(Thanks, J. :)
This was previously posted. It may even have been sent to us by this same Reader. :)
Reader: "All this recent talk from conservative researchers about the cruelty, low morals and environmental destruction of the native peoples should be taken with a grain of salt."
hobie -- Monday, 14-Nov-2022 02:13:24
Reader J. writes and sends us:
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WRITING OFF NATIVE CULTURE
Hobie, I hope that you can publish this short article that can help Americans NOT to take Native Culture as nothing or worthless. Than you!
WRITING OFF NATIVE CULTURE
These last 2 decades there has been a rash of conservatives and conservative researchers who claimed that Native peoples were far worse than white people in terms of cruelty, killing off the buffalo, damaging the environment, etc. For example, Last year (2021) Rick Santorum said that "before white colonizer arrives, there was nothing here. There was no native culture". See,
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rick-santorum-native-american-culture_n_6086ddb7e4b05af50db9656b?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067
Another example is the recent CGI' Morgan post: "The (not very) Noble Savage. See,
Link https://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=211151
I think that they have been motivated by a white reaction to all this "white guilt" and "blame whitey", and all the perps blacks and non-whites get with Affirmative Action and welfare. I also think that it is not all spontaneous. Lots of these reactions are egged on by talk radio, for example, the Rush Limbaugh show. Three decades of non-stop depreciation of people of color and how whites should not be guilty will certainly have a deep impact on white people's thinking. All these recent talk from conservatives about the cruelty, low morals and environmental destruction of the native peoples should be taken with a grain of salt.
When the English allied with 1 Indian tribe to war on another tribe, the Indians were amazed that the English had to kill everybody of the other tribe. The chief told the English, "we want to punish them, not to kill them all". The English replied that Indians don't understand war. Another red flag is that Indians consider keeping their word, a most important thing. So one tribe settles with another tribe and they keep to their agreement. If the conservatives are right the Indians would have killed themselves off. But there were many Indians tribes that co-exist with many other Indian tribes. On the other hand, the white man "speak with a fork tongue" and that was why so many wars took place and why Indian land keep shrinking when resources were discovered on Indian land. Another red flag has to do white children who by accident or capture lived among the Indians. After living with Indians for years white children often refused to return to white society, saying that Indian society is more attractive and more friendly to people. A further red flag has to do with run away black slaves. Those that were captured by Indians became slaves to the Indians. However, black slaves that proved to be useful were often given wives or husbands and were freed from their slavery. When given a choice of being a slave to Indians or to the white man, the black man will almost always choose to be with the Indians. These facts point to Indians society having values that free choosing people would prefer over white society. Thus, I suggest that these recent conservatives and conservative researchers may be over-stating and exaggerating their case for the barbaric nature of the Native Americans versus the civilized nature of white people.
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