History Buffs Share The Events In U.S. History That People Often Forget
Do we really forget or do we choose to ignore the less pleasant parts of our history? That is the real question. The crux of how America deals with history.
There are so many vital details and so much fascinating information about the forging of this country that we often just study for a moment, then file away in the dead lands of our brains.
Maybe this is why we repeat history, we never learn from it because we choose to forget it.
Thankfully we have historians, teachers and people who crave random knowledge in hopes of one day ending up on 'Jeopardy.'
They'll never let us forget.
Redditor Prestigious_Ad_2322 wanted everyone to share some details of this country's past that we need to be reminded of, so they asked:
"What part of U.S.A. history is easily forgotten?"
My pencil is ready.
Well, my fingers at the keyboard are ready.
I'm here to learn and hit up Wikipedia.
The Great Lakes
"The naval battles on the Great Lakes, piracy on the Great Lakes, and the nazi plot to destroy American aluminum plants during WW2. There was a plot that was failed by the nazis once the soldiers made it to the US. They were dropped off from a submarine off the coast with bombs, guns, and tons of money."
"They were supposed to infiltrate several key locations, such as power plants, damns, bridges, and most importantly a couple of aluminum plants. At the time we produced more aluminum than anyone else in the world and that allowed us to put produce anyone in airplanes by 5:1."
"Anyway, the nazi soldiers fell in love with everything in America and just spent the money acting like average Americans, one of them was caught at the movie theater. It’s a very funny story all together, but lots of people don’t know about it." ~ kudos1007
Casualties
"The Battle of the Wabash in 1791, AKA Little Bighorn on steroids. The Federal Government tried to claim and sell the land of Indians in the Northwest Territory (modern day Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, etc.) to pay off its massive debts. They sent a force of 1000 men to evict the Indians but were met by 1100 warriors of the Northwestern Confederacy. Casualties for the American force was over 97%, about 25% of the entire US Army. Native casualties were about 5%, or 61 casualties in all. It was the worst defeat ever suffered by the US at the hands of Native Americans." ~ Ranger176
An Important Era
"The period between 1790 and 1860." ~ Washpedantic
"Agreed, this period is where a lot of our political and societal norms were established. I had no idea now critical decisions made then impacted the nation. Not to mention the half dozen or so times the nation almost imploded. Heirs of the Founders by H.W. Brands is a great book on the subject." ~ Gregnif
This Little Piggy...
"The Pig War." ~ Ok_Butterscotch1549
"It ended in like around 1860 when the British and US presented their case to the German Empire." ~ JesusHacked
"MyAccountAmerica and Britain asked the German Empire who the islands belonged to, and Germany said America so now they belong to America." ~ NoWorries124
Fascinating.
I remember none of this.
Except maybe the pig war thing.
Though I may be confusing stories.
Devious Plans
"The story of the Cherokees! The U.S. took Cherokee land through essentially rigged treaties, disobeying the Constitution in the process. Note there were many people opposed to this taking of land, but still many more who promoted it." ~ The--Morning--Star
Aloha
"That Hawaii was a recognized sovereign country, the Queen having been received by Queen Victoria of England in 1887. In support of the Dole Corporation and other businessmen, a contingent of US Marines staged a coup and overthrew the Hawaiian government. Queen Liliuokalani submitted peacefully, expecting the US President wouldn't stand for such imperialist behavior. Grover Cleveland did nothing, and his successor annexed Hawaii in 1898." ~ bdbr
"ORGANIZE!!"
"The Battle of Blair Mountain. Strikers and labor organizers in the coal mining industry were attacked by lawmen and strike breakers and eventually the West Virginia National Guard was ordered in to break the strike. This is the story I mention when people say we don't need unions. Real people gave their lives for the right to organize." ~ abe_the_babe_
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"Scottish, Irish, Welsh, and English indentured servitude in the mid 1700s while US was still the colonies and then early 1900s when there was a lot of immigration from Ireland and Italy through Ellis Island. Still don’t understand how people were so mean to them back then when a lot of the citizens at the time were descendants of immigrants. Guess that still stands today." ~ tgmarie137
It All Repeats
"Before the Civil War where northern congressmen were often subject to emotional abuse, death threats, duels and assassinations so that they would not legally question slavery." ~ Vidhara
The Founder
"The inventor of solid rocket fuel, Jack Parsons, was a devoted follower Aliester Crowley and tried to usher the Antichrist into being with the help of his best buddy, L. Ron Hubbard. Yes, the founder of Scientology. No, I’m not making this up."
