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Is there really something valuable about studying the human past, or is history just tedious B.S. foisted upon students by blowhard teachers and professors? |
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Is it really great whites dudes who make history? Are every day Joe’s so insignificant? Do women, people of color, criminals, and the disabled have so little impact on what happens? Or is the “History of Great Men” just B.S.? |
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Was the domestication of plants and animals at the dawn of the Neolithic Era really a great advance for humanity, or was the invention agriculture just harmful B.S.? |
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Are the works of Homer reliable
history, or simply great literature which is full of
B.S.? I talk about it with my special guest
Professor Jason Lira.
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Is the portrayal of democracy as
a system created, nurtured and defended by Western
civilization throughout the centuries an accurate
representation of the historical record, or is this
view just B.S.?
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Was ancient polytheism really cruel and
intolerant, or is that portrayal of paganism just
B.S.?
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Think of ancient slavery and most likely
the sorts of things that come to mind are images of
Hebrews suffering in cruel Egyptian bondage, chained
oarsmen rowing galleys suffering under the lash, or
gladiators forced to fight to the death in Roman
arenas for the pleasure of bloodthirsty crowds. But do
these images of slave life in the antiquity reflect
historical reality, or was ancient slavery just
B.S.?
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Was early Christianity so
irresistibly appealing and undeniably true that it
spread rapidly throughout the Roman Empire, or is
this image of the early Church as a swiftly
expanding movement just B.S.? |
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Was the so-called "Fall of the
Roman Empire" really a big deal, or is the whole
idea just a load of
B.S.?
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Was feudalism really a critical
stage in the development of modern society, or is
all the fuss over lords, vassals, knights, serfs,
and solemn oaths of loyalty just B.S.? I talk about
it with my special guest Professor Bethanie
Perry.
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Was the 14th century Black Death
really that bad, or was it all just a bunch of
B.S.?
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Was Columbus actually a daring
explorer, a great genius, and a positive role model,
or is this image just B.S.? I talk about it with my
special guest Professor Al Carroll.
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Was the Atlantic Slave Trade
really that big a deal, or was it just one example
out of many instances of forced labor throughout
human history, and one which was rendered obsolete
by the rise of the modern economic
system?
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Was the intellectual and cultural
movement known as the Enlightenment really a force
for freedom and progress in human history, or was it
just B.S.? |
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Was the French Revolution of 1789
really worth all of the strife and bloodshed, or was
the attempt to profoundly transform French society
just B.S.? |
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The Haitian Revolution was the
only instance in all of human history of slaves
successfully overthrowing those who ruled them and
beginning to govern themselves. Yet 200 years later,
the Haiti is by many measures one of the poorest
countries on Earth. So did the Haitian Revolution
deliver on its promises, or was it simply B.S.? |
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Is the view of the Industrial
Revolution as the product of individual genius which
improved the lives of those affected accurate, or
was the Industrial Revolution just B.S.? |
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Was the leading Western
corporation in Asia simply an innovative business
empowered by the British crown for the honor of
England and the advancement of trade, or was the
English East India Company B.S.? |
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Did the Meiji Restoration really
mark the moment when the Japan sacrificed its noble
samurai culture in order to transform into a
powerful, modern country which would compete with
the Western powers on the world stage, or is that
view of Japanese history is just B.S.? |
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Are all the lurid tales of
exploitation, terror, atrocity in central Africa
really accurate, or are the stories of imperialism
in Congo just B.S.? |
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Did the assassination of some
fancy Austrian Archduke really justify the slaughter
of more than 11 million people, or were the causes
of World War I just a bunch of murderous B.S.? |
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What was up with the communist
revolution of 1917 in Russia? Did it deliver on its
promise of true freedom and social justice, or was
it violent, totalitarian B.S.? |
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Was the Great Influenza Pandemic
of 1918 really that bad, or was it all just a bunch
of
B.S.?
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Is anti-semitism really a
dangerous force in the modern world, or is it just
B.S.?
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Fascists and Nazis seem always to
show up as the bad guys in movies and pop culture.
Do they just get a bad rap? Is fascism simply
misunderstood, or is it indeed dangerous B.S.?
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Was the Cold War between the USA and USSR
from 1945-1989 really a necessary conflict, or was it
a wasteful load of BS? |
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Should the carby sweet goodness of a bite
of banana be accompanied by pangs of guilt, or was the
CIA-sponsored coup in Guatemala in 1954 just B.S. that
isn’t worth worrying about? |
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Did the revolutions in eastern
Europe in 1989 truly deliver on their promises, or
was the end of the Cold War
B.S.?
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Did the vision of globalization
as a mutually beneficial global economic order truly
deliver on its promises, or has globalization simply
been B.S.?
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Do the Ukrainians merely
constitute a subordinate branch of the great Russian
nation? Is the Ukrainian nation real or just B.S.?
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Is violence an effective means of
changing society for the better, or is it just
B.S.?
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How big a problem is Media Bias,
and how has human communication changed over time?
Which sources can we really trust, and which are
B.S.?
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Is the "Grand Narrative" of
Western Civilization as a story of progress and
freedom, leading from ancient Greece to the modern
United States, a foundation of modern historical
education, or is it just B.S.? |
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Has the contemporary world lost
the true, original, religious spirit of the holiday,
or is that version of Christmas just B.S.? |