Riffin on history and it’s malcontents.

Popular: regarded with favor, approval, or affection by people in general* 

Culture:1. The quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.2.That which is excellent in the arts, manners, etc. *

Popular Culture: Cultural activities or commercial products reflecting, suited to, or aimed at the tastes of the general masses of people.*

*Dictionary Deffintions

Pop culture to me means:

Cool to the group, like by the masses, music, art, tv, films, books, cars, tattoos, hairstyles that all represent a period of time.  Food that is popular to a group, shoes that people feel connected to, graffitti that people love, anything that represents something to you and others in a period of time.

-Why is studying history important?

  • separates myth from reality
  • Helps solve mysteries, solve crimes, prevents future crimes.

Look at the parents throughout history, learn from them and change the future patterns.

-Howard Zinn – A bombardier in WWII, Ran bombing runs testing the affects of Napalm.  He returned to these areas after the war and saw the damage done by these test bombs.  Which Changed his life.  He then became a Historian and writer. **read this Nate ‘The 20th Century: A Peoples History’

“Fugitive moments of compassion” things that don’t last to long.  “that show us a better world, that reveal human potential, that contradict and denounce the cynicism that is at the root of a global economic system premised on greed.” https://zinnedproject.org/2013/01/honoring-howard-zinns-life-by-teaching-peoples-history/

**read “The lies our Teachers Told Us”

-“Tyranny of Facts” Who,what, where, when =The why   follow the facts to the reason(the why), the causes of what made things happen.

-The absence of “us” – hard to be a part of history if your culture was left out.  If your culture has been omitted from the things taught to us, how do we believe in it.  Like all the stuff you learned from the Asian American book from week one, you really never knew toll now.  Like the truth about Columbus, the things we find so freely on the internet but in the past there where only so many books available to learn the truth for ourselves.

Radical- from Chico- Anyone who is willing to return to the past and research the root.

  • Return to the root and find the answers.

-Make History personal, Take it outside, don’t keep it in the books.  Get multiple perspectives man!