Smith stands by her account of Canadian history - A discussion worth having

The_Foxer

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This is a discussion worth having. So - Smith says that despite the more recent horrible behavior towards the first nations, the first nations and europeans worked together hand in hand in co-operation and mutual benefit for centuries.

Some people say that's "hurtfull" and she should apologize for it.

The "professor" in "native studies" says that it's not true, the only history is one of genocide and forced incarceration (both of which are very difficult to successfully argue outside of left wing echo chambers).

But Smith's message actually is one of the first positive ones i've heard in some time and it SHOULD be what we're focused on. "Hey - for the 1600's to the 1800's, Europeans and first nations got along fantastically. Then we had 100 years of complete bullshit where the first nations were abused. But we've had a longer history of mutually beneficial coexistance than of conflict. So - lets get back to that and move forward!"

And it is true. From the 1600's to confederation things were pretty good. And even after federation it went decent for a while - remember that residential schools were NOT mandatory when they were brought in. They weren't Manditory until 1920.

So - why is it evil to tell the truth, that for the majority of our history we've been working together and we should get back to that.

There's a serious movement in Canada to promote only the worst of our history and ignore the best, which is by far the more voluminous. And i think that's a serious problem.
 

Taxslave2

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I wonder if the perfesser and the rest of zero attention span left know there were a good many whiteish people came to North America before Columbus got lost at sea?
 

The_Foxer

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And like good guests, they fucked off when the time came.
They weren't guests any more than the first nations people were when THEY discovered america during their migration. They were just migrants.

I assume you're not saying that migrants should fuck off at some point?
 
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Tecumsehsbones

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They weren't guests any more than the first nations people were when THEY discovered america during their migration. They were just migrants.

I assume you're not saying that migrants should fuck off at some point?
We prefer the term "wetbacks."

Yep, "Indians made war too!"
 

The_Foxer

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Yeah, Jews were equal and respected members of German society for centuries. Why don't they focus on that?
They do. You'll notice the jews in germany aren't pretending otherwise. They aren't claiming they were persecuted for all of german history, and they're a healthy and happy part of the german culture now. THey recognize that the Nazi years were horrible but that isn't all of german history.

Sooooo - yeah. It would be GREAT if the first nations could behave like the jews.
 

The_Foxer

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LOL - well thats kind of the problem we have today isn't it. Hey, how about you keep important elements of your culture but assimilate with ours, which is pretty good? NO - that's genocide. 'Ok, well how about we keep our own cultures but we adapt elements of each other's culture? "NO" - that's cultural appropriation! Fine - how about we just leave each other alone then? "NO" - we demand access to your technology, but we can't pay for it. OK - look - what do you want then? " How much cash do you have?"

At some point if the first nations want to have a decent quality of life then they have to decide to build a future for themselves and that's going to include integrating their efforts with the larger canadian society. There might be different ways to do that but otherwise they're just going to be a charity case and that ends the moment the pendulum swings and people get sick of it. Which ALWAYS happens sooner or later.

That's what the judge meant when he said that reconcilliation was absolutely necessary - the first nations aren't going anywhere but nether are we. And while we need to find ways to work with them, they absolutely need to do the same with us.

There's no value in pretending that we don't have a long and rich history of working together that was marred by a century of not. The 200 years we did is what we should be focused on if we want to move ahead.
 
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Tecumsehsbones

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I've always wondered. . . is it cultural appropriation for Americans to play classical music at all? I mean, we kinda firmly cut ties with Europe.

For that matter, what about speaking a distorted but generally understandable version of English?
 

The_Foxer

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I've always wondered. . . is it cultural appropriation for Americans to play classical music at all? I mean, we kinda firmly cut ties with Europe.
you're still drinking their wine and eating their sausage, you can listen to their music.
For that matter, what about speaking a distorted but generally understandable version of English?
Well, the french are upset that they now have two versions of english to ignore, but other than that everyone seems chill.