What are your thoughts on (or experiences with) Native Americans?

[Shidoen]

Cherokees are whiney bitches and the only cool tribe I know are the Seminoles.

 

[xh9lqwz9c]

I wouldn't go so far as to say it was erased. If anything, it only became more concrete after white people introduced the concept of maintaining an actual written language.

I'm skeptical. I'd prob just take a similar approach to that of the European North Americans who, since dna tests became a thing, have come to terms with knowing that everything their family had to say about "the old country" that they'd never been to and where they now know the way-back ancestors weren't even from, is just some sentimental shit that they imagined.

I'd def take any white-guilt inspired government hand-outs, scholorships, etc I could my hands on, but that would be the extent of any proud heritage moments. Cowboys and Indians happened. Indians lost and did so in such a colossal fashion that I wouldn't trust anything that history books have to say about the culture.

Honestly, you should prob just keep the don't-trust-whitey element, treat any cartoonish hocus pocus sage burning nature worshiping as romantasized nonsense and move forward. Your past is a total lie at worst and a sad game of chinese whispers at best.

 

[Wot Zit Too Yah0996]

I have two: 1.) East End gangster, Frankie Fraser's dad was in the Canadian Navy, and was likely one of those Yellowknife "Indians", and 2.) My Grandad Brian was born in 1943, and my Gran (his widow) implied his dad might not have been have been his dad, so, for all we know, he could have been half "Indian". Or maybe he could have been Filipino, Mexican, Italian, Afrikaaner, Burmese, Japanese, Chinese, Asian Indian, Black Carribean, or Australian Aboriginal, for all we know.

Dunno if one fun fact, and a possible potential for a Who Do You Think You Are? episode count as experiences, really, but, eh, bollocks to it. Education is beautiful... (Sniffle)

@Shidoen To me, Crows are the coolest, because of Medicine Joe Crow, who, due to being in WW2, I sometimes like to think he stopped off in West Yorkshire, and conceived my Grandad, before he settled down, hopefully. It's probably unlikely, but it's a fun passing thought I have every now and then.

 

[Aunt Carol]

I wouldn't go so far as to say it was erased. If anything, it only became more concrete after white people introduced the concept of maintaining an actual written language.

This goes back to what I was wondering before, about cultural preservation.

It's interestingly a lot like pre-Christian England: most of what we know about paganism was recorded by Romans looking from outside and worried they were about to get speared by people whose language they couldn't understand. Or it was recorded by monks a few hundred years later, taking the opportunity to give ancient pagan oral tradition some Christian themes since they're writing it down anyway, e.g. Beowulf.

A few more hundred years later, we end up with Wiccans.

The difference is that the English pre-contact traditions that did remain in secret had to be passed down orally; literacy and printing technology were exponentially more widespread when the same institutional conversion came to the Indians. There were also anthropologists making an effort to study American tribes, not just a general writing an aside in his campaign diary about how the enemy was smeared in paint.

It's just fascinating to me that it's a race and a culture (and sometimes a religion); I guess the nearest similar group are Jews. People make fun of plastic Paddys and Italian-Americans, but they accept that a Jewish person is connected to their culture, even though their particular family has been in the US for generations and there's nobody talking about Jewish blood quantum.

I suppose the difference is a strong religious focus for group cohesion, vs. the external government incentive of casinos and/or welfare. They both get external persecution, and you can sell a hamsa plaque just as quickly as you can sell a dreamcatcher.

 

[Uncle Tom's Condo]

It's interestingly a lot like pre-Christian England: most of what we know about paganism was recorded by Romans looking from outside and worried they were about to get speared by people whose language they couldn't understand. Or it was recorded by monks a few hundred years later, taking the opportunity to give ancient pagan oral tradition some Christian themes since they're writing it down anyway, e.g. Beowulf.

It's not the same. There's been a consistent oral and practical history of natives and FN since the 1600s. And then you have the Inuit/Inupiat in the North where the whites made up some syllabic bs language that nobody uses, so nobody could even make shit up about that.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

A number of tribal leaders and lawyers seem to be really offended about any non-Indians copying Indian ways, which seem to always be held as so serious and so sacred. They seem to think that restricting ways from being copied somehow "protects" them, and that intangible ways and traditions should be "property" of certain peoples in perpetuity. Leaders of the Lakota peoples even declared war on so-called "plastic shamans", and this was before Current Year with that "cultural appropriation" BS. BTW, even if copying ways is "offensive", intangible "culture" itself cannot be "stolen", as such is non-rivalrous, and of course whites having misconceptions isn't always bad.

I have met some Indians on a school campus IRL -- not tribal leaders or lawyers BTW -- and they seemed nice.

 

[ShamefurDispray]

I wasn't born in the states so I can't count myself among them, but I like my brother and sometimes enjoy my sister's company. So Native Americans are alright with me.

