Random Thought of the Day

Quote: Fleastiff

Remember one of those early Rod Serling specials. USAF space rocket lands on planet with advanced civilization and is taken to a guest house reminiscent of the fifties. Furniture, TV and telephone etc. Then one of the walls slides open and dozens of people standing outside applaud and spaceman sees the sign: Earthman in native habitat and realizes he is in a zoo.

The scary part of that is that the first American Indians that were taken to England were presented in the same way. Not locked in a cage but put on display in an artifical environment during the day. Probably partly why society was able to treat them so badly until recently.

Quote: kenarman

Probably partly why society was able to treat them so badly until recently.

They were treated so badly because, for the
most part, they were ignorant filthy savages
who were living in the Stone Age. They
hadn't even gotten to the smelting of iron
on their own. So of course they were
taken advantage of by a modern Christian
society whose motto was slash and burn
and grab, god put this all here for us,
heathens.

It could be that the Native Americans lived a different lifestyle, more agricultural and living with and in harmony with the land. Therefore they were leaps and bounds ahead of the Europeans in other things that were important, besides smelting iron. I don't know how you can get away with calling a people or a society ignorant, especially when you remain ignorant of so much yourself.

Population density and resulting diseases tend to drive skill acquisition. A nomadic hunter=gatherer existence amidst plentiful resources does not require smelting of iron. European or English woods were hardly a match for the dense American forests full of unimagined game. Europeans soon despatched with Indians (diseases and dogs, it being only in the West that the Winter Campaign was required), passenger pigeons, bison, and badgers. The topography of California fell to hydraulic gold mining, but we did gain in iron and steel. Whether the trade off was wise or not is another matter.

Quote: FrGamble

. I don't know how you can get away with calling a people or a society ignorant, especially when you remain ignorant of so much yourself.

LOL! You made me guffaw at 3 30 am, padre.
You who sell baloney and fairy tales for a
living accuse me of being ignorant. It's
amazing, the arrogance of the Church, it
never changes as the centuries roll by.
Keeping pushing your god, there are a
lot of truly 'ignorant' people in the world
who are always willing to buy somebody
else's ideas because they are too lazy to
come up with their own.

Quote: Fleastiff

Europeans soon despatched with Indians, .

Lets be clear, it was European CHRISTIANS who
dealt the death blow to the Native American
savage heathens. They came, they saw, they
took their land and wiped them out. God
told them it was their heritage.

Quote: Evenbob

for the most part, they were ignorant filthy savages

maybe somebody peed in your cheerios? Filthy and ignorant describes the Europeans probably better. Quite literally if we would put the germs they brought with them in the 'filthy' qualification. [edits]

I'm going to review the book Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond that goes into all this when I finish it soon

Quote: FrGamble

It could be that the Native Americans lived a different lifestyle, more agricultural and living with and in harmony with the land. Therefore they were leaps and bounds ahead of the Europeans in other things that were important, besides smelting iron. I don't know how you can get away with calling a people or a society ignorant, especially when you remain ignorant of so much yourself.

Many a mountain man went amongst the Indians and adopted their ways as suitable for their situation. Later settlers may have adopted a Christian values versus Heathens approach and clung to inappropriate values involving fair play, charity, avoidance of conflict and turning the other cheek. The Indians valued courage, bravery, cunning and had no use for the weak or those that were the least bit hesitant to fight and die.

Authors tend to develop title trends. That is, there are similarities between their titles. Lately I noticed I'm favoring nouns for short stories, and usually just one word. Consider these on the pipeline:

Ours
Betrayal
Golden (proper noun)
Loner
Solitude
Mother
Water and Sand
Titans

Breaking the trend:

Keeping Secrets
The Useless Rebellion of Callum Shad
The Continuing Rebellion of Callum Shad
The Last Rebellion of Callum Shad
Three Ladies of the Republic

Quote: odiousgambit

Filthy and ignorant describes the Europeans

You mean the ones with the ships
and the guns and the books were
more ignorant than the Indians?
Really? Native Americans didn't
have a chance, Stone Age vs
modern age, it was over before it
started.