"https://nypost.com/2018/06/19/this-sex-crazed-cultist-was-the-father-of-modern-rocketry/amp/"
"Here’s an over view. It’s public record that he took out ads in newspapers calling for bohemians, occultists, and free thinkers to come party at his house. He also left behind detailed journals pertaining to his magical rituals. I also left out that Hubbard essentially ruined his life, stealing his money, his girlfriend, and ruining his already dubious reputation. Parsons died under odd circumstances involving nitroglycerin." ~ CityofCandles
In Philly...
"In 1985 the Philly Police Dept. dropped a bomb on a residential neighborhood murdering 11 American civilians who lived there. Sixty one homes were destroyed. The fire department let it burn. Google the “MOVE bombing." ~ butchstache
CRUEL
"Sharecropping, Carpetbagging...this was a willfully CRUEL time that KEPT African-Americans disenfranchised that NO ONE mentions. In some ways (very few, I'll stress because slavery was obviously horrific) it was WORSE than slavery because during this time, the landowners had no real incentive to keep their indentured 'sharecropper' workers healthy or alive- when they died, they were just replaced and were effectively 'enslaved' by debt."
"THAT'S when people discovered that invisible chains were cheaper that iron ones. This was also the time of the 'robber barons' like Carnegie who ran RAMPANT expanding their wealth pretty much in the same proportion that billionaires are doing today during the Pandemic." ~ PhoenixNamor
Killer...
"That Christopher Columbus was an idiotic mass murderer who thought the world was pear shaped and did nothing but go from island to island slaughtering the native inhabitants." ~ urukslayer13
Red Dead
"Coal Wars. Series of conflicts between miners and the corporations that owned the mines in Appalachia and some in Colorado culminating in 1921. Miners wanted things like safety regulations, a union, and to be paid with US currency so the coal companies hired essentially a small army ran by Baldwin-Felt. Think the Pinkertons from Red Dead. Instead of giving up the miners armed themselves and made fortified locations in the mountains and armed conflict started."
"Ended when the coal companies asked the government for help so the US army started bombing the miners and the towns the miners families lived in. Also just throwing in that the miners didn’t fortify the towns just the army making a point I guess." ~ WeavBOS
Must Know
"Tulsa massacre. I never learned about it until I was in my late 20s. Such a huge and disgusting part of our history and it is almost never taught." ~ GonnAvomit
"This one I think has finally become common knowledge, at least on Reddit, since they made a show about it and it always comes up in these topics. AP history taught it to me in HS but all my friends in the general history classes never learned it." ~ uss_salmon
"Seven Years War"
"The french and Indian war. What even is that?" ~ NoAlternative2913
"A smaller part of the larger 'Seven Years War' which was a global war between Britain and France. The 'French and Indian War' was the British and French using their North American colonies, with both sides also drawing help from various Native American tribes. It was basically a huge, costly war over territory." ~ azizinator25
Forgotten
"Almost all of USA history is forgotten. Burning down stamp distributors houses in a form of violent protest, Whiskey Rebellions, Barbary Coast Wars, that time we thought we could sit out the Napoleonic Wars until the British started snatching up our sailors and the Canadians burned down the White House."
"When we fought Mexico, when we fought Spain, that time William Walker tried to conquer Nicaragua with an army of mercenaries and got his ass thumped after a month or so." ~ Poorly-Drawn-Beagle
Genocide
"The genocide of Native Americans followed by all the interventions in Central and South America for the sake of corporations. America's border/illegal immigration problems were created by those interventions and propping up right wing dictators." ~ Viker2000
'Let me tell you a story…'
"I highly recommend listening to History That Doesn’t Suck. It is a podcast by Professor Greg Jackson. He is a professor at a university in Utah and does a phenomenal job of delivering a well researched, accurate telling of American history in the form of stories. His catch phrase at the beginning of every episode is 'Let me tell you a story…' He does a good job of keeping it fair and balanced. Lots of focus on the nuances of controversial figures." ~ wtn06
We have so much to relearn.
And unlearn and learn again.
We need to get studying.
