More likely, the word Indian comes from Columbus's description of the people he found here. He was an Italian, and did not speak or write very good Spanish, so in his written accounts he called the Indians, "Una gente in Dios." A people in God. In God. In Dios. Indians. It's a perfectly noble and respectable word.
As far as calling them 'Americans' is concerned, do I even have to point out what an insult this is? We steal their hemisphere, kill twenty or so million of them, destroy five hundred separate cultures, herd the survivors onto the worst land we can find, and now we want to name them after ourselves? It's appalling. Haven't we done enough damage? Do we have to further degrade them by tagging them with the repulsive name of their conquerors?
You know, you'd think it would be a fairly simple thing to come over to this continent, commit genocide, eliminate the forests, dam up the rivers, build our malls and massage parlors, sell our blenders and whoopee cushions, poison ourselves with chemicals, and let it go at that. But no. We have to compound the insult....
I'm glad the Indians have gambling casinos now. It makes me happy that dimwitted white people are losing their rent money to the Indians. Maybe the Indians will get lucky and win their country back. Probably wouldn't want it. Look at what we did to it.
Anyway, rest in peace, dude. Your heart was in the right place even if your facts were slightly off.
For more on the subject, see Yeagley: Liberals Deceive Indians About Name, Spirituality.
4 comments:
Writerfella here --
Yes, George Carlin now is dead but he ordinarily had the right ideas behind his comedy. Faint praise does not honor the genius of the man, nor does faint praise honor those who bestow it...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
I don't praise or condemn most of the items I post. Why should this one be any different?
Do you think what Carlin said was remarkable? Do you feel like gushing over it? Then go ahead and gush.
There wasn't much new in Carlin's speech except his misstatement of the origin of "Indian." I posted it to commemorate his passing, not because it was especially original or insightful. If some unknown person had said the same thing, I probably wouldn't have bothered.
At least I did something to acknowledge Carlin's death. What did you do to acknowledge it? Did you note it in your blog?
Oh, that's right...you don't have a blog. You leech off mine because you're too lazy to start your own. Newspaper Rock is one of the leading venues for Native issues and you obviously know it. That's why you use it to promote yourself.
I've posted several thousand items to your zero, but somehow I'm the one who's fallen short? Well, thanks for letting us know you don't approve. Now why don't you give us something other than your usual nattering negativism? Make a useful contribution to the universe, for once.
Writerfella here --
Because it was. All anyone has to do is read your 'comment.'
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
So you think I should add a "great posting" comment to each of my postings? Talk about your unnecessary verbosity.
I guess it's a good thing you don't have your own blog. You'd be patting yourself on the back constantly: saying how great each posting was and how great you were for posting it.
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