Mythology as cultural phenomenon

A phrase frequently used by cultural studies personnel, and often enough by historians and anthropologists, is the "myths" or "mythology" of the United States.
This is not the same mythology that we think of when we talk about Greek and Roman or Norse mythology. It is not invented gods hurling thunderbolts and playing games with humanity, nor is it explanation of natural phenomenons. It is, however, saying that people do not comprehend the truth.
Essentially they are claiming that only portions of the truth are taught which creates a false idea of historical events. A good example would be the U.S. philosophy of succees through work, through pulling oneself up by their bootstraps. This is considered to be part of the U.S. myth.
I disagree seriously with that theory. It is not only possible for a person to start in humble beginnings and become wealthy (if that is their goal), it is something that happens with regularity. Upward mobility is certainly possible in the U.S. I would even give examples from my own family.
As a preacher Dad seldom made much money. There were a few years where he was driving truck where the money was better than decent, but for most of my pre-teen and teenage years, it was a struggle to get along. His interest has always been people and never money.
I often joke that the first (and last) time I dressed fashionable was when it was chic to wear ripped jeans. The only problem was I did not buy mine pre-ripped...they were ripped and patched because that is what we could afford.
Of the six kids who grew up like that I would have to say that financially speaking, 3 or 4 have done much better than Mom & Dad did. And the three who unquestionably have had better fotunes all followed the same pattern.
We get to work early, we work hard, we do the best job we know how, we take better than good care of our customers, and everyone we have ever worked for would be happy to take us back. My little sister had an award named for her at one place she worked, and Kenneth and I were Employee of the Year at different branches of the same company in the same year.
Of the two who did not exceed Dad, one was my older sister. She was done in by sex and drugs. Mostly the drugs. She chose that path and she is still paying for it to this day as she cannot get herself on track. One of the kids still helps her but most of us just keep our distance because of the pain and destruction she still causes everywhere she goes. Alone of all the family, she looks likely to die a painful, solitary, and miserable death. A lot of that is her own fault...she will not do what it takes to get help.
The other one who has not exceeded Dad's financial goals is tot young. He just turned 20 and is still figuring out how the world works. From what I know of him he will be whatever he wants to be. He certainly has the brains and he has the personality.
Thus I do not believe the myth of self-help is false. What I do believe is people with an ax to grind hide behind phrases such as "The American myth says..." to ignore reality.
They have tried to change the foundations of the country by saying it was not founded on Christianity. I would argue the nation has drifted a long way from those foundations and at times has performed actions quite contrary to the professed principles, but no honest person who has studied the writings of the founding fathers could ever make that claim.
Other "myths" they have established include the motivations of Lincoln for going to war, why the U.S. entered WWI, whether George Washington had wooden teeth or cut down a cherry tree, and many, many other examples.
Essentially they are arguing the view average U.S. citizens have of our history is skewed and inaccurate. This portion I agree with. They also are arguing this skewed viewpoint is done with a purpose...to distract the citizens from what is really going on...to keep them from knowing not only what happened, but why.
Certainly what is taught as history in schools is short-sighted, one-sided, and contains many errors both in fact and in presentation. Some of them are semantics...did Columbus discover American, for instance.
On one level he unquestionably did not. After all, there were somewhere between 10 and 30 million people living in the Americas when they were first discovered (and yes, estimates run that wide in variance...actually, I have seen claims as high as 50 million). How do you discover a place that many people live in?
On another level, that "discovery" was the Europeans discovering a world they did not know existed. It was certainly a discovery in that sense. To say otherwise is to change the meaning of the world. Atomic reactions have always existed...yet it took a scientist "discovering" it to make it useful.
I am not arguing that what followed on the continents was justified or right. The near-genocide that followed over the next 400+ years has been far worse than what Hitler's Germany did, although it was different people doing it so no similar condemnation has attached to it. It should. DeSoto was more destructive and deadly than Hitler and with even less reason. Cortez was a murderer and his actions were as immoral as any that any person has ever performed. Sand Creek, Wounded Knee, the Apache reservation killings by the "good" citizens of New Mexico and Arizona...
What I am arguing is terms that are defined by the person using them in support of his or her personal point are just as dishonest and misleading as the so-called "mythology" of the United States.
As is my habit lately, I am going to end this without drawing my point to its conclusion. I do this for two reasons. One, I often get drawn into my own thought processes and when I do I sometimes neglect to consider all viewpoints. By not plainly stating my conclusion, this allows me to formulate my opinion again when I come back to read it later. I believe, based entire on supposition and not at all on evidence, that this leads to a more accurate and honest conclusion.
Second, people who may or may not read this should draw their own conclusions also without being wedged unfairly into my ideas. I tend to believe that I run with a mentally sophisticated and talented crowd...the people I associate with are all intelligent and fully able to come to their own conclusions. This, I believe, allows that to happen without my guidance or interference.
I word it that way because of school. Conclusions are drawn by the prof guiding to a predetermined viewpoint. I believe a lot of learning is lost that way. There is not just one way to look at things...there are several. It is that "instructors guidance", after all, that leads to the mythologies of the U.S. in the first place.