The intellectual integrity of American society has been in decline for many years. This is not something many will deny. It is a sad byproduct of the rapid culture we live in. Many of the people that make up the American population often turn to television as their easy access to news, entertainment, and also educational programming due to their busy schedules. In the past, networks such as The Learning Channel, The Discovery Channel, PBS, Animal Planet, and The History Channel have provided quality programs that entertained, while also doing the best to teach the viewer something.
Sadly, the landscape has changed. Now you will be hard pressed to find a program on some of these networks that contains something of actual value to the viewer. While you will see Honey Boo Boo on the bloated corpse of The Learning Channel (now known as TLC), or Finding Bigfoot (a mythological creature) on Animal Planet, there is nothing that is more disgraceful than what has happened to The History Channel (now known as simply 'History').
The History Channel was long known for the educational programs such as Modern Marvels, History Lost and Found, History IQ, The Ku Klux Klan: A Secret History, The Presidents, Wild West Tech, Hooked: Illegal Drugs & How They Got That Way, and WWII/Vietnam in HD. Regretfully, programs like these are no longer in the line up. Instead the people are subjected to shows that are typically devoid of any historical merit, value, or accuracy.
History airs programming that doesn't teach any more. It airs programming that is meant to simply entertain. Here is a short list of programs that have aired on History, and have little to do with history; Ancient Aliens, 2012: End of Days, UFO Hunters, MonsterQuest, Seven Signs of the Apocalypse, Nostradamus 2012, American Pickers, American Restoration', Pawn Stars (Cajun and Original), Apocalypse Man, Swamp People, Ax Men, Mud Men, Mountain Men, Brad Meltzer's Decoded, Haunted History, The Bible Code: Predicting Armageddon, Full Metal Jousting, God vs Satan, Hairy Bikers, Shark Wranglers, Top Gear, Ice Road Truckers, Ice Road Truckers: Deadliest Roads, Tougher in Alaska, UFO Files, Big Shrimpin',and most of all Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy.
I believe that this is absolutely ridiculous. I believe that 'History' should no longer operate in the manner in which they have been over the last few years. I make the motion that if History believes in things like the Mayan Apocalypse and Nostradamus, they need to put their money were their mouth is.
If the world doesn't end on December 21st, 2012 then I propose that History needs to change their name to something that doesn't reflect a field of study, or it has to stop playing programing like those mentioned above. If you believe this to be true, and want the programming on air to reflect the name of a network, then I ask you to please sign this petition. Let's take our history back!