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July 31, 2006
Ravenous Wolves
by Tina Grazier
I've been bugged about this one for years...and then last week I stumbled across the perfect opportunity to vent in a book review by Mark Steyn. The book, "Before the Dawn" by Nicholas Wade, apparently exposes as bunk the myth that primitive civilizations lived in perfect peace and harmony with nature and each other. The books experts, Professor Lawrence Keeley of the University of Illinois and Steven LeBlanc of Harvard agree that archeologists
and anthropologists have "seriously underreported the prevalence of warfare among primitive societies". Keeley. . .
asserts that "87 percent of primitives were at war more than once a year and 65 percent were at war continuously." The Mayan elite have been portrayed as high spiritual priests yet new translations of Mayan records reveal a warring community heavily into sacrifice. This information certainly counters the PC crowd's new mythology and notion of ancient tribal superiority.
Says Mr. Steyn,
"We've grown used to the biases of popular culture. If a British officer meets a native -- African, Indian, whatever -- in any movie, play or novel of the last 30 years, the Englishman will be a sneering supercilious sadist and the native will be a dignified man of peace in perfect harmony with his environment in whose tribal language there is not even a word for 'war' or 'killing' or 'weapons of mass destruction.'"
In the movie "Dances with Wolves" Kevin Costner sought to paint a more truthful portrait of American Indians than those in earlier movies. The movie was beautifully done. The tribe was seen with both the beauty and blemish that makes all human beings real but the movie also depicted most of the white men as stupid, angry, thoughtless, humorless, and brutal. It wasn't terribly offensive since the focus of the film was the soldier's relationship
with the tribe and there was a degree of balance. But, as Mark points out in his book review, by the time Hollywood made the children's movie Pocahontas, John Smith and his men were despicable people who "prowl the earth like
ravenous wolves" and Chief Powhatan just wanted people to be "guided to a place of peace."
Whether this attitude toward the white male is fueled by personal guilt, a deep need to blame the world's evils on someone who looks like dad or some other twisted notion, it is totally absurd...but it inspires a question. Is this PC notion that certain white males are inherently evil fueling attitudes about the war and could it explain the hatred for George Bush, Carl Rove, Dick Cheney, and Rummy...those ravenous wolves!
Posted by Post Scripts at July 31, 2006 07:38 AM
Comments
This is one of my pet peeves, especially the American Indian part. Movies after 1970 (and the introduction of LSD in the 60's) seem to make the explorer, railroader, cowboy, miner or cattleman into some greedy killer trying to exterminate the Indian. Hollywood generally tells us the Indians simply wanted to live at peace with nature and had highly advanced moral values on many levels, that we of course destroyed, having no moral values.
Reality was quite different, Indians were at war all the time with each other, some tribes were annihilated completely. Knocking babies in the head with a war axe was nothing unusual, just all in a days raiding. Burning down a forest to flush out game into the hands of a hunting party happened fairly often too. Murdering for theft was part of most Indian cultures and was acceptable as long as it was done to another tribe.
Not all Indians practiced ALL these things ALL the time or there wouldn't have been any Indians left by the time the white man arrived, but it happened frequently enough in the majority of Indian tribes.
I recall a story writen in a diary about a war party coming here from hundreds of miles away, abducting a small boy from a farm near what is now Champman town, then dragging the child behind their ponies for miles before he was cut up and killed. The pursuing father and friends found what was left of the 8 year old the next day, but never found the raiding party.
I've also read personal accounts how going from Marysville to Grass Valley (cattle work or gold mining) could be subject to Indian ambush as late as the 1860'-70s.
Back in the 1800's the atrocities were many, on both sides. However, Hollywood always portrayed Indians were more like environmentalists and peace activists, innocent victims of white devils. If you follow the evolution of the tribes in America you find much of the indian terrority changed in size and location through tribal warfare. Indians and whites both did very wrong things. But, whites had technology and the numbers and so they prevailed, if it was the other way around I guess we would be owning the casinos now?
Posted by: Jack Lee at July 31, 2006 08:43 AM
I once told a friend of mine the evils of western civilization were really the evils of humanity in general. Every civilization from the dawn of time has raped, murdered, looted and subjugated their weaker enemies for a variety of reasons. It is not a western phenomena.
The west simply came up with the most efficent methods of economics and government which facilitated greater expansion.
You can call it evil all day long, and certainly atrocities are a terrible thing, but it is a human condition, not a western one as our liberal friends like to explain.
I might also mention, that the west is the first culture to truly attempt to help other nations with little or no benefit to themselves.
In short all cultures have been played the same game, liberals just like the underdogs. Which is fine, but remeber the underdogs are after the same thing.
Posted by: Nick Freitas at July 31, 2006 09:05 AM
Let's add to that, the underdog isn't always a nice dog. These days it's likely the underdog is a cold calculating killer.
Posted by: Toby Stahler at August 1, 2006 06:40 AM
I once told a friend of mine the evils of western civilization were really the evils of humanity in general.
Isn't it amazing that something this basic can so easily be dismissed?
Let's add to that, the underdog isn't always a nice dog.
Clever!...and is often a very bad dog!
Back in the 1800's the atrocities were many, on both sides.
I've always thought that all of the history in America is my history...Indian stories, black, stories, immigrant stories, Mexicans stories, pilgrims, trappers, explorers...all of it is my history. I really would love it if we could just get that and let go of the division.
Posted by: Tina at August 1, 2006 10:35 PM