Conservapedia talk:World History Lecture Fourteen

From RationalWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Northern Ireland[edit]

It's a whole new level of tragedy to have a situation as complex as 'The Troubles' described in four short paragraphs. Years of IRA atrocities are reduced to one incident. So John Major was targeted - what about Brighton, Warrington, Manchester, Enniskillen? Meanwhile the UDF fail to get a mention at all but that's Ok because, apparently, it was all the fault of the British army and 'Bloody Sunday'. And then the 'violence has subsided' - no mention at all of the Good Friday Agreement, the years of work, of painstaking diplomacy that has resulted in the miracle of Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness finally sitting down at the same table, fighting with words, not guns.

The real tragedy of Northern Ireland is the way that two groups of people have used their religion to divide them, to foster hatred, to be the bitter excuse for some of the foulest acts - on both sides of the divide - that this country has seen.

Maybe I just pick this out because it's something close to my heart and, more rationally, it's no worse than the rest of the drivel but it's filth like this which persuades people who otherwise would condemn terrorism in any form to donate money 'for the lads'. Silver Sloth 11:24, 22 July 2008 (EDT)

The geographical location of Ireland (slightly northwest of England) shows that Andy doesn't know how to read a map and which bits of Great Britain are actually England. Jollyfish.gifGenghisOur ignorance is God; what we know is science. 11:54, 22 July 2008 (EDT)
I realize this is quite serious, SS, but i had to giggle at this particular quote "There was an Irish Republican Army that fought the British at the Battle of Ridgeway." I'm like... are we in 3rd grade? "once, there was a king. He had a country in England. He hated America. But america wasn't america yet. The king had an army. The king attacted us. the end". sad for a guy who claims to have a legal degree.--WaitingforGodot 12:47, 22 July 2008 (EDT)


Thats just awful. Bloody Sunday: The Irish peacefully protested so the British shot them and that started the troubles. Bloody hell. So much wrong there....and such a misleading tone. It sounds like they're saying the British just up and decided to shoot the Irish, not the actual mess the day was....And the entire march was in protest at the already bad situation. Ridiculous. I hope someone was shot for writing this.--79.68.187.66 (talk) 23:03, 9 July 2010 (UTC)

Is it simple pedantry to note that his description of the attack on John Major is wrong in several respects? The attack used mortars not missiles, and describing Number 10 Downing Street as John Major's 'Headquarters' is incredibly clumsy. It's his official residence. Would Andy refer to an attack on the US president without mentioning the White House by name? John Major was certainly 'a' target (although only because Thatcher had resigned between the planning and execution stages of the attack), but the whole Cabinet was meeting and the statement released stated that the Cabinet was the target and did not mention John Major explicitly. Worm (talk) 13:23, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

As a general rule, Americans tend to ignore the Troubles, the media here tends to ignore the Troubles, and educational institutions here tend to ignore the Troubles. Most Americans when they hear about the troubles usually only hear the Irish Catholic side of the story. And there is a reason for that. The Census Bureau estimates that are some 33 million people in this country who descend primarily from Irish Catholic immigrants and hence identify themselves as "Irish American" (that's about seven times more people than exist in Ireland itself); in the Northeast and especially New England which is where I'm from, they are the single largest ethnic group (indeed I grew up with many Irish Catholics). Irish-Americans now a days are very thoroughly assimilated (as one would expect), and they are often seen as being very far removed from their homeland. In fact most probably have no animosity towards Britain. However many of their Grandparents did hold an extreme animosity towards the United Kingdom which tends to become more apparent when you read about what Irish Americans thought of American participation in the two world wars. And the attitudes of the older generation still linger into the present. And trust me, while the hostility has declined over the generations, it is still present, and it is made manifest by the considerable generous donations which Americans give to the IRA. Languages, and unique cultural habits in this country only last a couple of generations, but vendettas last much longer. So in conclusion Andy's view of the Troubles overall doesn't really surprise me, there are plenty of otherwise smart people who I know who view the Troubles with an pro-Irish Catholic bias, it has less to do with his ideology and more to do with where he grew up. Alsto003 (talk) 22:47, 6 June 2015 (UTC) Alex

World history my arse![edit]

All I can say is if the youth of America are taught this crap as historical fact, there's no hope left for the rest of the world.Mick McT 10:00, 27 August 2008 (EDT)

Read it and weep. The whole series (which needs polishing (sic)) is soooo pathetic. SusanG  ContribsTalk 11:30, 27 August 2008 (EDT)

And you...?[edit]

Ok, you gotta love any text book that shows some of the "homeschoolers' (tutored by some of Europe's most elite tutors, by the way, in times when there really wasn't such a thing as "public schools") which ends with "and you?". Will you people who choose to believe my crap be someone special? --Waiting for Godot 11:42, 27 August 2008 (EDT)

Special ... as in special ed, LOL? If any of these poor kids go back to the public schools, they'll need years of remedial classes to undo the damage this freak will have done to them! CodeMaster9000 (talk) 08:03, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

Al Gore and the Internet[edit]

As far as Andy's remarks about Gore claiming to have created the Internet go...

if any one person can be said to have "invented the Internet" (though the credit is really shared among many), it's Vinton Cerf. Here's what he said about Gore. In short, he says what Gore really said, as opposed to what his critics claim he said, is accurate.

I think Andy did once address Cerf's remarks, when they were pointed out to him, with his usual "defense" about liberal sticking up for each other. MDB (talk) 13:38, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

Space Race[edit]

I am tempted to re-write/correct the Space Race section, as some of the history in it is a bit... off.--ZooGuard (talk) 11:42, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

In what regard? I'm always open to corrections. Ironclad (talk) 16:41, 17 February 2012 (UTC)