There is so much cognitive dissonance in this post, I'm shocked your brain didn't melt.
OT: Our bills will be changing
- Thread starter bac2therac
- Start date
There is so much cognitive dissonance in this post, I'm shocked your brain didn't melt.
Here's a bit of history concerning the the person going to grace the $20 bill instead of Jackson:
Tubman was born Araminta "Minty" Ross to slave parents, Harriet Green and Ben Ross owned by Mary Pattison Brodess
Kind of like when Trotsky fled the USSR to Mexico and everyone who owned an encyclopedia got a package in the mail that said tear up the entry on Trotsky and replace it with this article about trains.
Unfortunately, those who do not remember history are bound to repeat it. On the Today show this morning, Jackson was already being portrayed as nothing more than a crazy slave owning war criminal.
Again, there is no story (not even a table of contents) without them.
Recognize others and their contributions? Of course. Terrible and wrong not to.
But there is still a medal stand in the big picture of this and the names mentioned are IMO not standing on the podium.
And, which of the above is not like the other? I understand that Harriet Tubman was a great American and I'm not trying to diminish her legacy, but does she really belong among that list?
Too many people look back at history through the prism of today and criticize what was done and who was doing it. They need to need to look at it with the understanding of what life was like during that time period and try to judge it based on the social, cultural and environmental conditions at that point in time.
Haha excellant we havent had a good old fashioned crotchety old white guy thread in a while.
The comments that are particularly hilarious are the sky is falling comments that are actually serious over an issue that will not actually effect them or their daily lives in the least. Would it really matter if there was just a picture of a football on your $20 bill? Would that offend the sensibilities less?
The comments that are particularly hilarious are the sky is falling comments that are actually serious over an issue that will not actually effect them or their daily lives in the least. Would it really matter if there was just a picture of a football on your $20 bill? Would that offend the sensibilities less?
I think a pretty fair case can be made that the U.S. does a terrible job picking who to put on our money. First of all, we have repeats - Lincoln on the penny and the $5 bill; Washington on the quarter and the $1 bill; Jefferson on the nickel and the$2 bill. Second, if you really want to honor the most important people in our history, we've way overrepresented Presidents (particularly when you consider the duplicates) and we've way overrepresented people born before 1800 (Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Jackson, Franklin), at least on denominations that get used regularly.
Personally, I would go for the idea of setting the penny, quarter, $1 bill and $5 bill permanently to honor Washington and Lincoln as the two most important Presidents, and then changing all of the other bills every ten years or so to honor other important people, and particularly non-politicians. Truth be told, the suffragists are as important in our history as Jackson (probably more so), and we simply don't honor people like Alexander Graham Bell or the Wright Brothers who were responsible for significant advances in our society. It would be great to do that.
Personally, I would go for the idea of setting the penny, quarter, $1 bill and $5 bill permanently to honor Washington and Lincoln as the two most important Presidents, and then changing all of the other bills every ten years or so to honor other important people, and particularly non-politicians. Truth be told, the suffragists are as important in our history as Jackson (probably more so), and we simply don't honor people like Alexander Graham Bell or the Wright Brothers who were responsible for significant advances in our society. It would be great to do that.
It's not like abolitionism was some fringe movement. Those who continued to embrace slavery well into the 19th century took a stunningly wrong motal position, and it was as clear then as it is today.
This is a hilarious post. If you want to embrace a racist position, be prepared to be called on it.
I figured you would be the last person i would have to say lighten up to. Can you deny the people that are complaining are older white guys? I happen to be white and somewhat middle aged just not crotchety. I just dont see why people actually find this change in a currency picture offensive.
100% of the founders of this country were born before 1800, so I think that's inevitable and not unreasonable.
Of the commonly-used coins and bills (penny, nickel, dime, quarter, $1, $5, $10, $20 bills), you have 5 of 8 representing people born before 1800, and 4 of 8 are founders. (If you just count each person once, it's 4 of 6 born before 1800 and 3 of 6 founders.) I think you could cut it back a bit.
You are kidding right? Think about what you just wrote. You are saying that it is ok to do something if everyone else you are with is doing it too. Is that what you teach your kids? Leadership and morality and character is doing what is right when everyone else is doing the wrong or easy thing. Those are the people that should be honored.
That's not what he's saying at all. What he is saying is that when you look back at history it has to be judged within the context of the cultural assumptions of those times, not ours.
Funny--I was thinking that Thomas Edison (as a NJ son) would be a good choice.
You may be on to something with regular changes to the bills every few years. Doing so may help fight counterfeiting, though I don't know what the cost of that would be.
Biggest take away from this thread is whoever wrote that letter would be ok posting here. He obvious knew the rules as he added "fine looking" to the description. Of course, today the note would be worthless without pics.Here's a bit of history concerning the the person going to grace the $20 bill instead of Jackson:
Tubman was born Araminta "Minty" Ross to slave parents, Harriet Green and Ben Ross owned by Mary Pattison Brodess
I honestly have no idea how what you posted has one iota of relevance in relation to what I said.
Thank you.
see your suggestions make sense. It seems like the move to change the faces on the bills were hijacked by people who wanted it to focus solely on womens right to vote and blacks involved in fighting slavery. There is nothing necessarily wrong with honoring those two groups but when it soley focuses on those two groups its an agenda being pushed
oh please stop with the racist term..bottom line is every single group in this country is out for their own. People dont do things and support things because they have some idyllic utopian society in mind where diversity reigns. Its about their own interests. You like to throw racist around for anyone disagreeing with a diversity viewpoint...maybe start to look at things from both sides for a change...the most liberal are tending to be the most intolerant people right now in society. Its their way thats right and everyone else is angry white men who are racist
2020 will be the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, so it would be an appropriate time to honor the suffragists and women's contributions to our society in general. I think that was the original premise.
