Lack of Historical Accuracy

It's funny that I'm continuing this blog. I initially began this blog as a course project. Now, here it is a couple of years later and again I'm utilizing this crazy medium to produce a thought or two. Hopefully I can make this a more productive experience as opposed to sounding vitriolic about what is a historical reality. Yet, in saying this, in no way am I seeking to down-play my initial beliefs about why we are in the suck-y economic, domestic, opportunistic and life-stressing times we now find ourselves in. I say this because after having re-read what I wrote then I am now wondering today how it is that people still "buy into" this notion that unconscionable capitalism is beneficial to all while in fact it is geared to benefit a limited few.

As eternally baffling as the question of why people allow their lives to be dictated to by a human-contrived, self-indulgent concept as destructive as modern consumerism-consumptionism is, I am just as perplexed at the lack of thorough knowledge of history, in particular the importance of Crees, Blackfoot/Blackfeet, Ojibway, Mohawk, Huron, Seneca, and on and on (the "Indians" for those who understand the layman's language) within North American history. Apologies to those in South America, but, therein too one might find evidence to support the notion that there is a definite lack in Western based knowledge systems in that they fail to actually tell things like they are. Of course this supports the status quo. That's the whole point of why I'm writing, and for my prior rant some time ago.

Is there a definite unappreciation of the "Indian" within Western society? Depends... If you are to take a serious look at history one can find evidence to the effect that the "Indian" was utterly indispensible throughout the early history of contact between cultures. And those whom got to know the "Indian" very well, as did the Canadien, Metis, Voyageur among others, found that they were all very distinct groups and organized themselves into very practical societies (what would later be called councils). Like there were any official singular authority that could designate them thus! It was at the choosing of the people to organize and live that way. That is the definition of a free and independent nation is it not? That it is the people who decide such things? And, the federal government here would have us believe that we were not such a people by continually treating us as wards of the state. As if there is any sense in what the government has done historically, especially ever since it began to appropriate lands without the "Indians" consent (I.E. Ruperts Land being sold off to the Dominion of Canada without any say on the parts of those who actually lived there).

That swindle is par for the course because it only follows suit with the utter thanklessness on the parts of Europeans for "Indians" literally saving their lives, livelihoods, and future imperial aspirations. Without our knowledge they would have died off en masse. There are those elders who have let slip that maybe that should have been the case considering how so much knowledge was stolen and capitalized on without due credit being given to those whose knowledge it was in the first place (I.E. snow shoes, how to avoid getting scurvy, existing in the coldest of climes, etc.). And, yet, the stereotype still persists that we were savage, dirty, filthy heathens. I wonder if people who believe this crap actually put some thought into that last bit of bullshit. Europeans of the time (fur trade/Victorian eras) were grossly disgusting because it was considered normal to not bath for years at a time. Why on earth did the European interest in foreign scents and perfumes develop?... Because they stank! That's why. There are reports on how amazed Traders were at seeing how clean the "Indians" were. They continually cleansed themselves via swimming, sweats, outdoor living, and deliberate ritualized segregating practices. It does not follow that the "Indian" was any more dirty than his European counterpart. In fact the opposite is true. These days it is a personal choice, more than ever, how a person chooses to appear.