Posted on 09/21/2004 12:14:18 PM PDT by Willie Green
That would be because you are, apparently, pretty damned ignorant about early american history - which is pretty plain to see based on what you said.
Haha. This is similar to the Los Angeles Times front page story today on the museum opening. They are desperate to put the PC "spin" on it, which the museum may not ACTUALLY have. We have yet to read a live first person report here on FR.
Inventing history after the fact is a well-known practice forever. Academics love that sort of fraud. Ever heard of Margaret Mead? I am still looking for that contemporarily written documentation in an Indian language for the myth of constitutionally-based representative government.
I have this Atlantis story I can share with you. Not written in Atlantean, mind you, but the Europeans who wrote it down swear that is is a perfect and accurate record of oral Atlantean History!
That is only a very small part of the "Great Binding Law", or the "Great Law of Peace" - part of the Hiawatha Belt (currently on display at a museum in New York) which was where the "constitution" was recorded...
It was recorded on a series of belts, in pictographs that represented a written native language...
I'd get to the mall quick, before the weather gets too much colder...
Just reminds me of the lousy experience while paying and staying at the campground on the Hoopa reservation near Willow Creek, 20 years ago. My then husband probably had more indian (his father was eligible for Juneau Tlingit reservation rights) than the so called braves that harrassed us for 2 days, by shooting at and threatening to kill us and the kids.
I've invented nothing. The Great Law of Peace has been around since at least the 1500s, when the Iroquois Confederacy (AKA The Five Nations) was formed... Between the oral traditions, the codification in belts, etc... the system worked, and made the Five Nations the major power on the continent - a power recognized by the early settlers, such as the French and British, and one treated as an equal for quite some time.
Unfortunately, yes. I dislike the building. It is architecturally out of step with the rest of the Mall. It is obtrusive and blocks site lines. It is clutter. Of course, I've disliked every new thing on the Mall since the Vietnam Memorial. Unfortunately, since every group that thinks it has sufficient lobbying clout wants to be on the Mall, I suppose we won't stop until we pave the whole thing.
That said, I look forward to seeing the new Museum. I just hope it's not too PC. The Smithsonian used to display an Indian chief's necklace made entirely of the severed little fingers of his victims, including many women and children. I hope that makes the cut.
As do I. Of course, I also hope they also display the collections of men's, women's, and children's scalps taken by government soldiers as well ;0)
Agreed. I hope the Indian wars are treated, and treated fairly. I just hope there's not a PC whitewash.
Agreed. There was good and bad on both sides, and I hope the various indian cultures are show accurately, without going too far one way or another...
As ben franklin once said about my Iroquoian ancestors:
"It would be strange if ignorant savages could execute a union that persisted ages and appears indissoluble; yet like union is impractical for twelve colonies to whom it is more necessary and advantageous."
Which, in theory could be loosely transalted to mean, "If those stupid indians can make a confederation of nations, then surely we could since we are so much better than they are" ;0)
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
I finally made it to the Museum and I'm afraid you will be as disappointed as I was. On first impresion, it's a thoroughly PC, social history oriented place. It seems to be devoted to "dispelling stereotypes," and so we are tediously shown that Indians today live just about everywhere, do just about every kind of job, and even, I guess, wear shoes and pants. Etc. This is the kind of rot that has contaminated the teaching and writing of history: yes, we need to understand about the textures of everyday life, but ordinary people doing ordinary things makes for a pretty boring story. If I'm going to invest a day in a museum, I want the battles and leaders, shot and shell, high drama and deep tragedy.
I already knew that modern Indians wore pants. Don't need a museum for that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.