So the other night we watched the movie Thunderheart on TV. It's a decent yarn about murder and skullduggery on an Indian reservation. Here's the trailer. You can watch the whole thing on YouTube if you want.
Throughout the movie, various Indian characters make speeches about being proud Native Americans and respecting the Old Ways and blah blah blah. Of course, they're all waving guns around (not quite so Native American, those) and as soon as someone gets shot, they sprint for the nearest clinic to get treated with not quite so Native American medical technology. They're constantly jumping in cars to drive to this or that part of the reservation so they can talk to each other about how proud they are of the Old Ways.
What it really comes down to is the Old Ways are like a costume they put on to play "Let's Pretend" when they can find the time following their dinner which was prepared using an electric stove. It kind of reminds you of the Mexicans who flee their country as fast as they can and then yap about how this land is really all part of Mexico. (Does that imply that they'll soon be heading for Canada?)
One neglected and not well known aspect of Native American culture is their high participation rate in the American military and the deep respect those veterans enjoy among their people. More Irony.
ReplyDeleteThe Navajo Talkers were a big part of our effort to defeat Imperial Japan. They were full of teh awesome! What bothers me is not pride in your heritage, but the racialist notion that somehow someone cheated and screwed you over.
ReplyDeleteThe truth of the matter is that everyone, everywhere is part of a race that at one time or another took a whuppin'. It's just the stupid ones that don't adapt and learn from it and instead want to talk as if the Old Ways are still superior.