Irrational dislikes

[Thorlifter]

Here are my answers without reading any above posts. And this is from an American that loathes American history except 1941-1945

The story: "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue" and became the first person to discover America.
No. I know the Vikings were here long before 'ol Chris.

The story: The Salem witch trials consisted of killing "witches" by burning accused women at the stake.
I think some were, but many were also drowned with the belief that if they survived they were witches.

The story: On July 4, 1776, a group of prominent men signed the Declaration of Independence, an important document in the formation of the United States of America.
Ummmmm, Probably not on that exact date. That is just the recognized date.

The story: Puritan Pilgrims left England and traveled to the United States for the advancement of religious freedom.
Yeah that is part of the reason. The other reasons? I don't know. Maybe taxation?!?!

The story: Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over a lantern and started the Great Chicago Fire.
Couldn't say either way. I know that is the rumor but I don't know the real history behind the fire.

The story: The radio broadcast of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds was so realistic that it caused mass hysteria throughout the country.
I think the radio station did get a few calls but not much else.

The story: The cowboys of the Wild West were mysterious white men who worked alone.
Nope

The story: The Alamo was a battle of American grit and independence. (Warning don't dare answer this one in Texas)
HELL YEAH IT WAS! (Proud Texan here) And if you think different you better keep your Yankee mouth hole shut! LOL

The story: In 1775, Paul Revere took a midnight ride across the East Coast, yelling, "The British are coming!"
Doubtful, but I really don't know.

The story: The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by Abraham Lincoln on the grounds of moral rectitude, ended American slavery.
Nope

 

[javlin]

A lot of my seemingly irrational hates are becoming more rational the more I work. Stupid people being one of them. Inane questions being another...

I hear you Hugh in my line of work so many of the questions I get could be answered by google/youtube and the guy typing does not own a cellphone!but my first search is on the computer .

 

[Robert Porter]

Well the emancipation proclamation was the vehicle to announce the legal end of slavery in the US but it did not officially end as a practice until the surrender of the Confederacy. Thereafter other laws passed by congress made the practice illegal. It also required the amending of several former slave states constitutions before the practice was totally removed. However for all intents the proclamation was the death knell of the practice. The former slave states did not legally recognize people of African descent as equal under the law until the civil rights act in the 60s and 70s with the end of segregation and the Jim Crowe laws.

 

[mikewint]

You Guys did pretty good, except Thor, though by Texas Law, he isn't ALLOWED to believe anything else. Taught History is mostly a myth that the majority have come to believe though hints of the REAL stuff are out there.

Columbus
While it is true that Columbus set sail in 1492, he wasn't the first person to reach the continent. [Let me slip another one in at this point: WHAT WERE THE NAMES OF HIS THREE SHIPS?] Of course, Native Americans had already settled the area thousands of years earlier, which technically makes them the first discoverers. But ignoring that, Columbus wasn't even the first European. The honor of first European footsteps on American soil actually goes to Leif Eriksson, a Nordic Viking explorer. Around AD 1000, Eriksson sailed from Iceland to the New World. One version of the story recounts him getting lost on the way home from Norway and stumbling upon the continent, while another claims that the discovery was an intentional conquest. Today, this folklore has been backed up with science. New studies have uncovered certain genes in today's modern Icelandic people that can only come from Native Americans. The ancestry of these people dates back a little over 1,000 years—the exact time when Eriksson left Iceland for the Americas. Columbus made four voyages across the Atlantic during which he landed on various Caribbean islands that are now the Bahamas as well as the island later called Hispaniola. He also explored the Central and South American coasts. But never set foot in North America.

The Salem Witch Trials
While many people associate the word "witch" with only women, there were also quite a few male victims of the Salem witch trials. Over the duration of the fiasco, 44 men were accused of being witches and five of them were killed. Another lesser-known fact is that none of the victims were burned at the stake. Instead, they generally suffered death by hanging with a few notable exceptions such as Mr. Giles Corey, who was pressed to death with heavy stones. Giles, at 81 was accused of being a Warlock, was arrested and brought before the court where he refused to plead guilty or not guilty and as such could not be tried. The law then required that he be "Pressed" until he entered a plea. He was taken to a pit next to the jail, stripped, laid on his back in the pit, a heavy board placed over him and heavy stones on top of the board. Three times a day he was asked to plead, his answer: "More Weight". This went on for three days before he died. No one is entirely sure what caused the fits of the accused witches, but scientists are still actively looking for answers. Currently, the most plausible theory is that the town's supply of wheat may have been infected with a common fungus called ergot that causes vomiting, spasms, and delusions.

Independence Day
Everything in this sentence is true—except the date. The document was ratified on July 3 and was then officially announced on July 4, which is why Americans celebrate Independence Day on that date (though Samuel Adams insisted it should be the 3rd). But it wasn't until a month later that the document was signed and complete. The Declaration of Independence was actually signed on August 2, 1776. The Second Continental Congress first voted the document into authority on June 2.Then they spent the next two days clarifying the wording of certain parts. After that, the document went through a process of embossing and the finished copy was finally ready to be signed three weeks later.

The Pilgrims
While it is true that the Puritans wanted religious freedom for themselves, but they weren't looking for the separation of church and state that we see in America today. In fact, they heavily persecuted just about every other religious group in the colonies. The Puritans had a nasty habit of exiling any dissenters to Rhode Island, which came to be called Rogue's Island for that reason. Two of the most famous examples of this are Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. Williams, an avid supporter of religious tolerance and kindness toward Native Americans, was suddenly exiled from Puritan lands in the dead of winter. With nowhere else to go, he bought some land from Native Americans and founded Rhode Island. Just a few years later, Anne Hutchinson was also banished from Massachusetts after leading a series of "heretical" meetings. Her male counterpart, however, was left unpunished. The early Puritan colonies weren't as religiously tolerant as they've been portrayed and as most Americans believe.

