jrak193

jrak193 t1_j8b5fhc wrote

I think calling them "blatant lies" is counter productive, although I can definitely see where it can seem that way especially with Christopher Columbus. I'd say it's a combination of various biases that heavily distort the truth. One bias, as an example, would be idolization, where people have a tendancy to idolize people (like Columbus) who achieved something ("Discovering" America). Don't blame underpaid elementary or secondary teachers for not being able to fully see through these biases, it's just not something that everybody spends a lot of time thinking about.

I think it's good that we are able to talk about Christopher Columbus in a more balanced way now that some of his flaws have become more known, and I wish people would continue talking about it without blowing it out of proportion.

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jrak193 t1_j8b2iij wrote

Makes sense. Australians are more likely to learn something that relates to Australia than non-Australians are. The sentiment of not being taught something in school has always bugged me because school has too many limits to be able to cover everything everywhere and at the end of the day they have to prioritize.

Rather than being upset that I didn't learn this in school (I'm American btw) I'm just grateful that I have the opportunity to learn it now. It's super interesting.

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