The Piligrim's Were Jerks

[shesinsane]

I think the West needs a big reminder that our culture is not superior to any other, that we still have a lot of inequalities going on and still fail on so many levels First Nations and Natives (and Aboriginese) without even mentioning women, people of color, and immigrants (and so and so).

It might seem we're over this behavior of holier than thou, but that's not true at all.

Schadenfreude sometimes has religious themes. It goes beyond enjoying someone else's misery when that person's misery is a result of your God punishing them.

[fundifugee]

Can these things really be considered the "norm"?

http://tinyurl.com/74tubmb

The above link may be difficult to read, but it gives a graphic accounting of just how far Christian fundamentalism (or indeed, ANY religious fundamentalism) can go, all the while thinking they are doing God’s will. These people thought God had directed their actions, deplorable as those were.

Were their actions the “norm� I don’t think so--only among the extreme fundamentalists who thought they were acting for God. We have similar things going on today.

At FJ, we snark on fundamentalism, and yet, the things we choose to snark about are minor--very minor--and simple compared to how far fundamentalism can take itself.

The problem is, in America, racism against the American Indian still exists on a very large scale, and those who are entrenched in it are in a huge state of denial and especially want to ignore the roots of how the U.S. was settled.

At one point--not so long ago--slavery was considered the “norm†in the U.S. Discrimination and worse of African Americans is what prompted the Civil Rights movement of the 60s and 70s. And yet, racism was the “norm†at that time. Should it have been ignored? Should it be ignored now, simply because it was the norm? Thankfully, no.

The Pilgrims engaged in behavior that should never be considered the norm.

If the spirit moves you, click on the link and get a glimpse into that “norm.â€

I think I will include quotes from this text on my next Thanksgiving greetings, thanks.

[fundifugee]

The other thing to keep in mind (generally, for anyone anywhere in the world) is that just like compounding interest, wealth obtained in the past gives a great advantage to your odds of having wealth today. Capital builds up. Takes money to make money. So some of the advantages that groups and institutions have today because they have a lot of capital, too often they think, well, it's my money or whatever it is, without thinking just why they (or their ancestors/prior office holders/etc) were able to amass at some times when others weren't.

Plenty of wealth accumulation in the US would not have accumulated in the places it did without the free labor of slaves and the theft of property (and improvements to that property) from former inhabitants. While you can't erase history, a little more open acknowledgment of that would be nice from time to time.

It is a very interesting thing to think about. I have been contemplating it over the past few days.

I insulated myself a bit, I think, during my history studies, as my ancestors were never those powerful people who did those crappy things. They were all just peasants trying to survive, and moving to a different place when they land got scarce or stopped producing. However, now that I think of it, the whole reason for survival of my genetic line was that they managed to exile themselves to Canada, where they worked very hard to clear the land and farm. As my aboriginal ex-fiance pointed out, that land that they "tamed" was not empty, it was stolen from someone else. While my progenitors had very similar experiences to those of my aboriginal neighbours -- residential schools, discrimination, hunger, poverty -- the fact remains that my ancestors were given or sold land that was ours as a result of their dispossession.