So much information, so little knowledge

Never in the history of the world has more information been available or easier to obtain, yet about half the population of the United States seems to get dumber by the day.

Three examples of that phenomenon came to light this weekend, courtesy of a U.S. president who refuses to read, study or enlighten himself about the history and culture of the nation he professes to lead.

Example 1: On the day before Independence Day, Donald Trump stood on a platform at the base of Mount Rushmore in Lakota Sioux Indian territory and delivered a speech that essentially divided Americans into Republican patriots and leftist Democrat Fascists, an oxymoron that doesn’t even make sense, considering that Fascists cling to the extreme right wing of the political spectrum.

That divisive and derogatory speech on the eve of our national day of independence would have been bad enough, but during this latest unhinged rant, Trump also defended what he called America’s sacred historical monuments, referencing statues of Confederate generals and other traitors and malcontents who tried for years to overthrow this country, leading to the Civil War. One of those “great people” that Trump idolized was our seventh president, Andrew Jackson, the man who orchestrated and oversaw the infamous “Trail of Tears” in 1836.

I knew a little about the Trail of Tears from my early education, but not enough to discuss the subject thoughtfully at parties, so I looked it up on Google. The information was there and it was easy to find, as I said in the intro to this essay.

According to the Cherokee Historical Association: 

“The Trail of Tears was the forced and brutal relocation of approximately 100,000 indigenous people (belonging to Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole, among other nations) living between Michigan, Louisiana, and Florida to land west of the Mississippi River. Motivated by gold and land, Congress (under President Andrew Jackson) passed the Indian Removal Act by a slim and controversial margin in 1830.

“Between May 1838 and March 1839, federal soldiers and state militia rounded up 16,000 Cherokees from Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and North Carolina, taking them to stockades, and forcing them to get on boats and then march to Indian territory, present-day Oklahoma. At least 4,000 Cherokees died—one quarter of the population—and many were buried in unmarked graves. This devastating chapter in American history is known as the Trail of Tears.”

I’m fairly certain that Donald Trump had never heard of the Trail of Tears before making a speech praising the man who was responsible for this historical atrocity, but the fact that he said it on Native American land was not a coincidence, in my opinion. I believe the speech was fed to him by Stephen Miller or another one of his West Wing agitators as a way to press the racist narrative that has become central to Trump’s campaign.

Mocking the Lakota Sioux by arriving uninvited in their homeland and praising their mortal enemy was just more red meat for Trump’s base, a collection of poorly educated bigoted voters who Trump would never invite into his houses or hotels but who follow the president faithfully because they hate what Trump hates and aren’t afraid to demonstrate that sentiment in public.

Example 2: The next day, in Washington to help celebrate Independence Day, Trump went off on another word salad ramble in which he stupidly announced that Operation Desert Storm was fought in the jungles of Vietnam. He also invented a new word – swiffian – and said our American way of life started in 1492:

“We will never allow an angry mob to tear down our statues, erase our history, indoctrinate our children…and we will protect and preserve American way of life, which began in 1492 when Columbus discovered America.”

Never mind that Christopher Columbus, the Italian adventurer who set out to find a shortcut to India and is often credited with “discovering America,” never set foot on what would eventually become U.S. soil, or that there were already people living in the places where he did arrive.

Google tells us that Columbus made four voyages west from Spain, landing in such places as the Bahamas, Haiti, Cuba, various Caribbean islands, Panama, Central and South America. It also reveals that Columbus and his men were known to murder and enslave the native people who they encountered after the Spanish ships arrived. In that regard, it’s ironic that Trump sees the acts of stealing land and taking slaves as the beginning of the “American way of life.”

You can read more about Columbus on numerous web sites, including history.com. 

Example 3: The Trump campaign likes to use songs by Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young to fire up the crowds at its rallies, believing the songs to be patriotic in nature. After all, what could be more pro-Trump than “Born in the U.S.A.” or “Rockin’ in the Free World?”

Until you read the lyrics, that is.

A quick and easy google finds this:

Born down in a dead man's town

The first kick I took was when I hit the ground

You end up like a dog that's been beat too much

Then you spend half your life tryna cover it all

Born in the USA

Born in the USA

Born in the USA

Got in a little hometown jam so they put a rifle in my hand

Sent me off to a foreign land, go and kill the yellow man

I was born in the USA

Born in the USA

Born in the USA

Come back home to the refinery

Hiring man says, "Son if it was up to me"

Went down to see my V.A. man

He said, "Son don't you understand"

And this:

There's colors on the street

Red, white and blue

People shufflin' their feet

People sleepin' in their shoes

But there's a warnin' sign on the road ahead

There's a lot of people sayin' we'd be better off dead

Don't feel like Satan, but I am to them

So I try to forget it, any way I can.

Keep on rockin' in the free world,

Keep on rockin' in the free world

Keep on rockin' in the free world,

Keep on rockin' in the free world.

So much information, so little knowledge. So here’s an idea: If you’re stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic and bored out of your skull, try reading a little U.S. history. You might learn about the plight of Native Americans, what Columbus really did when he hit “American” soil and what Bruce Springsteen was upset about when he sang his signature song.

If you do that, you’ll be smarter than the president of the United States, who apparently doesn’t know that stuff…and shows no interest in looking any of it up.