NEW! The Real George Washington on Nat Geo TV 9PM EST Tonight

National Geographic ^ | Nov 19, 2008 | Me

[Pharmboy]

Talks about the new discoveries on The Ferry Farm where he grew up (across from Federicksburg).

[Pharmboy]

The RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington ping list

[Dr. Scarpetta]

Thanks for the heads-up!

[Dixie Yooper]

With the DaVinci Code and that Lincoln was gay thing from a few years ago, I'm almost afraid to watch...

[Cailleach]

going to DVR it, so I can watch it before the daughter does...in case they decide to say that he was gay or something.

[I still care]

It may be good. I’ve found National Geographic uneven, with a lot of stuff that ISNT’T the “let’s find something to upset and shock traditional morality and make a dubious show on it”.

I ccuple of times I’ve watched their stuff on left leaning topics and said, wow, that’s fair, can this be NG?

I’m hoping for the best.

[Dixie Yooper]

Gospel of Judas...how could I forget. The National Geographic lead-in trumpets just don't hold the same excitement of a great documentary as it did in the 1960’s.

[count-your-change]

Ferry Farms?

[the OlLine Rebel]

Thanks for the ping! I’ll have to DVR it because I’ll probably forget.
Anyone been to the new George museum in Mt. Vernon? We went a couple winters ago. Very nice. Includes this stuff.

[aculeus]

Thnks!

[Pharmboy]

The General was ALWAYS very interested in the ladies (although VERY proper), so there will be no gay angle (LOL!). What they will LIKELY do, however, is point out that the Ferry Farm had slaves.

[Pharmboy]

FERRY Farm, not Fairy Farm...haha.

[Hoodlum91]

I heard an ad on the radio for the show this morning.

Sounded great until the hype that “Washington’s true appearance was always a mystery - we use the latest in techonology to see what he really looked like”.

Load of crap - any who has been to Mt. Vernon can tell you that his life mask is on display there. 18th century techonology captured him pretty well.

[Pharmboy]

Indeed I was there last spring. The Mount Vernon Ladies Association (and the exec dir. James Rees) have done an outstanding job with the museum, and, it does NOT disturb the serenity of the estate.

I imagine this program will deal a lot with the new findings at the Ferry Farm, which have not yet been covered by the museum at Mt. Vernon.

[Dixie Yooper]

I have heard that the statue in the Virgina State House is about as close to perfect as it gets in regards to what Washington looked like and for physical size.

[SunkenCiv]

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[JerseyHighlander]

BUMP

[sanatan2000]

Load of Crap...
usual PC stuff.. slaves .. bla bla bla..
kind of hatchet job

[Pharmboy]

OK...since I sounded the alarm on this dreadful Nat Geo production on the "REAL" George Washington, I feel compelled to comment and set the record straight. Here goes:

The General WAS ambitious, but his ambition was not only a personal one; he was ambitious for this COUNTRY as well. They never emphasized this point. But, I am quibbling here--more important, they NEVER mentioned the OVERRIDING depth of character that this man had. He walked away from incredible power not once but TWICE: he goes home to the farm and Martha in 1783 after beating the greatest military power on Earth, refuses a kingship, and after 2 terms as POTUS, AGAIN walks away from power. If they talk about his ambition, then PLEASE talk about the power this man left behind for a more simple life.

They disingenuously positioned his wartime espionage as "deceit." What crap! He was fighting a war, for God's sake...would Nat Geo EVER have positioned Allied spying against Hitler as "deceitful?" I think not...how DARE they!

His entre into upper Virginia society did not just depend on his surveying skills: he was,at 16 years of age, arguably the best horseman in Virginia and that got him in the best graces of Lord Fairfax who loved the fox hunt. Young George always led the hunt and Fairfax was impressed. Further, his older half-brother Lawrence was married to a Fairfax and was the first resident of Mount Vernon...this put young George in proximity to the Fairfaxes.

Slavery: this was a decidedly one-sided portrayal. They gave NO CONTEXT to the fact that slavery was the NORM (in much of the north as well as the south). Slavery was still legal in NY State until 1821, and it was part of life in Virginia (VA had the most slaves). Washignton was eventually repulsed by it, but as a Virginian interested in politics, he had no choice but support it. He refused to break up families, and had the slaves under his ownership taught to read, even though that was not the custom. And, they do not mention that he used the law in Philadelphia to actually surreptitiously FREE certain slaves.

I know Tom Fleming (one of the historians who gave testimony on the show--we were both members of the NY Revolutionary War Roundtable when I lived a few blocks from him in NYC) and I am certain he did not approve of the slant they gave this. But, he had no power to change it...

That's all for now, folks...I'm just spitting mad...

[andyandval]

Thanks for the fact check, Pharmboy.