On the Media is a great show on NPR if you haven’t heard it. I try and listen every week. One segment in particular impressed me this week and I’d like to share.
I think history is often misrepresented and taught in the form of ideologically simplified explanations for historical turning points. This happens all over the ideological spectrum, and is deceptively attractive and easy to fall victim to. The end of the Soviet Union is certainly a very good example of this phenomena.
On the Media explains:
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. While President Ronald Reagan famously told Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall,” another more mysterious quote attributed to Gorbachev would dominate the communist narrative of the fall of the Berlin Wall. WNYC reporter Brian Zumhagen tells the story and impact of both.
I think this is a very adequate and not overly complicated explanation of this event. I like that its told in a way that examines the period from the perspective of the people in Berlin, instead of focusing on the two iconic leaders who live very far away. This is certainly how I’ll teach this historical moment, avoiding the REAGAN v. GORBIE distracting dialogue. In the end, who forced this profound historical change? The people of Berlin certainly played an enormous part, and this should not be ignored.
posted by stin splinters
I thought it was interesting that the line from Reagan, while sounding a bit foolish, was pushed by an advisor who talked to the people. A level of nuanced that it seems W tried to emulate by just being a hubris jackass.
I thought it was just Reagan being Mr. Alzheimer’s when he said that, like when his administration got the Austrian national anthem wrong (they played Edelweiss from the Sound of Music at a state dinner for the Austrian President). Though, like many americans, I never heard the Gorbie line, so I think that probably had more to do with it.
No America is not the center of the universe!