Comments on: Independence Day

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:28:36 +0000

Actually, the 18th, 19th, and well into the 20th century the press was openly partisan and made no attempt to hide the fact. The names of many papers openly declared their party affiliation. That is an honest statement of bias that a reader can deal with as they read what is printed.

It is only after World War II that the media attempted to claim unbiased reporting, and it has been downhill ever since. The media conglomeration has only made matters worse as the bias is national rather than local or regional.

By: John B.

John B. — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:22:06 +0000

Steve, You wrote: <<No doubt the media is and has been responsible for “distorting the facts and screwing up reality” many times in our history… but I do not think of this occasion as one of those times. >> I was joking, sort of. Rolling off an 18th century press is a little different from shameless Fox News cablecasts, but the comparison tickled my fancy. A good view of the Trumbull painting is here. Bryan is right, not everyone shown was actually there, as Wikipedia correctly notes. Hardly any of them, in fact.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 01:24:46 +0000

After the the second it was a very long time before all of those guys were in the same town, much again at the same place.

They’ve finally located Washington’s first home, and the world will probably discover that there were no cherry trees on the property. The trees in DC are a gift from Japan, not native trees.

Everyone needs a nice creation myth, and no one wants to know which of the Founding Fathers were total SOBs, or how much many hated others.

On the other hand, when you have a group of well off white guys get together and are actually willing to risk life and limb because of government action, things were probably fairly bad.

What they did would be the equivalent of the Congressional Republicans calling for the impeachment of the Shrubbery, and willing to resort to force to get it done.

By: Steve Bates

Steve Bates — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 00:31:13 +0000

Or, John B., it could be simply that humans need, create and cling to tidy origin stories. Origins, especially creations more or less from whole cloth of things generally acknowledged to be good (or at least personally dear), are a messy business. It is human nature to craft canonical stories about those origins that fit better with the need for tidy received wisdom than with what actually happened. No doubt the media is and has been responsible for “distorting the facts and screwing up reality” many times in our history… but I do not think of this occasion as one of those times.

By the way, I’ve read somewhere (Bryan?) that the Trumbull painting depicts no single real event, but a combination of events in the days described. Does the painting, famous as it is, screw up reality? And I’ve seen the original Bill of Rights in the National Archives; they’re numbered from 1 to 12, not as we conventionally number them. (See the large image on Wikipedia. “Article the third” is the one we conventionally call the First Amendment.) Does our renumbering falsify the rights?

Eyes on the prize, everyone. I hope you have/had a great Fourth… or whatever date it should have been. 🙂

By: John B.

John B. — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:48:47 +0000

Actually, Bryan, the Continental Congress declared independence on July 2. But you know that.

The final draft of the Declaration was referred to the Committee of Five, only two of whom — John Hancock and Charles Thompson — stayed behind in Philadelphia to neatly re-write it in final form. Almost everyone else had left Philadelphia for home.

The final, corrected copy, was transmitted to the printer late the evening of July 3. The first 200 printed copies rolled off the press on July 4. They weren’t read aloud to the public on the steps of Independence Hall until July 8.

John Adams (and others) considered July 2 to be our Independence Day. The quickly-formed popular misconception that July 4 was the day Independence was declared just happens to be the day the Declaration rolled off the press.

I consider this mistake to have been an omen. Forever after, the American media has been distorting the facts and screwing up reality.

By: cookie jill

cookie jill — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:35:38 +0000

Forget “Independence” Day…I’m celebrating DEPENDENCE Day. Our Community is so very dependent on the hard work and sacrifice of the Firefighters these days.

Instead of going to hear the concert in the Sunken Gardens or watch the fireworks off the pier, I’m taking a couple of bags of groceries to the Firefighters Command Center for the crews.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:12:39 +0000

Same to your crew from mine, Hipparchia. Tell them to cool it with the fireworks inside.

Only 199 days to go, Steve.

I’ve suspected I was living in an alternate history since the non-election of 2000, Badtux. This must be Newt’s version of the future.

By: Steve Bates

Steve Bates — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:47:55 +0000

May you have a splendid Fourth, Bryan. Stay away from cruel boys who stick firecrackers in frogs.

By: Story of the Day

Story of the Day — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:46:04 +0000

[…] Why Now? – Independence Day […]

By: Badtux

Badtux — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:10:01 +0000

I started reading this document but then realized that it surely must be some terrorist document put together by people who hate America and our way of life. For example, there was all the whining about the things that our brave leader George is doing to protect us, there was the notion that the people had rights that were granted to them by their Creator rather than by their government, and then there was the clear threat to overthrow our God-ordained government and replace it with… what? Obviously some sort of jihadi law, I’m sure.

But given that our brave STASI agents now have clearance to spy on people like these, I’m sure we’ll get no trouble out of them. Gotta go, the national anthem is playing….

God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen:
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the Queen.

Indeed!

— Badtux the Alternate History Penguin