Over at Intellectual Defenestration,
Nathan comments regarding attempts by Maryland public schools to revise history (go figure) regarding the Pilgrims and their reasons for coming to the New World.
Apparently Maryland schools now think that Maryland children do not need to learn that the first Thanksgiving involved God. That the Pilgrims and Native Americans partied together is noteworthy, but that the first thanks-givers had a specific reason for and object of their gratitude is too inconvenient of a fact to transmit to young minds."We teach about Thanksgiving from a purely historical perspective, not from a religious perspective," said Charles Ridgell, St. Mary's County Public Schools curriculum and instruction director.
I find this quotation from Mr. RIdgell absolutely laughable. How a perspective on the Pilgrims can be in ANY intellectually meaningful sense called "historical" without addressing the historical facts of their leaving Europe is so far beyond the pale of rationality as to be labelled "insane". Mr. Ridgell ought to be summarily dismissed from his post, and forced to write 100 copies of the Mayflower Compact on the ceiling of his office.
As I often ask, WHAT are people afraid of!??