Their numbers were few and the resources were plentiful.

... convinced their culture was superior to all others.

If only "you people" could be more like us!

That shit still goes on today, even here on DU.

Congratulations you hard working industrial age man, destroyer of ecosystems, you fleas who think you are greater beings than the dog whose blood you suck.

What will be known of our "great" civilization in 100,000 years? Will anyone care? Or will we be merely a peculiar layer of trash in the geologic record, unremarkable in every way, except maybe for our ignorance and bizarre certainty that we were more powerful, somehow, than Nature.

This planet has experienced innovative species before with exponentially growing populations. We are not the first, we will not be the last. Our fine human minds are no more important in the grand design of this universe than the first chloroplast.

That's why we must love one another, whatever our cultural differences, and see this earth as a garden, bigger than we are, not as a "resource" to exploit.

"Mother Nature" wears steel toe boots, her foot is rapidly approaching our fragile human face. It's probably a good time to stop trying to tell her what to do, roll aside, and figure out how to work with her and not against her.

Anyone who can't figure out the "loving your neighbor" part of the deal, and the "working with nature, not against it" part of the deal, isn't going to make the world a better place.

In Christian terms, Satan is recruiting. He's got plenty of work available for those unable to find joy in the most basic, simple, pleasures of being an ordinary mammal of the human species.

There's one tomato in my front garden I've been watching that's just about ripe. I wouldn't sell it for twenty dollars but I might give it away.

you fixed it by making us one of those layers we pass in the rocks on the way to work, where the spray painted artwork of "Braz the Magnificent 2012" is starting to fade. I think that is the more likely scenario, sooner rather than later.

"Mother Nature" wears steel toe boots, < true. Never been a human that tough, and the more the merrier, she says.

It's all about how much better you make others, as it turns out and what you get is just coincidence. Sometimes Karma kisses you, sometimes she runs your ass off the road in a fatal one car rollover. At least you had a shot.

Great post, Thank you.

Locals usually exaggerate the depth and legitimacy of their land claims. The language spoke there doesn't have a time-depth of 6000 years. If the dorks that claim language and culture are inseparable were to be believed, the people that lived in Yosemite couldn't possibly have been there that long.

It's possible that some lineages, however, though cultural and linguistic changes, remained in the area.

They were there a fairly long time by most Native American standards--1000 years, perhaps a bit more. (However, again, most traditional narratives claim long, long residence. Whether Native American or many European or Asian narratives. They "lie" in the sense they are false; they do not lie in the sense that they are believed to be true.)



One thing few bother to notice is that all the "technological" changes that occurred in Europe in the 1700-1900s (and in the US) required and resulted in cultural changes. It wasn't the case that indigenous cultures were uniquely suited to science and such; it was the case that some changed their culture and converted/morphed local cultures to suit the needs of science "and such." This took centuries. It's ongoing, as all the anti-vaxxer nonsense demonstrates in spades.

The things that give us electrical power, smart phones, and low infant mortality rates are coupled with cultural changes. We want to be respectful, even adorational, of traditional cultures because, well, because; we reject the idea that traditional beliefs kill our offspring; we reverence the idea that all cultural attitudes unchanged are fully and wonderfully compatible with technology and a universal approach to humanity (while embracing the idea that those we disapprove of are even reasonable). Jennifer McCarthy, paging Jennifer McCarthy.

It also pays to remember that most ethnicities call themselves "people." "The people." Because the comparison is with other tribes and ethnicities, which, consequently, aren't really "people." Precisely as the Greeks called all non-Greeks "barbaroi"--babblers, and usually somehow less than "real people." American exceptionalists are, consequently, the world.

When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you can’t eat money.

Imperial 'splainin of tribal culture is so often tragically and amusingly clueless; it never fails to amaze how the all knowing imperial 'splainers can speak so confidently and arrogantly about how they know so much more about our cultures than we do. It never fails to amaze how the all knowing imperial 'splainers can speak so confidently and arrogantly about how they know so much more about what happened in tribal lands hundreds of years before the imperial 'splainers stole the land and murdered the inhabitants.
-----------------------------------
"But Smohalla," said I, "the country is all filling up with white people and their herds. The game is nearly all gone. Would it not be better for your young Indians to learn the white man's work ?"

"My young men shall never work," said he with a wave of the hand, including numerous imaginary Indians, as well as the two seated near by. " Men who work cannot dream, and wisdom comes to us in dreams."

"But your young men have to work hard during the fishing season to get food for winter."

"We simply take the gifts that are freely offered. We no more harm the earth than would an infant's fingers harm its mother's breast. But the white man tears up large tracts of land, runs deep ditches, cuts down forests, and changes the whole face of the earth. You know very well this is not right.

"Every honest man,'" said he, looking at me searchingly, "knows in his heart that this is all wrong. But the white men are so greedy they do not consider these things."

"Each must learn for themselves the highest wisdom. It cannot be taught with words."

you are never going to hear that on corporate media.

Very profound and thought provoking.