X-post: Just watched the movie "The Patriot," and out of curiosity looked up a British view of the

[Tom728]

29. Well

I don't think that's the point he's getting at, more like challenging a few national myths. The idea that a few plucky, rebel colonists, armed with their muskets, single-handedly defeated the mighty, tryannical British Empire is often used to justify gun-nuttery, when the reality is the colonists would have been crushed if it wasn't for the intervention of the other major world powers of the day, such as the French. They didn't even see British rule in such cartoonish terms, and most of them either were British or children of British parents, so naturally many of them considered themselves British. The "American" identity as we know it today hadn't evolved yet, and support for independence from Britain wasn't that widespread. It was split almost 50--50, if I recall. Many of them wanted to remain part of the British Empire, they just wanted some of the laws to be reformed.