INFLAMMATORY BEHAVIOUR
20 02 2008
“Every now and then I am impressed with the thinking of the non-Indian. I was in Cleveland last year and got to talking with a non-Indian about American history. He said that he was really sorry about what had happened to Indians, but that there was a good reason for it. The continent had to be developed and he felt that Indians had stood in the way, and thus had to be removed. “after all,” he remarked, “what did you do with the land when you had it?” I didn’t understand him until later when I discovered that the Cuyahoga River running through Cleveland is inflammable. So many combustible pollutants are dumped into the river that the inhabitants have to take special precautions during the summer to avoid setting it on fire. After reviewing the argument of my non-Indian friend I decided that he was probably correct. Whites had made better use of the land. How many Indians could have thought of creating an inflammable river?”
from the Mohawk paper, Akwesane Notes
Too right, just a thank you from UK.
The fixation with land as a piece for ownership is a particular european (white) philosophy.
i might add that not many people genuinely believe in that philosophy with all that implies and encourages. however, they somehow have managed to dupe enough people into going along with it to fulfil their purposes.
I recommend Charles Mann’s 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. Apparently they did quite a bit with - though not necessarily to - the land when they had it.
Yes, an unliveable planet is a great accomplishment.
As Philip says, there certainly was a civilization here before our European ancestors came. We don’t get taught that. In school they tell you that there was a few Natives that lived here and they ate turkey with the friendly pilgrims.
I used to work in the
suck them till they are broke, get rich quick scheme for environmental lawyersenvironmental contamination management business and this was always considered a good case study when examining how not to conduct sensible environmental management.