourselves. If you didn't ramble (discuss, I mean), the show would just be an audio version of the news we've already read. It's nice to hear your views and you often bring attention to aspects of a story that I hadn't thought of.
And I don't want to sound stuffy, but I'm not too keen on all the dick jokes.

Permalink Reply by RevRyn on March 29, 2010 at 4:18pm

Good on you, Sandy. Agree all the way........but just to provide a counterpoint ( & because i like the juxtaposition of intelligent rational conversation mixed with a little low-brow humor )...just as many dick jokes as usual please...:). I'll be a lifetime listner either way!!

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