Reply #93: Wasn't asking you to

[Chulanowa]

I was simply pointing out the myth, and why that myth is perpetuated.

The myth - as presented in a school history textbook - is that Europeans conquered through superior wits and superior weapons. The books don't usually cast moral judgments on this, some even point out the crimes committed. But they all perpetuate the "superior European" because, right or wrong, the myth of the adventurous white capitalist with a gun is just more dashing and heroic than the reality of a serf who has the misfortune of carrying tuberculosis to the new world.

For an animated example, watch Disney's Pocahontas. Which a distressing number of people seem to think is based on fact. Oi.

Anyway. The reason for this myth's perpetuation actually has nothing to do with the era in question; it's just the way history textbooks work. They're not there to inform, there's there to indoctrinate. So a narrative story about inevitable and always-good progress carried by the dashing white adventurer is what gets sold (I do imagine that other nations use other races as their "dashing propaganda hero" sort, but being an American, this is what I see). Kids are taught a simplified, movie script version of history that is designed to make them feel good about their country.

Real history is quite a bit more complex, and often far less inspiring.

As for your Italian ancestors... Really? You're going to try that? Oh jeeze.