Don't worry. Everything is going to be just fine.

[DavidDvorkin]

Because tomorrow is World Peace and Prayer Day. Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe, has sent a message to the world's religious leaders about it.

So we're okay now.

[Odin2005]

1. I am so sick of Native American derived woo.

And if you attack it you are called racist. :eyes:

[realisticphish]

2. "I'm 1/64th Cherokee"

"so I have given myself a ridiculous stereotypical native american name"

My parents went to high school with a girl who has 1/millionth Iroquois. No one even knew it at that point.

A few years ago, she wrote an article for the Ohio Historical Society about how hard it was growing up as a native american with all the "blond, blue-eyed, pale" kids, and the prejudice she received.

My parents went to the same high school I did, in southeastern Ohio. Basically, all the people are German, Hungarian, Irish, and Scottish, with German being 75%. They only remember MAYBE 4-5 kids in their class with blond hair. And around there, at least, being a NA would have been POPULAR, something pretty damn cool. My parents thought about writing a letter to the OHS, but they decided to drop it. She has also claimed the Newark Earthworks as part of her religion, even though the Hopewell Indians who built them died out around 500AD, and Iroquois didn't live in the area until 1200 years later.

I have nothing but respect for NA culture, but it has for too many become a badge that you can wear to deflect criticism, or confer upon themselves expertise in nature, like they had spent their childhoods hunting in the Eastern Woodlands instead of living in suburban Des Moines.

[Odin2005]

3. And don't forget the imaginary Cherokee ancestor!

It seems like when someone pulls that lie it's always a CHEROKEE ancestor, LOL.

[lazarus]

4. mine isn't

Supposedly, my great-great-grandmother was Native American, but I can't find any proof, or even evidence. She would have to have been Choctaw or Creek, most likely, but there were a bunch of small tribes living in Alabama a long time ago.

My great-grandmother is the one who spread this rumour, which is interesting considering how racist she was. She disapproved of my first girlfriend because my girlfriend was half-Japanese. :eyes:

[onager]

5. And..."they lived in peace and harmony, and conserved the Earth Mother..."

All total bullshit, and some Native American-run web sites are honest enough to point that out.

I found one run by a Lakota Sioux, who noted a lot of inconvenient truths about her people. Like the fact that they acquired two important pieces of western technology - horses from the Spanish in Mexico and guns from French traders in Canada.

The Lakota used that technology to terroize and dominate their neighbors for decades. Didn't anyone ever wonder why the U.S. Cavalry always had so many voluntary Indian scouts?

As far as conserving nature, the original Americans weren't much better than the later illegal immigrants. They abandoned land after farming it out, and always slaughtered more buffalo than they could use.

By the way, no one had better attack me for this, because I grew up in a place named by the Cherokee. So there.

[realisticphish]

6. always ask those people

what happened to the Erie tribe... and the Hurons... maybe 35,000 men, women, and children slipped and genocided themselves.


Frankly, I think it's all racist. It's a modern version of the "noble savage." They are human, same as us. Same species, and everything. They had the same instincts, same drives, same minds. Sure, there were some viewpoint differences; they had been separated for thousands of years. But they're still the same DNA. Humans are violent creatures, regardless of what continent you're from.

And especially...

WHY THE FUCK DID THEY HAVE WARRIORS if they weren't fighting, you know, WARS.