September 01, 2006

No business defending Indians?

Here's what a couple critics said after reading my criticism of the Y-Indian Guides:

"[A]lthough you make some good points in your retort, you miss a few important ones."

"You are pretentious and self-righteous, and have no business 'defending' people from one of the greatest family-bonding organizations in America."

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeech. It's coming back to me now. I might have actually participated in something like that when young. It's long past time to get rid of such things. If they want to play dress-up, let them act like Klingons or ancient Spartans.

Rob said...

As I wrote in my writeup, I was briefly in the Indian Guides too. Unless it's changed drastically, the program provides stereotypical thinking about Native people, not real knowledge.

Anonymous said...

There is an American culture. It is strong; so strong in fact that some other countries pass laws to limit/censor it lest it overwhelm their own "culture".

Anonymous said...

Can you show even one culture that is entirely "pure"? Or do you realize that all cultures everywhere are a mixture of what was there before (done by others), influences from elsewhere, and what is being done now.

Anonymous said...

"as opinions never are facts and facts never are opinions."

If the opinion is factual, then it is a fact. An opinion that is not factual is just plain incorrect.

Rob said...

What are some aspects of this "one" American culture? Tacos, sushi, curry? Hip-hop, manga, the tango? Powwows, seders, oktoberfests? Buddhism, Wicca, Santeria? Give us some idea of this one culture and what it consists of.

If the so-called American culture is a mix of several cultures and influences, it isn't one culture. If people have a few shared beliefs (e.g., democracy, capitalism) they also have many disagreements. In short, America is a multicultural stew of ingredients, not a monocultural bowl of gruel.

Anonymous said...

I agree 100% with what you said there, Rob. When I said there was "an American culture", I was not defending the ludicrous "One Single Culture" idea. I was defending the "multicultural stew of ingredients" from bashing by Writerfella.