I thought I was going to read On the Origin of Species next, but I didn’t bother to search my Kindle for it. I was on the Metro and wanted something fast. I chose A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn. I’m several chapters into it, having had to go from Silver Spring all the way to Tenleytown just for a SuperCuts (worth it- I’m hot again), and I am just gaga over it. The beginning reminds me of Outlander, in a way, because it talks about the absolute genocide of the Native Americans that seems reminiscent of her style. He talked about how if a woman no longer wanted to cohabit with a man, she would simply put his stuff outside the house……… Also, Christopher Columbus was a very, very, very bad man. Write it down.
Now, I’m up to slavery because in the US, white slaves were not being sent at a fast enough rate from Europe and the Americans could not force the Indians (his word, not mine, because Europeans called all brown people “Indians”) into it because they were too rebellious. Enter black people.
Part of slavery’s crack-smoking foolishness was that the white Americans did not know or care about mental illness. They didn’t realize that it wasn’t that black people were inferior. It’s that when you chain people up in a boat where they cannot move- cannot even roll over onto their sides for months at a time- you get a different person on arrival than you did when you left. Of course they seemed inferior. Look at how mental patients are looked upon even today. The white settlers did not realize that if there was any mental inferiority, they were the cause. Because why would they?
Fucktards.
I have heard people in the South talk about how slavery wasn’t wrong because Africans enslaved each other. Zinn posits that while this is true, it wasn’t anywhere near the level of cruelty that Americans bestowed on black people, because black is dark and brooding. White is pure and clean. Africans used more of a feudal system where “serfs” could get married, own property, and even inherit.
We didn’t even count them as people.
So, this book is fascinating and one of the reasons I chose it is that there’s a movie version narrated by Matt Damon, which, if you’ve been reading this web site for a while, you know that he is one of my favorite people of all time and space. Two reasons: first and foremost, he’s a writer. Good Will Hunting was a play for one of his English classes at Harvard. Ben Affleck helped adapt the play to screen, but the original idea was all Matt, all the time. Therefore, he has my respect. Second of all, how can one human be that smart and that hot all at the same time? #gaynotblind
Ok, there’s also a third thing. I love his voice. I would pay money just to listen to him read the phone book. Start with the As my friend. Jason Bourne is magnificent, and he can make shivers run down my back with two lines….. “Get some rest, Pam. You look tired.”
So, anyway, reading this book is fascinating and I have a documentary narrated by an American God to look forward to. That doesn’t suck. It’s probably better that I’m reading this now. I don’t know if I could read another evolution book so closely after Signature. It is surprisingly scientifically dense, but the story is fascinating.
I need to take a shower because the little hairs on the back of my neck are driving me crazy. Then I’m going to get back to reading, because seriously. This book will rock your world.
Also, Diana, I miss your words. Could you please put out another Outlander book soon? I am really missing being lost in that world, and I FREAKED OUT when I realized that Paul, Jerry, and Frank all knew each other. You’re the bomb, sister. Sorry it took me so long to figure that out. Also, Jerry. Heartbreaking.
Stories That Are All True 