Let's not keep repeating mistakes.
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Various organizations can have any number of followers who are totally devoted to their respective missions, it seems like a cult.
Religions are known for having so many followers who abide by a lifestyle that comports to supporting the faith.
But the same dedication can apply to non-religious organizations.
These were explored when Redditor DrLizardLover asked:
"What isn't a religion but people treat it like it is?"
People in the big picture have their insanely dedicated followers.
Elon, The God
"I spoke vaguely against Elon Musk in a reply to a comment on a video."
"The video has gone viral, and the comment I replied to was pinned. So I get about 3-4 notifications a day of musk simps acting like I've insulted a deity. I've just rolled with it and reminded them he's essentially an oligarch and is inherently not a good dude. They froth."
– Goatfellon
Matinee Idols
"Celebrity worship."
– VisualSeaweed5927
Actor Adulation
"Whatever Jared Leto’s got going on."
– SirMooncake
People find a sense of belonging in social media groups and communities.
Following With The Flow
"People who worship streamers."
– The_bombblows12
Gaming Culture
"Steamer/Twitch culture freaks me out. I've been a gamer my whole life (only 30,) but the gaming scene is so strange to me. I truly hope the people in Twitch chats are nothing like that in real life."
– kamWise
"Poggers Dude"
"Take this with a grain of salt. But I've met a few other people who have watched twitch. Most of them are a bit nerdy, but nothing crazy."
"But one guy, he was like an attractive, active dude, who you might see on the beach in California going for a surf. He and I were at a barbecue and he was talking about something non gaming related and he said 'poggers dude'. I had to take a second to realize what I heard. Then I started to notice him saying things like 'PogChamp' and some of the other popular twitch phrases. Later come to find out he is like a die hard fan of some esport, can't remember which."
"I realize this isn't quite like a typical twitch chat of what you see on big streams like xqc, mizkif, or others. But still I imagine there are probably some people out there who act like those chats."
– CaptSprinkls
The FB Matriarchy
"Mom groups on facebook."
– Swift_Lad
Anonymous Tippers
"There was a streamer poker game the other night and seeing these guys dump half a million in an hour made me wonder, why are people donating to these people? It's like that Kylie Jenner thing where one of her employee got an accident and she started a gofundme for 150K instead of paying it herself."
– Zorops
Power Play
"Cricket game in india."
– RayTrader03
"Cricket in Australia, too, lol."
– CalypsoContinuum
People flock to this popular financial prospect.
"Multi level marketing."
– Voice_of_Season
Predatory Endeavor
"What upsets me is I sometimes meet people who are genuinely motivated to change their life but completely misguided in what they invest their time and money into and mlm sorta preys on that."
– ultimaIV
A "Sunny" Reference
“ It’s a Pyramid scheme!”
“No, it’s not a Pyramid Scheme, it’s a Reverse Funnel system!”
“…turn it upside down”
“Goddamnit! Sh*t!”
– doobydoodle
Pitch At A Party
"Dude.. I was just at a child's birthday party and this douche was telling my aunt about his wellness products. She said sounds like MLM. No it isn't though because I really believe in the products. Do you have someone encouraging you to sell. No I don't I sell it because it's a high quality product at a reasonable price. Do you make good money? Not yet because we are brand new. What else do you do for work. This is it right now. I'm happy with my regular wellness products. How would you know until you try these? This went on for the entire birthday party. She said I'm Not Interested. And turned the other way. He still pestered her."
"After the party he was asking people if anybody knew my aunt's phone number."
– lumberjackpat19
It's one thing for a person to join a community of like-minded individuals to feel a sense of belonging.
But it's another thing when they lose a sense of themselves completely for their blind devotion.
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There are many things in modern society that are generally accepted but would have been considered taboo as little as ten to twenty years ago.
But even in our supposedly progressive modern age, we still have a long way to go.
Far too many people are still hesitant or afraid to be open about elements of their life, fearing too many people wouldn't consider it "normal."
This idea piqued the curiosity of Redditor Sham-da-man, leading him to reach out to the Reddit community on what needs changing in modern society by asking:
"What needs to be normalized?"
Finding that work/life balance.
