A. Lincoln.

[ABSTRUSE]

Anyone else watch the presentation about Lincoln on the History Channel last night?
I thought it was very interesting. I learned a lot more about him then what I had ever learned in school.
I'm glad they touched on the subject of his and his wife's depression. I can't imagine what it had to be like to be depressed and run a country during a civil war.

 

[zeb1094]

Anyone else watch the presentation about Lincoln on the History Channel last night?
I thought it was very interesting. I learned a lot more about him then what I had ever learned in school.
I'm glad they touched on the subject of his and his wife's depression. I can't imagine what it had to be like to be depressed and run a country during a civil war.

Or just to live back then with the depression. No wonder drugs, well they did have cocaine and maryjane and alcohol. Just more depressants.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Or just to live back then with the depression. No wonder drugs, well they did have cocaine and maryjane and alcohol. Just more depressants.

Really and it was considered to be just melancholy.

 

[zeb1094]

Really and it was considered to be just melancholy.

Isn't that what they call it today, I seem to remember seeing it in the store. You make salads out of it or something. It's a cross between and Mellon and Califlower isn't it?

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Isn't that what they call it today, I seem to remember seeing it in the store. You make salads out of it or something. It's a cross between and Mellon and Califlower isn't it?

Yes. It lowers your cholesterol significantly.

 

[cloudy]

I'm really conflicted on Lincoln. He did some good things, sure, but most programs never tell the horrible things he did.

I didn't watch....afraid I'd start yelling at the tv again.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I'm really conflicted on Lincoln. He did some good things, sure, but most programs never tell the horrible things he did.

I didn't watch....afraid I'd start yelling at the tv again.

I remember you saying about that but they didn't touch on that subject. I think this show might have left you conflicted.

 

[cloudy]

I remember you saying about that but they didn't touch on that subject. I think this show might have left you conflicted.

yes, and then I'd have yelled at the tv, like I did when they started talking about how brave and noble Custer was.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Lincoln is a lot like JFK, in that his public persona was sanitized aftr his assassination. It might have been neccessary at the time, but it has made him a strange figure in historical terms. Almost like royalty, in that the view of him that was perpetuated was more an ideal than an actual asessement of him.

I don't like revisionist history, but in Lincoln's case, a lot of the research being done now is producing a more accurate picture of him and his presidency. It's sad to me that we waited so long to dare investigate that most of those who could have enlightened us passed away before they were even interviewed. Few still view him as a saint, but he is destined to remain enigmatic now.

Perhaps that is for the best, as our heros rarely shine so brightly when we understand them better.

 

[cloudy]

Lincoln is a lot like JFK, in that his public persona was sanitized aftr his assassination. It might have been neccessary at the time, but it has made him a strange figure in historical terms. Almost like royalty, in that the view of him that was perpetuated was more an ideal than an actual asessement of him.

I don't like revisionist history, but in Lincoln's case, a lot of the research being done now is producing a more accurate picture of him and his presidency. It's sad to me that we waited so long to dare investigate that most of those who could have enlightened us passed away before they were even interviewed. Few still view him as a saint, but he is destined to remain enigmatic now.

Perhaps that is for the best, as our heros rarely shine so brightly when we understand them better.

I may have a more realistic view of him than most, simply because of my point of view, ya know?

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I knew I would draw Colly out.

Tonight is Ben Franklin, that should be interesting.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I knew I would draw Colly out.

Tonight is Ben Franklin, that should be interesting.

I love Ben. Scoundrel & genius rolled up into one fellow

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I may have a more realistic view of him than most, simply because of my point of view, ya know?

Mine is fairly accurate, but I was working from the other side back. He isn't exactly hailed as a hero where I come from ya know?

 

[cloudy]

Mine is fairly accurate, but I was working from the other side back. He isn't exactly hailed as a hero where I come from ya know?

no, he isn't.

I never doubt your view on history, babe. Would be sorta dimwitted if I did.

 

[MichelleLovesTo]

I've read a few books on Lincoln. There are, of course, some dark sides to his story and personality. I do believe he was a moral man for the time, but also limited and molded by that time.

For instance, he was known to make racist jokes and yet was haunted by having seen a slave trade. He seems like a good man who was weighted down by the prejudices of his time.

 

[cloudy]

I've read a few books on Lincoln. There are, of course, some dark sides to his story and personality. I do believe he was a moral man for the time, but also limited and molded by that time.

For instance, he was known to make racist jokes and yet was haunted by having seen a slave trade. He seems like a good man who was weighted down by the prejudices of his time.

He authorized the hanging of 39 Sioux men who were hung simply because they were Sioux, not because they'd been proven guilty. Largest mass hanging in our history.

I don't respect the man.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

no, he isn't.

I never doubt your view on history, babe. Would be sorta dimwitted if I did.

Not at all. Doubt me. Always doubt, it's the first rule of loving history. things make a bigger impression and stay with you longer if you pick them up by making someone prove it. I know tons, but there is no telling how much I think I know is actually in error. when somone doubts what I say, I have to support it and when I do that, I not only satisfy them, I affirm to myself what I am carrying around in my head is accurate

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Mine is fairly accurate, but I was working from the other side back. He isn't exactly hailed as a hero where I come from ya know?

Is it a southern thing?

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Me, I watched the PBS special on Eleanor Roosevelt. Lincoln wasn't the only major American figure to suffer from depression.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[cloudy]

Not at all. Doubt me. Always doubt, it's the first rule of loving history. things make a bigger impression and stay with you longer if you pick them up by making someone prove it. I know tons, but there is no telling how much I think I know is actually in error. when somone doubts what I say, I have to support it and when I do that, I not only satisfy them, I affirm to myself what I am carrying around in my head is accurate

Well, let's just say that I trust you.

On pre-contact, I know quite a bit, but on the politics of history, I bow to you.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Me, I watched the PBS special on Eleanor Roosevelt. Lincoln wasn't the only major American figure to suffer from depression.

Rumple Foreskin

Oh darn, I would have liked that too.

 

[cloudy]

Oh darn, I would have liked that too.

I agree. She was an interesting, intelligent woman.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I agree. She was an interesting, intelligent woman.

I thnk a lot of the first ladies were but no one really knows.

The little diva and I read a book I got her on Elizabeth Woodhull, she was the first woman to run for president. It was an interesting story.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Is it a southern thing?

I suspect it is.

[Edited to add]

The US civil war is perhaps unique in history, in that the loosers wrote most of the history books on it.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I suspect it is.

I didn't mean to seem facetious, just curious is all.