Replies

You know what? I think Free Republic posters just flat suck. I posted a reply to this query as somebody who spent ten years among native people and got not one reply to my comments --- all comments were from people who had READ about native people. Y'all suck. I'll be damned if I remain on this site or spend any more effort trying to communicate. Drop effing dead.

You know what? I read your post and thought it was excellent. I had clipped it to print with a few others that I thought were very good to give to my son.He has a totally unrealistic picture of the the colonists, missionaries and Indians,etc. He developed his understanding in the public school system aided by Hollywood.

I think many people just read and save a few posts that contain what appears to present an honest assessment whether gained by personal experience such as yours or well researched publications. Don't feel bad I've posted some comments that I thought were brilliant,witty and timely,as well as being factual and even asked questions and got nary a response. I just assume soneone out there in Freeperland will read it and start to change their thinking, or start to think. Some prepare the field,others plant,yet others water or weed and then someone,who to that point,hasn't lifted a finger,reaps and gets all the credit. Doesn't seem fair but its reality. So don't lose heart and when you have something interesting to say post it,I liked your post.

Hold on Alex. I've been in and out of Indian culture for thirty years. Been places and seen things that no other white man is allowed to. I still don't understand everything and I never will. Culture is often a subtle thing. How many of our ingrained attitudes are rooted in events hundreds of years in the murky past? How much of my makeup is influenced by the awed and reverential tones my great-great-great-great-great grandfather used when he described the heroics at the battle of Waterloo? Those simple tonal inflections, passed down generation to generation must have influenced my view of man, duty and heroism.

This is what we are dealing with here. Did an attitude or idea that I picked up from a Navajo kid have it's root in ancient prehistory or did he pick it up last week standing in line at Walmart? Like you say it's complicated.

I read your post and thought it knowledgable and well written. I had no points to dispute so I did not respond. I just added it to the vast amount that I have read on the subject, reinforcing some of my own conclusions and leaving others open to question. Don't take lack of response as insult or dismissal.