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Yep, it’s the noble savage fallacy https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Noble_savage https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Noble_savage

• lonelappde 7y ago
  The article is about controlled burns. What's the name of the fallacy where you dismiss something that has has been successful for centuries or more just because it doesn't have a Latin/Greek-derived name granted by a European?
  • jpz 7y ago
    I agree with the criticism, and disagree with your counterpoint. There is no evidentiary record of this being "successful for centuries." After all, there are no written records. On the face of it, if you start a fire in a bushland which is 100s of kilometres in breadth, how are Aboriginal people going to communicate and control such a blaze? They don't have access to: - water pumps - hoses - irrigation - telecommunications - horses There's some mythmaking going on at the moment in Australia about this. I find it hard to take the claims at face value.
  • pvaldes 7y ago
    > What's the name of the fallacy where you dismiss something that has has been successful for centuries or more just because it doesn't have a Latin/Greek-derived name granted by a European? I bet that Ice age survivor Europeans were perfectly aware of fire and all its possible uses, a few thousands of years before 1606. The idea of Australian aborigins teaching Europeans about how to use fire in that new thing called agriculture is very funny.