Friday, July 16, 2010

To the Victors Go a Lot of Things

What happened to the Native Americans was unconscionable (or at least HOW it happened was). Unfortunately, so, too, was it inevitable. Think about it, folks. To have expected the white Europeans who eventually "settled" both Americas to turn around and NOT try to annex the land was simply not plausible. This, me-buckos, in that it totally goes against both human nature AND human history.................................................................................................I mean, think about it here. All throughout human history - up to that point, everything basically centered around empire/conquest; the Egyptian empire, the Babylonian empire, the Athenian empire, the Persian empire, the Macedonian empire, the Roman empire, the Islamic empire, the Mongolian empire, the Ottoman empire, etc.. To think that the Spanish, English, French, Dutch, and Portuguese explorers of the 16th-18th centuries were suddenly going to act magnanimously and not try and exploit (literally, one could say) a resource-filled/sparsely populated land isn't at all realistic. It simply wasn't (as much as our romanticism would have preferred) going to happen................................................................................................Of course, the way that it happened certainly left much to be desired. Far more emphasis should have been placed on trying to accommodate and/or "bring in" the indigenous populations. We certainly shouldn't have had broken one treaty after another treaty, instituted a system of substandard Indian reservations, etc.. BUT, the end result, I'm saying, a European takeover of the Americas was inevitable.................................................................................................P.S. Just for the record, folks, this spirit of conquest was hardly restricted to the white Europeans (the greatest Satans of all, if in fact you listen to some bloggers) of the world. Genghis Khan, for instance, wasn't a white European. Neither, either, were the Muslim conquerers of Spain and Palestine. Hell, folks, even the Native Americans themselves attempted to conquer....EACH OTHER. Yes, folks, even before Columbus came here, the Sioux, The Crow, The Blackfoot - they frequently fought over territory and even men. Sometimes, SOMETIMES, they even tortured.

4 comments:

Joe "Truth 101" Kelly said...

You got on misguided fools for being apologists for the Black Panthers and Amadinejad. Then with this you apologise for the mistreatment of Native Americans because everyone else, including Native Americans, were mistreating people also.

I'm with you on the Iran thing. Amadinajad and the ruling council are kooks unworthy of trust or respect.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

Like I said, HOW it happened was unconscionable. THAT I can't defend, you're right.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

Well said, truth.

Commander Zaius said...

This one is really hard to comment about for several reasons but the one I will mention is a history lecture I had from a Cherokee years ago while in high school.

Most of the conquering people in history made no mistake of hiding their true intentions, they raped, pillaged, and enslaved for fun and profit.

Many Native Americans believe Christian Europe on the other hand wrapped their true intentions around the banner of a peace-loving faith. It tends to amuse greatly if not piss them off. Yes, I know the Muslims did the same but they never made it to North America.