Whenever I see any framing that is like “This used to be America, what happened?” I think about how I was in my thirties before I learned George Washington’s “wooden teeth” were actually dentures made of gold, ivory, and teeth forcibly pried from the mouths of his slaves. That’s the FIRST GUY.
"This used to be America, what happened?" Sweetie, read some history before 1985.
Floored me when I read that the colonies had the highest standard of living in the world at the time of the Revolution
I hate that this popped into my head upon reading this post: youtu.be/qv6OOuPI5c0?... Sadly, neglected the opportunity to educate folks on Washington's mouth hooves.
We had a whole 1619 Project about it. 8 years of Obama just wiped an entire faint liberal acknowledgement of the cruelties of America's foundational genocides out completely.
I was almost 40 when I found this out. To this day, I wonder why I was ever taught the weird counter-narrative about the wooden teeth. I never heard a word about the teeth of any other founding father, but someone felt the need to create a cover story in case any asked about this guy's teeth?
“Why is something bad happening???” I dunno maybe because we’ve only ever done bad things at the command of evil men
You'd think their entire plan is built on Americans being kept ignorant this whole time with historical & biblical fallacies crafted by white men in power ... ... wait a sec ...ohh. that's...that is the actual plan isn't it. that is White Supremacy isn't it.
This gives me an excuse to tell my favorite George Washington story which is that when he was not quite as impressive in his military service as we are often led to believe, he had Billy Lee, his slave / valet shoot a hole in his hat so it would look like he had a narrow miss
"They are who some of us, thought they were. " NO SURPRISES.
He would also severely punish any of his slaves who tried to keep a dog and -hang- the poor dog, because he was convinced the slaves trained their dogs to steal food.
One of the fun (?) things about being married to a history writer is learning who was considered to be particularly awful *even for the time* and Washington is a go-to.
The Oney Judge story -alone- should have destroyed any legacy he ever had.
And didn’t he start the French and Indian war by accident?
Washington was also vain and obsessed with fancy clothes and interior decor and much of his debt to British vendors consisted of fancy clothes and furnishings
If I were Washington, I’d be obsessed with Federal furniture and Josiah Wedgwood dishes too.
😂
In a twisted way, this does kind of connect him to Trump who also thought, I am not gonna pay my debts, no one can make me, and therefore I am going to launch an insurrection.
Unlike Trump, Washington was pro-vax. And he turned down the Kingship of America when it was offered.
Fair!
this would make such a good period comedy a la veep
Some of us have been on an upward track for accepting the huge historical and current imperfections of our country and others apparently have been hitting themselves and their children and grandchildren in the heads with increasingly large hammers each generation.
alls I know is the "recent thing is bad; this country is better than this" news take meme is tiring
there’s precious little recent evidence this country is better than shit
Some countries are worse than shit is the only solace.
Our country has only been better at hiding how bad its Omelas Child Welfare Department is for all these years.
I was also in my 30s, and thinking, why did they tell us anything about his teeth!?! It was a lie to cover a question no elementary school student would ever ask. I’m so curious how wooden teeth became one of the first things taught.
A lot of brainwashed folks act like pointing out our bloody history/shittastic present is on the same level as kicking their dog or boofing their mom.
what? no! those teeth were surely donated by his noble slaves!
Reminds me of how I didn't learn until I was probably 35 or so that most of the Alamo defenders were slaveowners and a big part of the Texas Revolution was to keep slaves. Growing up literally up the road from San Antonio it was basically of mythological status.
Really amazing when you find one of the Washington defenders who wants you to know that Washington *paid* the enslaved person for those teeth. Sure, sounds like they had a really good negotiating position over the value of their TEETH with the person who professes to OWN them
Although this did trigger me finding out that some enslaved people actually received a small amount of money from time to time and could even own personal property under some circumstances, which really calls into question the whole "they weren't considered people" angle