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The smallpox blanket givers are maligned now but they and their people (~europeans) did grab and are still holding 97% of the territory they set out to conquer.
by stfp 5y ago
The smallpox blanket givers are maligned now but they and their people (~europeans) did grab and are still holding 97% of the territory they set out to conquer. History is written by the victors, and it's questionable whether this outcome is actually beneficial for mankind / the planet. On the surface it is - look at all the tech! On the other hand the tech actually results in an ever growing rate of destruction (of native nature and culture, aka. whatever was there before), and that trend was visible from day one.
In other words, bitcoin & co. aren't the first toxic, destructive get-rich-quick schemes, and we as a society have shown time and again we're unable to really resist most of them.
- obviousreason 5y ago
- JAlexoid 5y agoDo they really know how bad they are? Because this common caricature of "smallpox blanket" is not based in verifiable historical fact. There's no clear evidence that Europeans were literally weaponizing smallpox to wipe out most of native American populations. The understanding of how infection spread happened a good 200 years later, than depopulation.
- jcranmer 5y agoThere is one documented case of someone suggesting distributing smallpox blankets. Exactly one; it's not entirely clear if it was carried out--furthermore, given that there was already a smallpox epidemic going around in the nearby Native American villages at the time, it likely would have done diddly squat. Incidentally, if you want a good example of horrors meted out, try the residential school system, which does seem to be far less well-known among the lay public. Maybe "we're trying to civilize them!" turning out to involve horrific amounts of abuse (and, yes, death) is too much to countenance?