Friday, September 14, 2012

"Me, I'm a Lincoln cat"



This looks good. Daniel Day Lewis and Steven Spielberg did the research and finally got the great man's voice right. In all previous film incarnations (except Young Mr. Lincoln, starring Henry Fonda), Abraham Lincoln speaks in deep, basso-profundo, Olympian tones. Wrong. Those who knew him said that his voice was high and reedy.

Dummies are already pronouncing the film a falsification of history, because the script (or at least the trailer) suggests that the Civil War was fought over slavery instead of tarrifs or states' rights or some such nonsense. Of course the Civil War was fought over slavery; those who say otherwise are historical revisionists.

The revisers set to work in the 19th century, and I am sorry to report that they have bamboozled many students. For the truth, see James Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me, the relevant section of which is summarized here and here. You may also want to check out -- oh, I dunno, pretty much any major American newspaper published during the 1860-65 period.

The kids who parrot revisionist claims think they're hip, but they're really dupes. (Bonus points to any reader who can name the fellow quoted in this post's headline.)
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6 comments:

  1. LandOLincoln2:35 PM

    Gee, I dunno--Mickey Haller maybe?

    Or was it Lord Buckley? (Okay, so I cheated on the good Lord--I Googled it. Mea culpa.)

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  2. Maz3:13 PM

    I almost said Mezz Mezzrow -- but it's Lord Buckley, right?

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  3. Gus4:00 PM

    You confused me a little there since your link says the North didn't go to war over slavery, but to hold the Union together (Lincoln, specifically). The South, on the other hand, did go to war over the specific issue of slavery.

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  4. stickler4:03 PM

    Lord Buckley?

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  5. Anonymous4:33 PM

    For those who deny that slavery was the cause of the U.S. Civil War, reading The Constitution of the Confederate States of America will help clear that up. Then read the Cornerstone Speech by Alexander Stephens, the Vice-President of the CSA. The Ordinanc of Secession Texas, as noted in one of the linked sources makes the issue very clear.

    Guess on "Me, I'm a Lincoln cat." George Carlin ?

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  6. Joseph Cannon5:12 PM

    Glad to see that there are other hipsters, flipsters and finger-poppin' daddies who still remember Lord Buckley!

    If someone started a church whose only scripture was Lord Buckley's version of The Naz, I might join.

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