edutaining

I love Jared Diamond. If the book Collapse is any indication, his scholarship is meaningful, relevant, earnest, epic, and accessible (though still demanding). But earlier, I was listening to a PBS documentary that tracks the content of Guns, Germs, and Steel. During a segment on the first wave of the brutal European colonization of Africa, we hear the dulcet tones of Peter Coyote narrate the first unhappy encounter between Anglo and Zulu:

Suddenly out of the darkness swept a native African army. Their victims barely had time to fire a single shot from their rifles before they were completely overwhelmed. Within hours, nearly 300 voertrekkers [European pioneers] lay dead.

Nevermind the whole imperialist atrocities thing for a moment. I found that this bit of historical flourishing was the second most confusing thing that I’ve ever seen Peter Coyote take part of (second only to the increasingly bizarre and gassy plot to The 4400). I, like most people, assumed that slightly more than a single shot could be fired within the span of hours. Unless their numbers were, like, 299 children plus one gunslinger. Or the Zulus held them down and tickled them for a few hours, before killing them.

I won’t blame Mr. Diamond, of course. I doubt he wrote the script. But I do blame Hilary ClintonPBS edutainment. Seriously. Edutainment just hasn’t been the same since Bill Nye disappeared from the face of the earth, Carmen Sandiego was bumped off Interpol’s most wanted list, and Ghostwriter went on the picket line. It’s a downward trajectory here people.