Teabagging History

GSL is by no means a political magazine. I'm really not trying to start a political debate here. But, as an historian, it needs to be said...

The so-called "Teabaggers" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_movement] derive their name as if to be a 21st century edition of the protesters at the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party]. They dress like 18th century "revolutionaries" and adopt slogans popular from the original protests. But there is an historical inaccuracy in this that needs to be pointed out.

In its simplest form, the 1773 protest was against a tax on the American colonists that was decided upon by a legislative body in which they had no representation or say. Parliament overrode the local, American legislative bodies and imposed the law.

Whether you agree with the stimulus packages, bailouts or health care bills, the fact remains that these decisions were arrived at by duly elected representatives of the American people. There really is no credible parallel between the two protests. To express displeasure with the decisions is one thing, but to bastardize our history to justify being a sore loser is another.

The problem is that these folks seem to be drawing "lessons" from history without really understanding the facts of that history. We should look to our past to advise our future - but the real past, not the simplistic, wishful interpretation that is being passed off for our history.

The 1664 Game

Here's a neat little game.

England's Duke of York conveyed the lands he called "New Jersey" to Sir John Carteret and John Lord Berkeley in 1664 - June 24th, to be specific. So 1664 is considered the birth of our Garden State.

Go get your favorite book about New Jersey history - it should have more than 166 pages, because you're going to turn to page 166. Count down to the 4th full paragraph on that page. Consider sharing what it says as a comment to this blog post!

I picked Marc Mappen's "There's More to New Jersey Than the Sopranos" (2009, Rivergate Books). Page 166 is in a chapter on Orson Welles' 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds," that had Martians landing in little Grovers Mill, NJ. Many who tuned in after the show had begun - and after the disclaimer that it was just a dramatization - thought we really were being invaded from Mars.

"Nobody knows how many listeners came to believe that there was a real invasion going on - this was not the sort of thing somebody would want to admit the next day. Probably the numbers were in the thousands, not the millions. But while limited in numbers, the panic seems to have occurred around the nation."

So what will the 1664 Game find in your favorite NJ history books?

Hi$tory

There's an old saying "Information wants to be free!" Unfortunately, things like electricity, gasoline and food are more mercenary.

I made GSL free to subscribe to, in part, because I wanted the information to be accessible. But I also knew that unless I wanted this to just be a time-consuming hobby, I was going to have to realize revenue from it at some point. While free, I do insist people "subscribe." That way, I have a tally of how many people actually read the thing. And that, in turn, can help me to attract advertisers.

I'm going to be mounting a postcard mailing campaign to solicit advertising in the next couple weeks. If anyone is interested in advertising, please visit: http://gardenstatelegacy.com/Advertising_With_GSL.html

GSL Enters the Blogosphere.

A friend of mine passed away earlier last year. He was in his 80s, but enjoyed reasonably good health—aside from bad knees. He had survived a German POW camp during World War II and I think every day after that experience was something of a gift to him. But what was particularly striking was how he kept up with technology right up to the end. Perhaps his years working as an electronics engineer made change and innovation a natural part of life. He knew computers inside and out and used to take astronomical images through his computerized telescope using a CCD camera and image processing software.

My point is that many of us stop learning at some stage, and forever after change scares us. It obviously doesn't need to be like that. The NJ history community—like history communities the world-over—trends towards the elderly. Many historical groups are peopled by folks who don't understand new technologies—and don't really care to. The trouble with that attitude, of course, is that the groups they run don't take advantage of the opportunities available to educate, inspire and attract new people to history.

There is something admittedly narcissistic to blogs and Facebook and the like. Does anyone really care what I had for breakfast? Yet, for better or worse, such technology is now a apart of American life. It is the province of the younger sets whom we would do well to reach—it's their history too. We dismiss all this techno-stuff at our peril.

And so, GSL enters the great "blogosphere," adding its voice to the din. I hope I'll have something worth saying and I hope you'll have thoughtful replies. This should be a place for dialog, for using the technology to its best advantage.

And by the way, I don't eat breakfast. It was trick question.