I debated a lot internally about whether to post this to this blog or my personal blog, in the end this blog won out because both of us are dismayed about the sad state of what has become of the History Channel and it’s spin off, History 2 (or as it was formerly known History International).
Recent programming over the last several years has become less about history and more about popular culture. Examples of programming that rub us both in the wrong way is abundant: Pawn Stars, The History of the World in Two Hours, Ice Road Truckers, Ax Men, and Ancient Aliens are just a few examples. These programs are either blatant reality programming or so compacts history that it completely ignores important facts which are inconvenient to the theory being discussed or can’t fit into a two hour commercial television program.
As infuriating, or laughable, as these programs are, they are nothing compared to the latest offering from History 2: America Unearthed. It stars Scott Wolter as a Forensic Geologist with an intriguing tagline, What if the history we’ve all been taught is wrong?
So we watched the first episode in December discussing the theory that the Mayans may have migrated north when their civilizations declined. The program was well presented and made no wild leaps that required blind faith. So, cautiously optimistic we continued to watch the series until it got to the point that I was so pissed off every week that I would grind my teeth for an hour. The programming quickly began to show it’s true intent and purpose, to discredit actual history with fantastic leaps of faith and no science or research to back-up these theories.
The shows host, Scott Wolter, is clearly a man intent on “proving” his point that the Knights Templar and/or the Scandinavians arrived in North America before Christopher Columbus. The remainder of the shows, after the first one, all fall within the same theme … academics, academia, and established history and religion are all wrong and Scott, and Scott alone, knows why.
The last several episodes (and thank God the series has concluded, hopefully it won’t be picked up for a second season) the sole topic was the Knights Templar and the Holy Grail. I kid you not, the show’s host honestly holds the following views:
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Knights Templar:
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Believed in the Sacred Feminine – an idea so laughable and wrong I am at a complete loss for words
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Convicted by the Church and condemned as heretics because they were too powerful – again wrong on every level
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Migrated to North America to practice their religious freedom because they believed in Dualism
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Left clues across the continent, in the form of the famous, or more accurately infamous Hooked X
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Holy Grail
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Dan Brown’s fiction masterpiece, The Da Vinci Code, was cited time and again as if it were fact – specifically the theory that the Holy Grail was the sacred blood line of Jesus and Mary Magdalene
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No wait, it is the cup from the Last Supper and it’s made of gold
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Nope, this time it’s all the “stolen” secrets from the Holy Land uncovered by the original nine knights when the order was founded in Jerusalem
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I know that the History Channel has reputable historians on staff and yet somehow they allow the show to air. I can forgive the reality programming on history as a window into the concept that history is made every day. Ancient Aliens is a little harder to forgive but it at least discusses theories that have been talked among scholars for years. We may both poke fun at the theories on Ancient Aliens routinely but when those theories are more coherent and better reasoned than those presented by Scott Wolter on America Unearthed, then there is clearly a problem with the programming decisions and the historians of the History channel.
In order to not make this post to long, I’m breaking it up into several posts (one and two). America Unearthed is complete bunk and is the best modern illustration of why academics, or those posing as academics, with an axe to grind are dangerous and lose sight of reality.
Reblogged this on Stitchersflock's Ramblings about Life and commented:
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