OTOH
In fairness I need to note something the media did right this week.
I was listening to NPR in the car and was shocked to hear Barbara Bradley Hagerty commit blatant journalism in her report, The Most Influential Evangelist You’ve Never Heard Of. In her profile of David Barton she actually pointed out that his claims about history were without a factual basis. Best of all she used historians at conservative Christian colleges and universities to do it, to forestall claims of bias.
The bad news wasn’t over for Barton, historian Chris Rodda, who has been fighting the misinformation campaign that Barton spearheads, noted that Barton’s “Jefferson Lies” Voted Worst History Book in Print at the History News Network.
The “cherry on top” was when the publisher of Jefferson Lies pulled the book, after investigating complaints about its accuracy and sources.
If Barton had been a real historian, he would have known better than to mess with “TJ”, because if you quote him and use a semicolon where there was a comma in the handwritten original, the Cult of TJ will descend upon you like a loft of damp hay.
My knowledge of David Barton goes back to the ancient times of news groups. He was outed as a fraud who created ‘ancient documents’ to prove his points, and has been caught doing it multiple times. Anything written by Burton should be cataloged with other alternate history books, like those of Harry Turtledove [well, same genre but not as well written or researched as Harry’s books].
Barton has managed to build a “Wall” between himself and reality, so it was nice to hear BBH and NPR say it.
2 comments
Thanks for reminding me to look up a pic of Barton. I knew a different David Barton, also from Texas, involved in early music events in the D/F-W area probably 30 years ago, and I am relieved to learn that he is not the pathological character who reinvents history.
I knew yet a different David Barton from college, and that’s why I got interested in this one, as I couldn’t believe the guy I knew had gotten this stupid.
OTOH, he makes a lot of money lying, so why would he stop?