4 ms·

I never witnessed Native American genocide ommitted from any history class, even in elementary school, in a very red state.

by mjfl 5y ago

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
KingOfCoders 5y ago
How many monuments are there in the US? How are they visited? How is a monument to the pilgrims visited a hundred times more than a museum to the genocide of Native Americans? History is not what is teached in school but how a society sees itself. German society at large has accepted the Holocaust, because it was useful, but hasn't accepted the history E.g. of the Deutschritterorden or the genocide of the Herero and Nama - it hasn't been useful to do so. There is no monument to the genocide of the Herero in Germany. History is a tool how society sees itself.
- themitigating 5y ago
  School is a part of how that vision formed
- WaxedChewbacca 5y ago
- RC_ITR 5y ago
  We just got rid of the Cleveland baseball team and Washington football team, but people act like society has come to terms with the genocide. Hell, Chicago hockey is still the Blackhawks, but since it’s “tasteful” people aren’t complaining loudly enough to get it to change.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- josephg 5y ago
  > History is not what is teached in school but how a society sees itself. Sounds closer to a definition of culture. And culture is never monolithic. Plenty of people are horrified by past atrocities committed on their behalf. And plenty of people don’t care. But you don’t measure a society’s collective perspective by counting monuments. Monuments signify what was important to the people who made them. Not the people who see them. For my money you’d do better to look at modern media of all kinds. What are the stories being told today, in news, in movies, in textbooks and in social media? They aren’t the same stories our forebears were telling.
  - KingOfCoders 5y ago
    No, just read the "history" of countries or events in different languages on Wikipedia, they are completely different.
qiskit 5y ago
Really? I remember being taught about pilgrims and indians in elementary school and then they simply stopped being mentioned. Nowhere did I ever read the native americans were genocided. I certainly never read we were the bad guys exterminating the natives. Everything was couched in terms like pilgrims, settlers, explorers, etc. Nowhere in any history book are we portrayed as genocidal villains like we portray the nazis. We are portrayed as the good guys. But then again, I'm from a very blue state. How many lines were dedicated to george washington and his family's history of exterminating native americans? I'm betting 0 lines. If native americans took the country back, do you think the history will remain the same?
- mjfl 5y ago
  It was never moralistically portrayed like you seem to want. But definitely it was mentioned that 90% of Indians were killed by European diseases, sometimes intentionally delivered like the trail of tears, and additionally whenever gold was rumored to be on a site the indians would be pushed out.
  - qiskit 5y ago
    > It was never moralistically portrayed like you seem to want. How else do you portray an intentional and centuries long systematic genocide of an entire continent of nations? How do you portray the greatest genocide in human history? > But definitely it was mentioned that 90% of Indians were killed by European diseases, sometimes intentionally delivered like the trail of tears, and additionally whenever gold was rumored to be on a site the indians would be pushed out. Nothing you listed indicate an actual genocide. You didn't read about actual hunting and raping and exterminating of natives that happened all across the country? You didn't read about actual statehood laws ( majority white ) which encouraged settlers to kill off the natives. You didn't read about the US government working with railroad tycoons to kill off the natives to build railroads? As I said, if the natives were in charge, how do you think the history will be written? We'd be portrayed as monsters far worse than nazis. That was my point. History is written by the victors. Which you proved with your comment but yet deny.

I never witnessed Native American genocide ommitted from any history class, even in elementary school, in a very red state.

by mjfl 5y ago

I never witnessed Native American genocide ommitted from any history class, even in elementary school, in a very red state.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

KingOfCoders 5y ago

How many monuments are there in the US? How are they visited? How is a monument to the pilgrims visited a hundred times more than a museum to the genocide of Native Americans? History is not what is teached in school but how a society sees itself. German society at large has accepted the Holocaust, because it was useful, but hasn't accepted the history E.g. of the Deutschritterorden or the genocide of the Herero and Nama - it hasn't been useful to do so. There is no monument to the genocide of the Herero in Germany. History is a tool how society sees itself.

themitigating 5y ago
School is a part of how that vision formed
WaxedChewbacca 5y ago
RC_ITR 5y ago
We just got rid of the Cleveland baseball team and Washington football team, but people act like society has come to terms with the genocide. Hell, Chicago hockey is still the Blackhawks, but since it’s “tasteful” people aren’t complaining loudly enough to get it to change.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
josephg 5y ago
> History is not what is teached in school but how a society sees itself. Sounds closer to a definition of culture. And culture is never monolithic. Plenty of people are horrified by past atrocities committed on their behalf. And plenty of people don’t care. But you don’t measure a society’s collective perspective by counting monuments. Monuments signify what was important to the people who made them. Not the people who see them. For my money you’d do better to look at modern media of all kinds. What are the stories being told today, in news, in movies, in textbooks and in social media? They aren’t the same stories our forebears were telling.
- KingOfCoders 5y ago
  No, just read the "history" of countries or events in different languages on Wikipedia, they are completely different.

qiskit 5y ago

Really? I remember being taught about pilgrims and indians in elementary school and then they simply stopped being mentioned. Nowhere did I ever read the native americans were genocided. I certainly never read we were the bad guys exterminating the natives. Everything was couched in terms like pilgrims, settlers, explorers, etc. Nowhere in any history book are we portrayed as genocidal villains like we portray the nazis. We are portrayed as the good guys. But then again, I'm from a very blue state. How many lines were dedicated to george washington and his family's history of exterminating native americans? I'm betting 0 lines. If native americans took the country back, do you think the history will remain the same?

mjfl 5y ago
It was never moralistically portrayed like you seem to want. But definitely it was mentioned that 90% of Indians were killed by European diseases, sometimes intentionally delivered like the trail of tears, and additionally whenever gold was rumored to be on a site the indians would be pushed out.
- qiskit 5y ago
  > It was never moralistically portrayed like you seem to want. How else do you portray an intentional and centuries long systematic genocide of an entire continent of nations? How do you portray the greatest genocide in human history? > But definitely it was mentioned that 90% of Indians were killed by European diseases, sometimes intentionally delivered like the trail of tears, and additionally whenever gold was rumored to be on a site the indians would be pushed out. Nothing you listed indicate an actual genocide. You didn't read about actual hunting and raping and exterminating of natives that happened all across the country? You didn't read about actual statehood laws ( majority white ) which encouraged settlers to kill off the natives. You didn't read about the US government working with railroad tycoons to kill off the natives to build railroads? As I said, if the natives were in charge, how do you think the history will be written? We'd be portrayed as monsters far worse than nazis. That was my point. History is written by the victors. Which you proved with your comment but yet deny.