Joe Biden, or whatever communications flunky operates his social media accounts, took to Twitter this week to inform the nation that “Muslim culture has been woven throughout American culture from the very start.” This is an obvious and absurd lie, but Biden is not the first president to make such a claim. Barack Obama and several other Democratic politicians have asserted that Islam has been present in America since its founding and is a natural part of our nation.
What possible purpose could the telling of such a blatant lie serve? What does the left gain by pushing a historical narrative that is so provably false? The answer is simple: The left understands that history is the foundation of identity. It seeks to demolish American identity and remake it in its own image.
The most basic investigation into the American founding reveals that Islam was not just completely absent from the formation of the United States but was the young nation’s direct adversary. The first military action that the U.S. took after winning its independence was the defense of American sailors against the Barbary pirates. These Muslim raiders were enslaving and ransoming Americans in accordance with their religion, and the nation spent a large percentage of its budget paying those pirates off before finally sending its newly formed navy to put an end to the raiding. This is why the Marine Hymn contains the line “From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli.” Claiming that Muslim culture was part of America from the beginning is not only a lie; it is a direct and deliberate inversion of the historical facts.
The general lack of knowledge about this period of American history is unsurprising, as it is omitted from most school curriculums. The conflict was significant and shaped America’s approach to both foreign policy and a standing military, but very few teachers bother to cover it. This is, in no small part, due to our progressive education system’s attempt to cast slavery as a uniquely American institution. While Muslim civilizations were some of history’s most prolific slavers, this fact is barely mentioned, as history texts fall over themselves to praise Islam as a religion of tolerance and peace.
The relentless focus on American slavery and careful avoidance of its practice in other cultures is intentional. The progressive effort to manufacture this narrative has been largely successful. As a former high school teacher, I can tell you that many young people believe that slavery was an American invention, and this notion is particularly popular among minority students.
The most impressive thing about the left’s revisionist history is how often it is at odds with its own foundational claims. America is uniquely evil because it was founded by straight white Christian men who were basically genocidal religious puritans, but America has also been a multiracial melting pot that wove foreign religions into its culture from the very beginning. The progressive believes simultaneously that this nation was founded by an oppressive racist patriarchy and that inclusion and diversity defined America from the very outset. Apparently, America was ruled by tiny proto-Hitlers who were just bad at their jobs, and the forces of diversity, equity, and inclusion managed to allow the country to flourish in spite of its inept evil overloads.
The narrative is convoluted and contradictory, but that hardly seems to matter. Strict adherence to this narrative is key to obtaining degrees and maintaining employment in any major corporation. The facts do not matter; history is simply one more ideological litmus test for the institutions that underpin our current regime. Sure, Muslims did not found America, but is that fact really worth losing your job over? Probably best to nod politely and move on.