Ken Burns Makes a Point About Sanitizing the American Revolution, Even Though He Himself Could Not Resist Sanitizing It

Last year, I expressed disappointment in Ken Burns after watching really only part of the first episode of his new series on the American Revolution.

What bothered me was the premise he was arguing, that it was the most consequential revolution in world history. That is debatable at best, and seemed like a very transparently Americentric sentiment at a time when Americans should be more aware than ever of the dangers of being overly fixated on ourselves as a nation. I turned off the television right then and there, and never turned it back on. Never watched the rest of the episode, or any other episodes, so disappointed was I in Ken Burns.

Recently, Burns spoke of the American Revolution, claiming that some people have sanitized it of violent episodes in order to make it look more glowing in popular perception. Some people only want to fixate on the heroic and patriotic images, as well as the ideals which ultimately inspired the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Burns argues that the violence does not, in fact, detract from these ideals.

And while I largely agree with him on this  point, I cannot help but wonder why he himself took such pains to sanitize the American Revolution for an American television audience by once again assuring them that everything in the world always and forever revolves around what happens here. That what happens here is far and away the most important and influential thing in the world.

That whole "Thank God for the United States and for Americans" mentality is one thing which, I think it's safe to say, the rest of the world is getting damn sick of. And for good reason.

So while I agree on some level with Burns here on this specific point, he himself seemed to contradict this by not being able to resist his own sanitization of the American Revolution by once again making sure that Americans hear what they want to hear, and probably at the expense of what they need to hear at this point. 

Namely, that the rest of the world is not always waiting with bated breath to see how things turn out here within these sacred American borders. 

In short, maybe it's time for us to get over ourselves.

Ken Burns: ‘We have sanitized’ the American Revolution by Tara Suter - 02/01/26 4:47 PM ET

https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/5717757-ken-burns-sanitized-war/?fbclid=IwY2xjawPultJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeurRJyGVjemLr0J9ZNmIdRDbvmG1VqY57Lri279yWOezeK9yunHBzsATypXY_aem_FGEZA8zD_Y0xJQ9_Osk57Q

Ken Burns: ‘We have sanitized’ the American Revolution