17th Sep 2008
Manifest destiny: alive and well in 1955
Feeling nostalgic? Well, The Responsibilities of American Citizenship will help you remember just how incredibly exciting you found civics class in high school! It’s part of the “American Adventure Series”, which must just be jam-packed with exciting action… or at least, fascinating information.
The instructor, Dr. Clifton Ganus Jr., was a professor at (and later president of) Harding University, a Christian university.
The Harding American Studies Institute is designed to… promote “a complete understanding of the institutions, values, and ideas of liberty and democracy.” In doing so, the ASI exhibits a generally conservative political stance, focused on going “back to the fundamental values that made this country great.” — Wikipedia
This film was produced as part of their educational mission.
Dr. Ganus reminds his students that forces in society are at work, gradually destroying the pillars of our nation’s value. (You’ll notice that FUNDAMENTAL BELIEF IN GOD is at the foot of these pillars.) America is the number one target of socialists, and socialist forces among us are working to establish a worldwide dictatorship.
Oh dear. What can we do?
Well, it’s important that everyone learn as much as they can about why our nation is so wonderful, what makes it so, and how we can keep it that way. There’s a quick run-through of our Obligations of Citizenship…
- Understand What Makes America Tick
- Understand Tactics of Communism — its basic, godless philosophy, and so on
- Understand Disguises of Socialism — these aren’t just disguises, they’re cunning disguises
- Understand Propaganda Techniques (of communism and socialism, of course; capitalist propaganda is A-OK)
- Take Interest in Education — not learning anything yourself, mind you, but finding out what’s being taught in your schools (in other words, are your neighborhood children learning Godless Socialist Propaganda.. perhaps cunningly disguised?)
- Become Active in Government
- Strive for Spiritual Growth
- Dedicate Part of Every Day to Citizenship
Now, on one level, this film is funny. You never know what new prop Dr. Ganus will pull out to illustrate his point — a globe, a bunch of flags, a troop of boy scouts frying some eggs — and he kept managing to surprise me with his creativity. Looking deeper, however, the discussion emphasizes eternal vigilance against a very vaguely defined “enemy”, not to mention defining religion as the fundamental difference between the American way of life and the Godless Commie Bastards way of life. Paranoia runs rampant as students are encouraged to watch for socialism; the enemy is “cunningly disguised” so there isn’t much one can do except be suspicious of everything. When a full four of your eight “Obligations of Citizenship” consist of watching out for THE ENEMY, something’s just not quite right.
The Berlin Wall may be down, but much of the 1955 rhetoric is still present in American society, albeit with a different enemy to replace “socialists.” While I’m certainly not per se opposed to religion, this film helps make an excellent argument for keeping it separated from government. It should certainly not — and, legally, can not — be included as an obligation of citizenship. Historically, being convinced the country has a divine mandate to do something has always led to trouble.
Drawing comparisons to modern paranoid incitement and propaganda are left as an exercise to the curious reader. It shouldn’t be all that hard.
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