Choosing to leave a job during your probation period. The probation period is not just for the company to see if you’re a good fit, but for you to assess the company and see if you actually like it. A lot of employers tend to forget this, and then it is sometimes looked down upon on your CV unfortunately. - User Deleted
"Taking time off work when you’re sick."- HuffleSlut_.
"Being able to go home from work if your tasks are completed."
"Not at 10am because you don't have anything on your plate, but say at 3:45pm after you've busted it all day, completed your items, helped a few co-workers with some things outside of your scope, and are now browsing reddit because you're waiting on people to get back to you before you're able to proceed."- xLenny3x.
It takes a real man to know...
"Men actually having feelings and not have to 'take it like a man'."- Gifigi600.
Sorry, can't help you!
"Not being available at all times."- INTPhoenix.
Saying 'I don’t know enough to have an opinion on this issue' or 'I don’t know'.- LiquidPenChamber1019.
Table for one.
"Eating alone."- -lmayonnaise.
That might be what YOU think, but...
"Being allowed to disagree with people in your community, and being allowed to agree with people outside your community."
"We are so polarized and political these days."- 604jmv.
Not ashamed to admit it.
'Mental health struggles.'
"Society has come a long way but we still have progress to be made."- JBAnswers26.
Arguably, there's another very pressing issue which needs to be normalized more than anything.
The overuse and expectations of the word "normal."
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Expectations can be a dangerous thing.
It's very easy to be excited for an upcoming movie or TV show, an item of clothing you've been dying to own, or a vacation we've been saving years for.
But sometimes, when reality sets in, whatever it was we were so eagerly looking forward to doesn't always turn out to be everything we'd hoped it would be.
Redditor Tarps-celom was curious what fellow Redditors had sky-high expectations for, only to find themselves let down, and asked:
"What were you really hyped for but completely flopped?"
Is being a grown up all that it's cracked up to be?
"Being an adult."- marr318
"Running my own business."- LB_P
"Having a career, our whole life built up to this..and its just mediocre, and NOBODY knows what they are really doing."- SnooPandas1674.
For all the advancements in technology...
"Power Glove."
"It sucked and I'll never forget it."- Ekh0es.
"Google +"
"They made us to wait for a very long time with invite only feature."
'Ppl forgot about it when it was released."- introvertboyme.
Not worth the price of admission.
"'Dark Tower' movie."- urchisilver.
"M.Night's 'Avatar' movie."
"He broke my heart."- Suspicious-Elk-3631.
So much better the first time.
"Sim city 5.'
"Good God what a horrid mess."
"First week or more of release you were lucky to play because you could only play it online on their servers that were constantly full."
"Then once you hit like 50k people in your city the game was uncontrollable."
"You would literally run out of water and no matter what you did traffic took the shortest path so constant traffic and thus emergency vehicles couldn't move so everything went to hell fast."- InsertBluescreenHere
"Second go round of 'Arrested Development'."
"Deep inside I knew they’d never be able to capture that magic."
"Still, told myself they could."
"Narrator: They couldn’t."- PollyWentlightly
"Should old acquaintance be forgot..."
"Every New Year’s Eve party ever."- PollyWentlightly
When expectations are high, being disappointed is almost inevitable.
Then too, it's entirely possible that our disappointment didn't stem one bit from our sky-high expectations, but simply the fact that what we were so looking forward to turned out to be just plain awful.
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Elon Musk is one of the richest men on the planet. He's also among the most controversial.
In recent weeks, Musk made headlines for his $44 billion buyout of Twitter, which sparked concerns among liberals and civil rights activists who have warned about the consequences of having one person have so much control over public discourse online.
Musk has defended his venture as a bid to protect free speech and while there exist many editorials analyzing his motives in this venture (to say nothing of his others), there are also many people out there who consider him a visionary and have balked at criticisms of him.
We heard from a few of those people after Redditor return2ozma asked the online community,
"Those who defend Elon Musk, why do you feel the need to defend him?"
"All of that stuff..."
"I dont really care about Musk himself. My issue is the sheer hypocrisy."
"People are suddenly saying the speech will be restricted and he will use his power to selectively ban accounts like Big Tech (especially Twitter) haven't been doing that for years."
"MSNBC said that he would use it to promote good info on presidential candidates he likes and hide good info on candidates he doesn't. That he would exaggerate the bad and put it to the front for candidates he hates while doing the opposite for those he likes. like Big Tech (and mainstream media) hasnt been doing that for years."
