Website Wednesday

Chris Matthews got me to pick this website. The Chris Matthews who hosts Hardball with Chris Matthews in the U.S., which is so often Dumb Ball with ........

Case in point: the other day he was asking why the Democrats were not allowing the Republicans to carry out their filibuster threat. He mentioned the famous filibuster in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (a typical Frank Capra “capra-corn” movie) and proceeded to show the scene where Jimmy Stewart filibusters in the movie.

Showing movies to prove reality? Gawker is right. We are not a nation of cowards; we’re a nation of retards.

But that got me thinking (again) about the misinformation we get from the main stream media. And that got me thinking about the misinformation kids get from their main stream history textbooks. (I know they’re better in a lot of districts but I bet Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States has never gotten a position on the “History textbooks we should consider for next year” list.)

So Chris Matthews took me to Howard Zinn and Zinn took me to:

http://www.identitytheory.com

the Identity Theory website.

Identity Theorists are not dry, angry people. Just click on “About Us” and you get a picture of a cute, pensive dog, no less. In fact, they define themselves as: (an) online magazine covering literature, music, film, social justice, and art. Notice that the most provocative subject “social justice” is near the end of the list.

There’s a lot of main stream stuff here but with a twist. Their movie reviews encompass Richard Gere’s The Hoax and Cusack’s War Inc.. Their movie links take you to Roger Ebert’s website and Kevin Smith’s. They have 50 black and white photos of modern day Cuba. They have classic and current poetry. (You may not like poetry; you may not like modern poetry; but it makes me happy that humans still think metaphorically.) Read long interviews with people such as historian, Howard Zinn, Pulitzer Prize winning author, Richard Ford, and musician, Jessica Calleiro aka Uncle Owen Aunt Beru.

Identity Theory was started in 2000 by Matt Borondy who is now assisted by more than 20 volunteer editors.

Go take a look at this site. Move beyond the “pop” we put into so much of our history and culture. You don't need the modern history writer who begins the account of Valley Forge with “George Washington awakened to a gray sky and pulled his thin blanket closer to his chin.....”

There are hidden gems waiting for you out there.