The Chicago Fire
I guess you need to be from the Midwest to know this one. The O'Leary cow lantern kick myth was greatly popularized by a story in the Chicago Republican at the time of the fire, and today, kids all over the country sing the catchy campfire song. But in 1911, the reporter who initially wrote the story confessed that he and a few friends had made it all up. No one knows the real cause of the Chicago fire, which burned for two days straight in October 1871 and caused $200 million in damage. While the origin of the fire has been definitively linked to the O'Leary barn or near it, every neighbor had a different story to tell about how the fire actually started, including irresponsible smoking, meteors, and Communist terrorists. The O'Leary story is just one of these many myths.

War Of The Worlds Radio Broadcast
Today, journalists have unearthed that much of the "hysteria" caused by the broadcast was blown out of proportion by the media. Reports from The New York Times and The Washington Post told stories of women jumping out of windows, men having heart attacks, and mass hysteria in the streets. Yet none of these stories have ever been verified by medical records or witnesses. In fact, historians have found motives for the newspaper companies' embellishment. The broadcast occurred at a peak time when radio was threatening to replace newspapers, so anything these print companies could do to break down public trust of radio was a huge profit.

Cowboys
You've probably never seen a black cowboy in mainstream media. But in reality, many of these men were of African descent and looking to escape the sharecropping South where economic opportunity for blacks was severely limited. Being a cowboy meant a difficult career driving cattle across the American plains and into the Midwest where the demand for meat was high. The opportunity was perfect for many black men looking for location independence and a stable economic situation. As a result, one in four American cowboys was black. And because of the many dangers associated with this profession, cowboys worked in large groups, not alone like the TV heroes we see in 20th-century Westerns.

The Alamo
Many people confuse the Texas Revolution with the Mexican-American War, which has led to a lot of misconceptions about the events at the Alamo. This battle was actually part of the Texas Revolution, when Texas fought for its independence from Mexico. It was completely separate from the Mexican-American War. At that time, Texas wasn't a state. The majority of the North actually opposed its entry into the Union because Texas would allow slavery. In fact, the US officially recognized Texas as its own country in 1837. It wasn't until 1845 and after much debate that Texas officially became part of the United States through annexation. So while the Alamo was a great part of the individual history of Texas, it didn't have anything to do with American patriotism or grit.

Paul Revere
This idea comes from the famous poem "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. While many of his details are accurate, some of the most well-known parts are not. First and foremost, his famous quote "The British are coming!" was fabricated after the event for dramatic retelling. At this time, the colonists still considered themselves British, so this phrase would have been confusing and meaningless. Plus, this mission was meant to be as discreet as possible, which meant no screaming in the streets. The other common misconception is that Revere rode alone. He actually had two companions, one of whom finished the ride after Revere was detained by the British.

The Emancipation Proclamation
Despite popular belief, "The Great Emancipator" was rather morally ambivalent about slavery and made it very clear in several speeches that blacks were inferior. Originally, he was part of the "antislavery" group that cautioned against slavery's expansion but did not try to stop the current situation. This may seem inconsistent with the Emancipation Proclamation, but the document was actually written for political, not moral, reasons. Lincoln even told a cabinet member that abolition was "a military necessity. We must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued."Even more importantly, the Emancipation Proclamation had little effect on slavery's status. It freed slaves in the rebellious states on paper, but the South was no longer under the American government and had no reason to follow its ordinances And the document specifically exempted slaves in the North. While the document did spark large numbers of slaves to revolt and escape, there was no legal change in their status due to this document. It wasn't until the 13th Amendment that slavery officially ended in the United States. The document itself did not free a single slave.


OK, if you made it this far and answered the standard: the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria you are most likely wrong. The Santa Maria was also known at the time as La Gallega, meaning "The Galician." The Niña is now believed to be a nickname for a ship originally called the Santa Clara, and the Pinta was probably also a nickname, though the ship's real name isn't clear.

 

[Thorlifter]

So while the Alamo was a great part of the individual history of Texas, it didn't have anything to do with American patriotism or grit.

BLASPHAMY!!!!!! Take this warlock to the pit and put the "weight" of justice upon his chest!!!!

hahahaha. Pretty informative stuff Mike!

 

[Robert Porter]

I think Texas just experienced a statewide shudder!

 

[mikewint]

BLASPHAMY!!!!!! Take this warlock to the pit and put the "weight" of justice upon his chest!!!!

You are NOT kidding!!! About 30 years ago or so we were at the ALAMO. And as is my wont my big mouth was flapping about the TRUE nature of the siege. You know, Bowie unconscious, Travis lasting about 2 minutes before a .75 cal ball took him in the forehead, Davy most likely surrendering, etc. Took about 5 min before 4 300lb Texas Rangers showed up to "escort" me out of the building "until you can show more respect". Sill have the bruises.

 

[pbehn]

I have no idea what you guys are talking about. I have been to Scotland and the Scots won the Alamo, in fact they have won every battle and invented everything of use. Visit Scotland and there is a drunk in every bar to explain it all to you. Anyone with a Scottish great great grand mother is a Scot and the nationality of all the other great great grand parents is forgotten you see.

Remember the Scots: Texas pays tribute at the Alamo

If you look at the list of people who's birth place is known more actually came from both England and Ireland. That doesn't stop the Scots re inventing the Alamo as another Scots win and even get the Texans to go along with it.

List of Alamo defenders - Wikipedia

 

[Thorlifter]

Sill have the bruises.

At least you got a memorable souvenir.