"People are screaming that billionaires are able to purchase entire media platforms. like Billionaires havent been doing that for years. All of that stuff they were mocking political opponents for suddenly might be used on them, and now it's an issue?"
InvisibleMe21
People have been complaining about the very things you have raised. And also complaining about Musk who has historically proven he is not really a fan of free and open speech.
"A lot of people hate him..."
"I don't defend him. But when people make assumptions and straight up lie, I will call them out for it. A lot of people hate him, just because it's trendy to do so. In reality they don't know anything about him."
[deleted]
I mean, that's fine. But, when people make up lies to prop up Elon, I hope you have that same enthusiasm for the truth.
"If you're reading this..."
"If you’re reading this, then you’re old enough to know that mainstream media sets the mood for the perception of public figures, but also that that mood is never some objectively accurate measure of the persons overall goodness or badness. Media is like fashion: winds change."
"So don’t come at me saying “why does your opinion differ from the sentiment I happen to have read in the news lately?” That is inherently a dumb question."
"Real answer: Because when he says his goal is to make life interplanetary and spread consciousness to the stars, I believe that’s genuine."
"I honestly don’t understand how you can justify believing he’s not driven to make the world a better place: his motivation leaks through every single endeavor he undertakes."
Do you really think it’s a coincidence that the same guy who popularized electric cars is also pushing forward other optimistic, utopian-aiming tech like solar energy, high-speed rail and tunnel infrastructure, brain-computer interfaces, space exploration, and uncensorable Internet?"
"To that, I say: what an extraordinary coincidence that the guy who’s supposedly a fraud and big danger to humanity is simultaneously involved in so many things that a real tech-oriented humanist would be. Extraordinary coincidence!"
"The real question is, 1) why the hate? and 2) given the above how can you actually justify thinking he’s not genuinely all about advancing the human race?"
"I fear y’all only hate him because he’s a bit autistic, combined with jealousy, but especially combined with the fact he’s been getting piled on a lot."
adamisom
You can certainly make an argument that mainstream media doesn't like him but many people just don't like the man's attitude and entitlement.
"He can be a real jerk. He does things I don't agree with, and is famous enough that a lot of his personal life is public. And the people attacking him seem to forget that he has a right to be himself. If he were running for public office then we should worry about what he believes, but until then, let him be him."
"He's on the autism spectrum, and so am I, so I guess I'm a little sensitive to the fact that his brain works differently, and he sees things differently, and he gets attacked for it. I defend him against people who attack him for being different because in many ways I feel like I'm defending my right to be different and see the world in a way that others do not."
AlsoNotTheMamma
While I do not find Elon in any way shape or form to be a role model of mine, I do applaud your reasoned and level headed response.
"If he gets us to Mars..."
"If he gets us to Mars in the next decade or so, I think he will be every young kid's role model whether we like it or not."
"The important thing for me is that he's not perfect, and I don't expect him to be. Flawed people can accomplish great things if they work hard. And have access to money."
AlsoNotTheMamma
The key here, of course, is money. If you don't have any money, what can you actually do?
"I wouldn’t say I like Musk as a person either but that doesn’t mean I would discredit all of the massive advancements in innovation and technology he has done for the world."
rbui5000
Safe to say he's very much a "love him or hate him" sort of figure. There is no in-between.
"I don't get the blind hate..."
"I don't get the blind hate or blind love of him. I am amazed by what he has achieved in a number of areas, he's clearly a brilliant clear thinker in terms of engineering, but he's still flawed. He says and does things I don't like, but so far the world is a much better place because of him."
mother-a-god
Granted, all the billionaire hate is justified. Is the world actually better when Musk symbolizes so much of its inequality?
"He's not someone I admire or desire to emulate. However, the world's innovation is driven by people like this guy, and as controversial as he is he does a lot of good things."
[deleted]
Can you elaborate on this for people who don't follow him?
"I don't really defend him. I just think self driving electric cars and rockets are pretty cool."
Rorty
Okay, fair! Those things are indeed pretty cool.
There's no doubt that Elon Musk is one of the most polarizing figures in the world. How he'll continue to effect the world we live in remains to be seen but whatever lies in store for us is bound to have significant impacts on society at large.
Have opinions of your own? Tell us more in the comments below!
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