 

[beet644]

I datted a Navajo girl right after highschool she was basically acted like hippy white girl but obviously brown with jet black hair. That was around 2012 but now sadly she got really into bipoc crap. If they don't have a grudge on white people most are chill. ( I do miss she look in a bikini back then. )

 

[san juan]

native americans are to north america what gypsies are to europe (except gypsies are not native so they cant claim special benefits).

if left to their own devices the neighborhoods quickly turn into crime infested garbage dumps. children running around in dirty diapers, trash (burned out cars, dishwashers, trash bags, fucking EVERYTHING) in various stages of decay for lawn ornaments, dilapidated buildings, etc

also i have no idea why they complain about "hollywood injun" stereotypes so much. hollywood did them a giant fucking favor painting them as noble savages on horseback because prior to european introduction, which they claim to despise so much, there were no horses in north america. in reality they are much closer to indian street food vendor levels of overall attractiveness and hygiene.

 

[Illumithotty]

The reservations I've been to have always been pretty seedy and shady, usually pretty much owned outright by one particular family or political dynasty with all the corruption that carries with it. People I've met who've grown up near reservations have nothing but loathing for them, for basically just being trashier than even the white trash themselves. But on the other hand, they're a problem on and around their reservations; never had to deal with some whooping retard running around in decent neighborhoods.

A number of tribal leaders and lawyers seem to be really offended about any non-Indians copying Indian ways, which seem to always be held as so serious and so sacred.

Though for this I do have some sympathy. Even now there's still a problem with 'spiritual but not religious' airheads picking up a genuine indian shaman to boost their self-image and rebalance their chakras, which is great for the shamans that can make a lot of easy money by catering to conceited assholes. But, in an alternate timeline where the Father Dowling Mysteries was a cultural phenomenon, I'd be pretty pissed off if my confirmation got pushed back year after year because all the priests were off in San Francisco taking confession from the ash-smothered wives of movie producers. However garbled or incomplete modern native religious practices are, trying to preserve that culture but having to offer competitive rates to the people that have that knowledge is a struggle in some tribes.

 

[Wood Logger]

Better than the stories I’ve heard about their Australian counterparts

 

[deermeat]

I don't understand the segregation. We fought a war, whether just or unjust, and they lost. We were way too nice to let them keep some land and maintain their own goverment. I think a lot tend to act like John Redcorns in terms of mentality because of it. Their "tribes" are full of addicts and the sane ones eventually integrate with other races anyways.

I'm sure these people stolen land themselves because that's what the human race does. We fight over territory and the strongest wins.

They are like black people. Generational trauma, not caused by system yadada but caused because their parents sucking ass and groom their kids into remaining pathetic losers because of "muh system" despite the times changing. Though at least Natives have culture for the most part and not just reclaiming southern mannerisms as their own or pretending committing crime is a good thing.

 

[Jhonny Jhon]

The last tribal I met started calling herself a Boygirl/Boygay, aka, a FTM who wants to act very effeminate and get fucked by manly men. And it has started to spread in the area, already heard of two more FtMs calling themselves that in the nearby College.

For this reason alone, they all ought to be burned alive. We shouldn't have spared them.

 

[The best and greatest]

Native Americans don't exist because humans are a non-native species to this continent.

 

[Cherry Eyed Hamster]

The last tribal I met started calling herself a Boygirl/Boygay, aka, a FTM who wants to act very effeminate and get fucked by manly men. And it has started to spread in the area, already heard of two more FtMs calling themselves that in the nearby College.

Oh no…are they falling for the 2Spirit identity or is it just the standard trans mumbo-jumbo?

 

[Jhonny Jhon]

Oh no…are they falling for the 2Spirit identity or is it just the standard trans mumbo-jumbo?

I honestly just think it's just weird fujoshi trying to have their SPESHUAL YAOI relationships. Because they think being straight is too boring.

I can't really post it because it could lead to me getting doxxed, but I've been sent an audio of one of the FtMs unironically saying her bussy was wet. I hope and pray this new mental infection does not spread further.

 

[Aunt Carol]

I've been sent an audio of one of the FtMs unironically saying her bussy was wet.

If the tribal elders want the young'ns to learn the language before all the native speakers die, they're going to have to put phrases like this in the curriculum.

 

[berry bruiser]

i can only tolerate being around them if they're sober. i have respect for the hardworking ones that choose to live in sobriety. they're uncommon but they do exist.

i used to live in a bad part of a city that was made up of low-income housing (natives & immigrants), and going for walks alone would usually result in getting chased down by a drunk native "HEY WHITE GIRL WHERE YOU GOIN." i can't tell you how many fucking times i've heard "hey auntie, got a smoke?"

i remember watching a drunk native couple from my apartment balcony, and the woman was crying about her kidneys hurting, "AHH MY FUKKEN KIDNEYSSS." she stopped and lied down in the middle of sidewalk and stayed there for like 30 minutes. i think she passed out and her boyfriend(?) left her there and kept walking. shit like that was a common occurrence.

 

[Neurotypical Mantis]

the full-blood ones are chill and the 1/100th ones are always whining

 

[Corpun]

If they want to fix their situations they need to depose their corrupt elders and chiefs who use their positions to grift and pin blame on the unending victim complex that gets pushed around.