Which is funny because the gun-toting Republicans are the ones who are upset about this.
Oh good, someone else judging me because they don't agree. Liberal tolerance at its finest.
I offered an opinion, you don't have to agree, but you CHOOSE to be an ***.
Yep. And what I am telling you is that notion is BS when applied to the issue of human rights.
They didn't mention Harriet Tubman back in the day when I was in 5th grade. They wasted our time on things like The Constitution.
Back in the day , in many Southern States, some 5th grade classes wouldn't have allowed Harriet Tubman in them and told her to go to the one that was provided for her kind.
Also stay away from my water fountain, you people have your own.
Not all had the same rights back then and segregation was considered a constitution right by many Southerners .
Poor old Jefferson on the most useless pieces of currency, the nickel and the two dollar bill.
Maybe time for a do-over.
Get rid of pennies, nickels and quarters. Go to dimes and half dollars only and round everything off. The only reason we have pennies is because of the zinc lobby (look it up). So now you have two coins and six bills, 1, 5, 10, 20, and 50. (Did you know that Greta van Sustern said we should invent a $25 bill and put Tubman on that? And she has a TV show!)
So, that is eight people you can honour if you only want to put one person on a piece of currency. You have to put something on a coin on the obverse other than a person or else you won't have heads and tails anymore, and that would be a change I couldn't handle. But on the currency, you could put your high school yearbook page on the back (even freshman year when the pictures are small) and it would be OK.
So, to me, we've got eight primary choices to make.
I go for:
Washington
Lincoln
Jefferson
FDR
Easily our four greatest presidents. To me, a big drop off to the fifth.
That leaves four primary spots. Now I would leave the political scene behind and look to great Americans from other fields: science, the arts, sports, the humanities, etc.
My first pick is easy: Albert Einstein. He not only represents the pinnacle of scientific achievement, he was an immigrant who became a citizen of the US. The second is easy for me, too: Jackie Robinson. He transcended his sport in a fashion that was absolutely critical to our nation. Next I pick Emily Dickinson for the arts/humanities. One of the greatest poets ever and speaks to a quieter, yet passionate side of life.
Now I've got one more. Ben Franklin? Golda Meir? (she was an American citizen and a great world leader) Eleanor Roosevelt? Martin Luther King, Jr.? Harriet Tubman? Clara Barton? Cesar Chavez? Andrew Carnegie? Ernest Hemingway? Frank Lloyd Wright (jerk, but amazing architect) Willa Cather?
I'm torn between King and Barton. Might have to put in a twenty cent piece and go for both of them. Would put the rest on the back of the bills, maybe in pairs or something.
Maybe time for a do-over.
Get rid of pennies, nickels and quarters. Go to dimes and half dollars only and round everything off. The only reason we have pennies is because of the zinc lobby (look it up). So now you have two coins and six bills, 1, 5, 10, 20, and 50. (Did you know that Greta van Sustern said we should invent a $25 bill and put Tubman on that? And she has a TV show!)
So, that is eight people you can honour if you only want to put one person on a piece of currency. You have to put something on a coin on the obverse other than a person or else you won't have heads and tails anymore, and that would be a change I couldn't handle. But on the currency, you could put your high school yearbook page on the back (even freshman year when the pictures are small) and it would be OK.
So, to me, we've got eight primary choices to make.
I go for:
Washington
Lincoln
Jefferson
FDR
Easily our four greatest presidents. To me, a big drop off to the fifth.
That leaves four primary spots. Now I would leave the political scene behind and look to great Americans from other fields: science, the arts, sports, the humanities, etc.
My first pick is easy: Albert Einstein. He not only represents the pinnacle of scientific achievement, he was an immigrant who became a citizen of the US. The second is easy for me, too: Jackie Robinson. He transcended his sport in a fashion that was absolutely critical to our nation. Next I pick Emily Dickinson for the arts/humanities. One of the greatest poets ever and speaks to a quieter, yet passionate side of life.
Now I've got one more. Ben Franklin? Golda Meir? (she was an American citizen and a great world leader) Eleanor Roosevelt? Martin Luther King, Jr.? Harriet Tubman? Clara Barton? Cesar Chavez? Andrew Carnegie? Ernest Hemingway? Frank Lloyd Wright (jerk, but amazing architect) Willa Cather?
I'm torn between King and Barton. Might have to put in a twenty cent piece and go for both of them. Would put the rest on the back of the bills, maybe in pairs or something.
I have no idea, for certain. I know that some number of years ago I was told by someone who knew that there was "basically nothing there at all anymore because it's now mostly a tourist attraction". It was the 3rd Bruce Willis flick that broke open the then little-known fact that most of the gold was, in fact, in downtown Manhattan.
So this is not to dismiss the possibility that since, particularly in the post-9/11 timeframe, some good amount of it was moved back to Ft. Knox.
See, you're doing it again. "Human Rights" is a western concept that only came into use after WW2. If you want to see what I mean, please try to apply your principle to other historical figures and civilizations. Caesar, Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Pyrrhus, Genghis Khan, Qin Shi Huang the first Chin Emperor, the Maya and Aztec empires where human sacrifices were commonplace, and so forth. You better get busy, you have a lot of human history to go ahead and condemn.
I guess not, if you think the legacy of slave owning Andrew Jackson is a better symbol of the country that coined the phrase "all men are created equal" than the slave freeing Harriet Tubman.