Once upon a time there was a beautiful GQ thread about America’s original name, in which posters received new insights on Native Americans. But then, one dark day a poster called Rooves arrived…
What was America’s original name? Well, the bad man told us:
Fuck you, Rooves. The Native Americans may have lived in primitive condictions compared to Europeans - though many were stable farmers - but they were not neanderthals or uncouth retards. You are a jackass, I’m happy you can at least admit that.
I have a feeling you’re not going to get much sympathy here. I consider myself someone who has a lot of respect for indigenous cultures, but I don’t find that remark offensive enough to warrant a response. Just stupid and not funny.
I also disagree with your assertion that Native Americans were primitive compared to Europeans. Can you imagine what life was like in the Middle Ages? Of course, their development has been retarded since then, but you can blame that on colonization.
Yeah, I agree with Chula. The OP made a dumb comment, but it wasn’t specifically offensive. I didn’t read any haughty supremicism, and given that he/she apologised for the triviality of the post, I fail to see how you can be so rabid about jumping on the Offenderati bandwagon.
I didn’t in any way derail the thread. I made an “unfunny” joke.
The thread is fine. You’re assuming that I’m calling “native americans” ,aka “american indians” dumb.
I was merely asserting (in a retarded way) that “america” has for a very long time been a land mass which sustained people. Were american indians the first people to cross the bering strait 20 to 25 thousand years ago? Hell if I know. I think it was the Canadians. (they’re a hell of a lot closer)
I am, on the other hand, sick and tired of hearing Americans whine about how white men stole the land from Indians and how sophisticated indians actually were.
Without even opening the original thread, it seems clear that the guy’s talking about the people who showed up here 10,000 years ago, not the civilizations that had risen up between the days of the land bridge and the arrival of the Europeans. I mean, they weren’t cave men in the 16th century, but just like all hominids, they were at some point.
I’m an idiot because it think people who own real estate in america are hypocrites for whining about the land they currently own? They not only own land here but help support an entire economy here. So fuck you. You’re an idiot for assuming you knew what I meant by what i said.
As far as the sophistication of “native americans” is concerned, I never said one way or the other how I felt about it. I stated that I was tired of hearing people whine about it. I never studied native american culture. They were obviously less sophisticated than the people who were able to take their fucking shit from them.
In the original thread I cracked a joke. It wasn’t directed at any particular person on here or at any one culture. It was a joke.
Some of you responded by calling me names and personally attacking me. …thats “haughty”
I didn’t claim to be an authority “dumbass”. I said this: “I never studied native american culture.” in my last post. Try to pay more attention.
I’m assuming that they lost their land because they weren’t as sophisticated (doesn’t mean sophisticated is “better”) as their enemies in worldly dealings and in protection of their land.
The reason I made the assumption is mainly because you don’t run into “native americans” often these days.
Then before you go saying anything like that again, try to gain some semblance of an idea of the differences between European idea of land ownership and Amerind (Lib, that the current term? I never know what to use) concepts of the same.
Well, we have a few here, so rather than saying ignorant shit, how about asking them? Perhaps an “Educate the guy who knows nothing whatsoever about American Indigenous Peoples” thread is in order?
iampunha: I prefer to make sweeping generalizations, thank you.
I feel no need to feel sorry for every organism that occupied this land before me. The Earth is constantly changing. Continents drift, oceans recede, mountains rise up out of the ground, civilizations rise up to ultimate power and fall back down again.
Considering the estimated population of North American natives in 1492 was approximately 40 million to 90 million and by the 20th century the population was roughly 2.0 million in the United states an 1.2 million in Canada I’d dare say you might not run into them.cite
You’d have to wonder why the population declined so drastically.
It wasn’t due to European sophistication. it came in waves.
First European Disease (mainly small pox) decimated local populations which had no natural immunity.
This was followed by ever growing settlements first sharing and then dominating the resources previously held by settled natives.
Europeans came in wave after wave swamping the coastal and river regions eventually pushing the natives westward. As the New settlers grew they pushed westward with the same overwhelming numbers
Finally there came the out right attempts at genocide and annexation of the population.
That is not sophistication that is essentially a swarming.
