[cyborg]

When investigating any culture, it's best to have a balanced approach. Schools teach the noble savage myth because that's what evolutionary racialists believed and it's also very PC. However, going the other way and insinuating all the indian people are drunks and the like is just as bad. I liked hanging out with the Navajo students a lot and they were incredibly open and happy.

[Tax-chick]

You're right about balance. I grew up reading biographies about Crazy Horse, Sequoia, Sitting Bull, or Chief Joseph that told about their courage and dedication to their people. All that was true. The atrocities committed by the Indians against the white settlers are also true. Life is complex.

I think we can emphasize the positive and beneficial aspects of diverse cultures without indulging in "victimology." Yes, the Indians lost the war, and there are tragic aspects to that history. But on the other hand, my folks in Ireland lost their war. It's a big picture, and we can't change any of it from this point.