After watching the videos in class about Howard Zinn, there were alot of things that I learned. However, the one thing that stuck out to me the most about him, was the fact that he was passionate in what he believed, regardless if his previous actions may contradict his beliefs. He would do anything to educate people in what he believed to be true, even if it jeopardized his job by being invloved in controversial things at that time, such as the civil rights movement.
He was a professor at Boston University, an anti-war activist, and a socialist. He had atually been to war, and bombed enire cities from far above in planes. Entire cities were destroyed, and he helped to do this. However, I respect this man. After seeing what he saw in the war, he was able to take his knowledge, and educate the public about it. He didn't believe it was right to bomb women, children, and families; especially since everyone knew the war was almost to an end, and were just waiting for it to be over.
He taught more than just Political Science, and his teaching hasn't stopped yet. I believe that I respect this man so much because he goes against what society tells us to do, which is very difficult with society being a bigger influence than ever today. He wrote many books, and gave talks to others about what he believed in. In the video, the students were talking about how much they enjoyed what he had to say, because he looked at the world through many cultural lenses.
He put himself in other's shoes, and saw history how the African American's did, how the Japanese did, how the poor did, how the rich did. He saw us as people, not as racial minorities segregated into class systems and by the color of one's skin. History happened, and it affected people in many different ways. People tend to get caught up in their own problems, instead of seeing the bigger picture.. he did.
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