Why were so many of us so easily fooled?

Here I'm echoing Cyndy at mousemusings who points out this gem of an article penned by Howard Zinn titled "America's Blinders".

I always find asking "why" a horribly difficult question with no easy answers especially when it comes to explaining human behavior. So I appreciate that Zinn pinpoints these two dynamics inherent to our current collective American psyche: 1) the lack of historical perspective and 2) a stark moral superiority.

This is required reading, my opinion. The solution? Historian Zinn wants us all to know our history.

One vital point: he reminds us to view how conflicts in American history are based on class issues. This perspective is illuminating, especially in understanding why the American public easily gets duped into doing things not in our best interest. This is about getting fooled by our collective lack of awareness and pride.

We're not going to get any support from the powers-that-be nor from our established institutions to get this information out to the public. I'd love to see progressive organizations put an exerted effort into awareness of American history, from the lens given to us by Zinn. More education and advocacy, please!