7 ms·
What you’re saying isn’t false, but I guess I don’t understand what you’re suggesting. That this article should take some white guilt detour to delve into this
by bequanna 3y ago
What you’re saying isn’t false, but I guess I don’t understand what you’re suggesting. That this article should take some white guilt detour to delve into this topic?
I think most are growing weary of having content about how terrible white people are injected into every possible thing.
- WaxProlix 3y agoI don't think the Irish government did this, nor the Germans. And brown Americans' government did. You're the one bringing up white guilt here, and glossing over atrocities can be called out without any need for invoking the idea of racial guilt.
- smcl 3y agoI explicitly said that I understood why they didn't include it - the article was meant to highlight the bizarre idea of hippo meat being introduced in the USA. I commented here because I just thought some HN'ers would like to know a bit more - and I said that too. I'm not sure how else I could've worded my comment that wouldn't have triggered this kind of reaction :-/
- jjeaff 3y agoIs it really "injecting" to simply be accurate? "Had become extinct" is technically correct. As much as, "Jews had become less populous during World War II." Teaching real history is not "injecting". Bison had become nearly extinct due to extreme overhunting by European settlers would be fine. And if pertinent, you could add more reasons for the extreme overhunting.
- boplicity 3y agoWhy not just call genocide what it is -- genocide? Wouldn't it be far more accurate, and just as concise, to say "Bison had become nearly extinct due to genocide by European settlers"?
- yamtaddle 3y ago"Genocide" applied to the killing of animals would be a very unusual usage. Something like "extermination" would probably be more appropriate.
- smcl 3y agoThe genocide in question is that of the indigenous people, not of the Bison
- yamtaddle 3y agoIf we're adding detail to the story because we think the reader might not be aware of why there weren't many bison left, I'm not sure: > Bison had become nearly extinct due to genocide by European settlers is going to help. Any reader who'd benefit from specifying why bison had been largely wiped out, probably won't connect the dots here, and will instead read that as genocide against bison. Readers who read "genocide" as referring to "genocide against indigenous people, part of which was eradication of bison" didn't need any of this called out to begin with.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- smcl 3y agoI don't think it's right to hold a comment on HN to the same standards as a magazine article, though. It's entirely possible to write that sentence you had a problem with in a way that describes what happened without any confusion.
- WalterBright 3y agoThe purpose was to force them onto the reservation, not exterminate them. See "Empire of the Summer Moon". https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Summer-Moon-Comanches-Powerful/dp/1416591060/ https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Summer-Moon-Comanches-Powerful... An excellent read for anyone curious about the history of this.
- steve_adams_86 3y agoI don’t read that as a cause for guilt as a white person. I wasn’t there and I wouldn’t currently support that kind of endeavour. I’d almost certainly speak up against it, and I don’t hesitate to speak up about injustices that are still occurring. I read it as important history to take into account moving forward. There’s no need for guilt over a past you didn’t participate in. There is however a benefit from considering the past and how it affects the present, and an opportunity to be better for it. At no point does anyone need to feel guilty, though.