Indian
I don't know why, but the term just irritates me for some reason. Maybe it's because the term 'Indian' was just a mistake to begin with. Here's a little history lesson:
When Columbus first set out, he was headed for India; the storm that turned him and his ships around headed them all for the western coast of what is now the North American continent. Thinking, however, that he had reached India, Columbus termed the natives he encountered here 'Indians' and greeted them as such.
In reality, the so-called 'natives' held no titles but there own; Cherokee, Iroquois, Sioux, Pawnee, Blackfoot and many others were the names they had given themselves. They each spoke their own language, and so they could not name themselves to Columbus or any others who came along until the language barrier was broken; unfortunately, this 'breaking' of the language barrier became very violent and virtually all 'Native American' tribes are settled on reservations the size of small forts now.
The plight of all these peoples pisses me off. We came here and treated them like shit, then did it again - and again, and again and again. We lied to them, stole from them, murdered and raped them, drove them out of their homes and villages, burned their villages to the ground, ignored them, beat them, and generally treated them like shit. And the simple fact that we're still here and they've given up fighting back only tell me that we've won - and that pisses me off more than anything. And yes, I know it's a total DUH that we've won - we won almost a hundred years ago, and even further back than that if you really stop to think about it - but it's the idea that we've won that just totally disgust me. We won by bullying them, and it worked. I mean, we actually took them from their homes and enrolled them in our schools just to stop them from speaking their own language! And yet we had the gall to think that THEY were the savages?
So, like I said. *Ahem.* Indian. It's derogatory, in my opinion. And I hate it.
There's my rant for the day. Good-bye.
When Columbus first set out, he was headed for India; the storm that turned him and his ships around headed them all for the western coast of what is now the North American continent. Thinking, however, that he had reached India, Columbus termed the natives he encountered here 'Indians' and greeted them as such.
In reality, the so-called 'natives' held no titles but there own; Cherokee, Iroquois, Sioux, Pawnee, Blackfoot and many others were the names they had given themselves. They each spoke their own language, and so they could not name themselves to Columbus or any others who came along until the language barrier was broken; unfortunately, this 'breaking' of the language barrier became very violent and virtually all 'Native American' tribes are settled on reservations the size of small forts now.
The plight of all these peoples pisses me off. We came here and treated them like shit, then did it again - and again, and again and again. We lied to them, stole from them, murdered and raped them, drove them out of their homes and villages, burned their villages to the ground, ignored them, beat them, and generally treated them like shit. And the simple fact that we're still here and they've given up fighting back only tell me that we've won - and that pisses me off more than anything. And yes, I know it's a total DUH that we've won - we won almost a hundred years ago, and even further back than that if you really stop to think about it - but it's the idea that we've won that just totally disgust me. We won by bullying them, and it worked. I mean, we actually took them from their homes and enrolled them in our schools just to stop them from speaking their own language! And yet we had the gall to think that THEY were the savages?
So, like I said. *Ahem.* Indian. It's derogatory, in my opinion. And I hate it.
There's my rant for the day. Good-bye.
posted by Crow at 5:30 PM
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