On Thursday, the Trump administration issued an executive order targeting the Smithsonian, one of the most important cultural and scientific institutions in the United States. The orders that are upset by exhibits that reference the roles of racism, sexism and other in the complex past of the nation, ensure that the orders of the vice president and former insurance lawyer (?) ensure that the Smithsonian facility is “a symbol of inspiration and American greatness.”
However, in the course of airing the administration’s frustrations, the document specifically calls the Smithsonian Display to accurately explain the current scientific understanding of race. It raises the prospect that the Vice President will ultimately require the Smithsonian to display scientifically inaccurate information.
Complaints and science
Presidential OrderThe rights entitled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” are full of standard dissatisfaction. By recognizing many cases where the United States does not live in its founding ideals, the agency is trying to “rewrite the history of our country.” In particular, he calls historical racism, sexism and oppression debates as lowering America’s “an unparalleled legacy of advancing freedom, individual rights and human happiness.”
There is another irony here, even if we overcome the obvious tension between the legacy of advancing freedom and the perpetuation of slavery in American founding documents. For example, this order “improperly minimizes the value of certain historical events and numbers,” while simultaneously denounces its internal role in implementing changes led by government policies. Removing references to transgender individuals and Minorities and women.
