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As we all know, the Gettysburg Address clocks in at little more than two minutes, making it one of the shorter American political speeches.
I was at the new Visitor Center at Gettysburg, saw the intro film and went to the museum. Although the Address is referenced several times, none of the hyperactive info presentations at the museum or in the film recited the speech in one session. They gave bits or pieces with chunks of other stuff in between.
It became(for me) a gauge of the attention span of Americans in the 21st century. Even with plenty of visual imagery to go with in, the exhibit designers deemed that Americans are incapable of focusing on this instantly recognizable piece of oratory for two minutes.
Indeed, the irony used to be that Lincoln stated that the "world would little note, nor long remember what is said here, but it can never forget what they did here." The irony being the speech is remembered, while the details of the battle fade into obscurity.
Well, that little problem is fixed by a solemn baritone intoning, "...never forget what they did here." Fade out.
We saw a piece of film not associated with the park called "Fields of Freedom" playing at the theatre next to our hotel. Thirty reenactors try to recreate Pickett's Charge. Hollywood style violence as heroic Confederates knock over Union defenders like ninepins, but then inexplictably lose. "never forget what they did here..."
is recited. Hey buddy, Lincoln refering to the Union guys, the ones making a new birth of freedom, and keeping the government of the people from perishing, not the Rebs!
Thus the meaning of the war is shorn away, and replaced by a bunch of cool battle scenes.
Well, Michael, we are all incredibly stupid and incapable of really understanding. So we must be fed marshmallows.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
I don't think people are incredibly stupid. But they get treated like they are.
At the Canadian National Park of Fortress Louisbourg there are "reflection rooms." Spaces with comforable chairs and a few publications, where you sit and think about what you have been seeing, and perhaps discuss it with your companions. At the VC in Gettysburg, the atmosphere is more like a video arcade, with a few artifacts embedded in the noise and imagery like raisins in a big scone.
The battlefield itself is silent and serene, except(last week) for a steady breeze. A silent bronze infantryman, the mounted general, mute cannon. Plenty of time for reflection there, I guess.
The battles were noisy, crowded, chaotic, and frightening. The preserved fields the opposite.
Peaceful serenity. A stark contrast to the carnage and mayhem. A beautiful landscape broken by bloodshed and horror. When I go, I sit and imagine the waves of soldiers washing over me. I can sit at a single spot on a battlefield for hours in the silence, listening to the cries of the soldiers echo on the breeze. That is why I go, and what I gather. I can't speak for others. I feel that to most of these tourists, Gettysburg is to the war what Freebird is to rock and roll. The one song everybody knows, and severely overplayed. Are they really there to learn? Or simply to say "How horrible" and then get back into their big RVs and get on with the rest of their vacation?
__________________
"In mortal combat, a man may and will become so infuriated by the din and dangers of a bloody fight that his heart will turn to stone and his every de sire [be] for blood."
John Hadley, 7th Indiana after the battle at Port Republic
I teach in the Juvenile Justice system.You should try teaching teenagers of today, many have a very short attention span. Coupled with many who are two or more grades below their supposed reading level and some who are illiterate it is very difficult. While some can do the old fashioned read the section and answer the review questions for next class most cannot either do it well or at all. Instead we read the section aloud and stop after several paragraphs and discuss the main points and then move on. The next class they work in pairs to answer the review questions which we then discuss. Lecturing and note taking is for short periods only with notes projected on the wall. Have to say that is not the way I was taught US History. I am slower in coverage but I do try to reach every student. The exceptional student has problems with this approach. To satisfy the few I encounter I will assign more work in quantity in and difficulty. At this time we are studying 18th century reforms and we just finished the anti-slavery movement. I showed them the film, A Woman Called Moses, Harriet Tubman's runaway newspaper ad, and a primary source story of the Underground Railroad by a Quaker running a station on it.
__________________
"Those who forget to remember the past are condemned to repeat it", George Santayana.
Well, Michael, we are all incredibly stupid and incapable of really understanding. So we must be fed marshmallows.
ole
Matthew makes an excellent observation about sound bites and the short attention span of the modern American. As for Ole's remark, I'm old enough to prefer Cracker-Jack with a real toy.
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