Why do Eskimos stay there?

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
1

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_091.html

Having been on a number of Indian reservations, having an uncle that works with Indian tribes, and a brother that works with Eskimos in Alaska, the reason Eskimos stay there is because they’re bums. Visit any Indian reservation or Eskimo tribe and you’ll see. Don’t think this is their “culture” or such. Don’t view them through the eyes of a tourist. Just take a second and ask yourself if you’d want to live the way they do. As for Eskimos, they live in one-room shacks and honey-bucket sheds. They booze it up, do drugs, drink coffee by the gallon, smoke like chimneys, and let their children run wild. Think an Indian version of white trash trailer courts and you’ve pretty much got the picture. Being on an Indian reservation or in an Eskimo community is simply existing in a welfare state. As long as they stay there, they get taken care of by the state (mainly) and their tribe (slightly). For if they leave the reservation/community, they have to fend for themselves. And some do leave. The good ones.

Any Indian or Eskimo with ANY ability OR drive leaves their communities as soon as possible and only return to visit or during hard times. Some never return. If you talk to one that’s off a reservation (or Eskimo community) that has made something of their lives and never used affirmative action to get themselves a job, you’ll find they have little respect for those they left behind. In fact, you’ll usually find them to be the harshest critics of those on Indian reservations and Eskimo communities.

The only exception to this is when one of them goes through a mid-life crisis and returns to “find their roots” or such mumbo-jumbo. Interestingly, this is so common of a thing that some tribes have a name for these individuals. And the mid-life-crisis Indians and Eskimos usually are given a cool receptions by their until-then abandoned tribe. Then if the freaked-out Indian/Eskimo didn’t burn all their bridges in the outside world when they had initially freaked out and finally come to grips with their own morality (which is basically what mid-life crisises is all about), they leave once again. Some then give token lip service to being an Indian while others pretend they never freaked out to begin with.

So how their bodies are adjusted to their environment has NOTHING to do with why Eskimos stay.

2

Wow, that’s ugly on so many levels…

From the registration agreement:

Pit rant, but in the wrong forum.

Or since it’s certainly mundane and pointless, Arnold could move it to MPSIMS.

Although if TT could back it up with any kind of cites (how about “some tribes have a name for these individuals”–such as?), then we might have a debate, and he could move it to GD.

Still, it’s kind of an interesting variation on the “Cecil is wrong!” post. “Cecil is wrong because he’s not a hateful bigot.” Hmm…

3

Is there actually a tribe that identifies itself as “Eskimo?” I’ve heard that the Inuits actively dislike the term, and they’re the ones it’s supposed to refer to.

Also: Have any Inuits or Lapps ever visited Antarctica?

4

The OP is not really commenting on the subject of the column (physiological adaptations of Inuits to cold weather) but instead is talking about the welfare state and its effect on people. I don’t think this discussion is related enough to the column to justify its remaining here. Therefore I will close this thread. The same topic could presumably be discussed (it is to be hoped, in a less inflammatory manner) in The Great Debates forum.