[Vision2020] Buffalo:Cruel Joke Relates to Cruel History!

[lfalen]

I agree with Ted to the extent that there was a needless slaughter of buffalo: the net result of which was very harmful to the Plains Native 
Americans. I do not believe that was the intent.It had more to do with harvesting the hides for profit and for sport. there were plenty of atrocities on both sides. On balance the whites were the worst.
-----Original message-----
From: Tbertruss at aol.com
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 13:38:14 -0800
To: mushroom at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Buffalo:Cruel Joke Relates to Cruel History!

> 
> Don et. al.
> 
> I must have failed to be clear in my original post regarding the buffalo 
> joke.
> 
> What Native Americans want or do not want to be called is not the issue.  
> 
> The issue is that the joke about the buffalo was cruel and insensitive given 
> the historical facts about the buffalo and its meaning to some of the 
> indigenous people and cultures of this continent.  The ruthless slaughter of the 
> buffalo hunted to near extinction, primarily by white Caucasians, was a deliberate 
> attempt by the European culture to displace the indigenous native culture, via 
> destroying an animal that was critical to the cultural and physical survival 
> of some indigenous cultures
> 
> Therefore to place a Native American in the role as a senseless killer of 
> buffalo raises serious questions.  Why did the author of the joke place a Native 
> American in this position?  Why not a drunk Irishman, a stuffy Englishman, a 
> rapping Black man, etc.?  And why not a cow or a pig?  Apparently the author 
> thought there was some meaningful connection between Native Americans and 
> buffalo.  But the author was either deliberately being cruel, a common tactic in 
> humor, or did not know about the history between the buffalo and Native Americans 
> regarding the ruthless slaughter of the buffalo by the invading European 
> culture as a tactic to destroy Native American culture.
> 
> Perhaps the author intended the brutal irony implied by placing a Native 
> American in the role of a senseless killer of buffalo, when historically this 
> animal was respected and depended upon for survival by some Native American 
> cultures, and was nearly wiped out by the invading white European culture as a 
> deliberate tactic to destroy native culture.
> 
> I find it very common for even so called "progressive" minded people to 
> downplay and declare mostly irrelevant to modern times the genocidal campaign that 
> was carried out against the indigenous people of North America.  But the 
> cultural worldview that justified this genocidal campaign is still with us, 
> expressed in part in our recent invasion of Iraq.
> 
> Ted Moffett
>