I don't even understand what is being "extracted" in the first place. If I go and take coal, diamonds, fish, what-have-you: yeah, there's a problem here. But le

I don't even understand what is being "extracted" in the first place. If I go and take coal, diamonds, fish, what-have-you: yeah, there's a problem here. But learning about people's cultures...? How is that even remotely similar to mining? Do they now have less culture to share amongst themselves because The White Man came and "extracted" some of it? There was a story some months ago on HN about an anthropologist recording a dying language with just a few speakers left. They described just how eager many of the elderly people were to share their language and culture, glad their heritage wouldn't completely perish when they would. It's my experience most people are happy and willing to share their culture. Exceptions apply for some cultures, but the Nuxalk people here agreed to do the interviews, so I presume they were in the "happy to share" camp. And all it takes is a few words: "do you mind of I record it?" Here she is making the decision for the indigenous people instead of empowering them to make their own decisions. I believe there is a word to describe that sort of thing...