Posted on 03/17/2025 6:04:11 PM PDT by Jonty30
The Parker family is a case study on this.
And one of the greatest of all time, deeply influencing Spielberg, Scorsese and George Lucas. Scorsese said he patterned characters from Mean Streets and Taxi Driver from the film, and Lucas said the overall visual style and Tatooine scenes in Star Wars borrowed heavily from the film. Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan stated that the ending to the show's final episode, "Felina," was influenced by the film.
I think of Cynthia Ann Parker as a very unusual case probably mentally ill, really unpleasant.
* (see Dances With Wolves)
Natives taught practical skills Europeans lacked, and also whatever native-affirming philosophy they had. Euros don’t have a lock on ethnocentrism.
All that’s true. But don’t forget that life in the Little Ice Age sucked (roughly AD 1300 to 1800’s). It wasn’t just that most tribes were literally stuck in the Stone Age, it’s also that crop yields were way down in the LIA. Just like it wasn’t just that the Pilgrims were ignorant about crops in America, many of them starved to death because it’s hard to learn new tricks during the LIA.
Rachel Plummer didn’t think it was so fun when they dragged her screaming 6 month old baby through cactus patches until it died. Then raped her as a community rape toy.
Tiny Matilda Lockhart didn’t think it was too much fun when they gang raped her, beat her daily and burned her nose off. She didn’t find it charming when they roasted her 6 year old sister alive on a spit.
Too much Taylor Sheridan romantic “noble Indian” garbage out there. The kidnappings, gang rapes and slavery of their captives were no picnic. There were a few that were raped and beaten into submission and finally were too broken to break the Stockholm Syndrome, and they were too ashamed to come home.
But there was very little of the mentality that they loved the brutal life of the indians.
“””””Natives taught practical skills Europeans lacked”””””
Mostly just local stuff that every traveler has to learn about a new area, even today hunters and fishermen hire guides, where is the water, traits of the local game or fish, which plants are edible here, what is the local climate and seasons, etc.
The book; Empire Of The Summer Moon is a good read of the subject.
Stockholm Syndrome before it was labeled that?
“”””Rachel Plummer didn’t think it was so fun when they dragged her screaming 6 month old baby through cactus patches until it died. Then raped her as a community rape toy.””””
As you know that was after they choked the baby to death after taking it from her arms but then learned that it was still alive, so they took it from her again and gave it that torture death, and the rape was terrible, women could be given the status to be taken at anytime by any male.
Some complained that the mere act of fetching water could mean being taken by different men just during the coming and going to the stream.
Sometimes, though not always, they would be adopted if they behaved in a way the Indians considered admirable, or reminded them of a person who had died.
If lucky, and they were adopted, they would be treated as a family member, though at first they would keep an eye on you to prevent escape.
If you were a young woman you might be chosen as a bride, and if the man was a high status individual then you would be, too. You would have children by the time any rescue came, and would be reluctant to leave this family and go where you would not be fully accepted, and you couldn’t bring your halfbreed kids along, which you loved because they were yours.
If a male, it is easy to love hunting and fishing and not so easy to love life behind a plow.
Living standards were not better in settlements- in many ways they were worse. Labor was harder. Settlers bathed much less than natives if at all, livestock and human waste fouled the water, so men, women and children drank hard cider or ale. If your family had some status it might be worth going back, but if not, the native lifestyle was not that bad.
They grew up in that culture, had adoptive parents, and many had little memory of the time before being taken. Women in particular faced shunning and abuse upon forced returns because they likely already had husbands and children. They were forced into societies that despised them for living with savages. Sone of the men who grew as Indians were totally uncomfortable trying to live in a totally foreign culture. Cynthia Ann Parker was the definitional victim and there were many more from the 1600s on.
That sounds more like ‘science’ talk, as it applies to adults, and less like a real understanding of simple human nature in young children.
If I take a wild bird from the nest, feed it, teach it to fly, etc., it recognizes me as its mother, and will for the rest of its life. (I’ve done it many times.)
It’s far more simple than your ‘syndromes’ and ‘complexes’.
Even ‘cave men’ understood this.
If I take a wild bird from the nest, feed it, teach it to fly, etc., it recognizes me as its mother, and will for the rest of its life. (I’ve done it many times.)”
GEMINI
It’s important to clarify the differences between imprinting in birds and the concept of “imprinting” as it’s sometimes loosely used in relation to human behavior. Here’s a breakdown:
Imprinting in Birds:
* Definition:
* This is a specific, rapid learning process that occurs during a critical period in a young bird’s early life.
* It involves the formation of a strong social attachment to the first moving object the bird sees, typically its parent.
* It’s a biological, instinctual behavior crucial for survival.
* Characteristics:
* Occurs during a limited “critical period.”
* Relatively irreversible.
* Influences species identification and social behavior.
* Especially prominent in precocial birds (those that are relatively mature at hatching, like ducks and geese).
* Human Interaction:
* If a young bird imprints on a human, it will treat that human as its parent, leading to potential behavioral problems.
* This can make it difficult for the bird to survive in the wild.
“Imprinting” in Humans (and General Learning):
* Difference:
* While the term “imprinting” is sometimes used informally to describe strong, early learning experiences in humans, it’s not the same as the biological imprinting seen in birds.
* Human learning is far more complex and flexible.
* Humans form attachments and learn throughout their lives, not just during a single, critical period.
* Human attachment:
* Human attachment is a complex process that develops over time, and is influenced by many factors.
* While early experiences are important, human attachment is not as rigidly fixed as imprinting in birds.
* General learning:
* Humans have a much greater capacity for learning and adapting to new situations than birds.
* Human learning involves a wide range of cognitive processes, including memory, reasoning, and problem-solving.
Key Distinctions:
* Biological vs. Psychological: Bird imprinting is primarily a biological phenomenon, while human “imprinting” (in the general sense) is more related to psychological and social learning.
* Critical Period: Bird imprinting has a very strict critical period, while human learning and attachment are more flexible.
* Irreversibility: Bird imprinting is largely irreversible, while human behaviors and attachments can change over time.
In essence, while there’s a metaphorical connection in the idea of forming strong, early associations, the actual processes are very different.
I don’t believe that there is really that much difference between humans and the other animals in their adaptation in very early life.
There’s a lot about this that we don’t really understand, despite all of our hifalutin ‘words’.
(Can you define ‘instinct’? I’ve thought about it many times, and all I’ve finally been able to come up with is that ‘God tells them what to do’ :-)
Olive Oatman ‘s story?
(Can you define ‘instinct’? I’ve thought about it many times, and all I’ve finally been able to come up with is that ‘God tells them what to do’ :-)”
DNA encodes when how our cells and structures form.
DNA encodes how and when our brain cells form. Our brain cells instruct our behaviors.
That’s not the point.
The point is that the people were kidnapped, often abused, and often their families slaughtered by their captors, and then they turned around and embraced them.
That makes no sense.
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