Very interesting , Jason. I look forward to your reading suggestions to educate myself. And to think, that we are in this timeline where our president, and all of those whispering in his ear, are happily erasing history. Like a Twilight Zone story, written by the great Rod Serling. I imagine he might depict the process with a child using a big eraser, happily erasing away. I haven’t decided if it would be a history book of the United States of America, or a map of the world being erased.
Thank you, Lor. The good news is that the effort to erase history that remains so obvious in our lives, whether signs at national parks or federal holidays, will be resilient to the erasure for quite some time. So much depends on how long the new Confederacy lasts...
I loved this look at indigenous culture. Starting with the first exploratory movements of groups who considered that they represented an advance culture (which meant advanced weaponry) the use of power was justified by labeling the other groups as inferior, savage, or heathen. Being tone deaf was a worldwide condition - send missionaries, disregard their intelligence, their religion, their knowledge and force them to learn our ways even though they would still be inferior and in the meantime -take what we want!
One big reason colonists remain so restless in other people's lands is they couldn't find a way to settle this outstanding account. Sure other largely European powers went out and committed equally terrible atrocities in the name of 'civilising' er profit motives, but in the round they retreated, mostly leaving a mess, although by no means entirely, say the much quoted India rail network from the Brits involvement. In the US, Turtle Island only requires an orderly Land Back arrangement, fair shares -it's 1st cousin. Where Megafauna once thrived for millions of years and where some of the ancestors(wooly bison) roamed untrammelled the Great Plains for want of other m-fauna, still the humans worked their damndest to eradicate, not in innocence like the giant sloth, but in these days of enlightenment when humans by default know better.
Well said, Oliver. There's multigenerational unease in the long shadow of unreconciled genocidal policies and chattel slavery. So much of the white/Christian nationalism is sheer defensiveness poorly disguised as righteous anger. The "we will not be replaced" nonsense is built on an idea of identity rooted in "we never did anything wrong," I think. You don't see such strident defensiveness in those who continue to erase the natural world for profit, because it's a quieter battle against species who do not talk or fight back.
Very interesting , Jason. I look forward to your reading suggestions to educate myself. And to think, that we are in this timeline where our president, and all of those whispering in his ear, are happily erasing history. Like a Twilight Zone story, written by the great Rod Serling. I imagine he might depict the process with a child using a big eraser, happily erasing away. I haven’t decided if it would be a history book of the United States of America, or a map of the world being erased.
Thank you, Lor. The good news is that the effort to erase history that remains so obvious in our lives, whether signs at national parks or federal holidays, will be resilient to the erasure for quite some time. So much depends on how long the new Confederacy lasts...
I loved this look at indigenous culture. Starting with the first exploratory movements of groups who considered that they represented an advance culture (which meant advanced weaponry) the use of power was justified by labeling the other groups as inferior, savage, or heathen. Being tone deaf was a worldwide condition - send missionaries, disregard their intelligence, their religion, their knowledge and force them to learn our ways even though they would still be inferior and in the meantime -take what we want!
Thanks, Mike. That's well said. Being ignorant of reasonable empathy was a strategy for those in power or looking to profit, really. And so it is now.
One big reason colonists remain so restless in other people's lands is they couldn't find a way to settle this outstanding account. Sure other largely European powers went out and committed equally terrible atrocities in the name of 'civilising' er profit motives, but in the round they retreated, mostly leaving a mess, although by no means entirely, say the much quoted India rail network from the Brits involvement. In the US, Turtle Island only requires an orderly Land Back arrangement, fair shares -it's 1st cousin. Where Megafauna once thrived for millions of years and where some of the ancestors(wooly bison) roamed untrammelled the Great Plains for want of other m-fauna, still the humans worked their damndest to eradicate, not in innocence like the giant sloth, but in these days of enlightenment when humans by default know better.
Well said, Oliver. There's multigenerational unease in the long shadow of unreconciled genocidal policies and chattel slavery. So much of the white/Christian nationalism is sheer defensiveness poorly disguised as righteous anger. The "we will not be replaced" nonsense is built on an idea of identity rooted in "we never did anything wrong," I think. You don't see such strident defensiveness in those who continue to erase the natural world for profit, because it's a quieter battle against species who do not talk or fight back.
Thanks for the shoutout Jason! MKJ is awesome.
Of course. Thanks for doing such good work. I'm glad the research for this piece led me to you. Be well.
So grateful to have run across this. Thank you. I will share the resources and your thoughts in any ways that I can.
Thank you, Karen, for spreading the word. Be well.
This was compelling: “This is what has worked for thousands of years, so therefore it is sacred to us.” Will check out the documentary.
Thanks, Emil. I hope you appreciate it too.