Open Trackback & Comments Sunday
The “Defending The Indefensible” Edition
There’s little doubt that the residential schools were well-intentioned.
A yes, the ‘they had good intentions and things just got out of hand‘ defence, ‘a few bad apples‘ as it were —- no one has ever tried that one before have they?
It’s always a good rational for the evils your culture commits isn’t it JR?
My Predictions for the 2008 Chicago Force Regular Season…
Regular readers know that I never predict the future, I just predict the past. So, the fact that I’m making predictions about the 2008 women’s football regular season means the season is, in fact, over. Fortunately, the Chicago Force is……
They were intended to assimilate Native people–to accomplish the task of ethnocide. There are people who might see this sort of thing as “well-intentioned,” but Godwin forbids me from being more specific.
Well put, Doctor. The residential school system was government-sponsored systemic racism. Anyone claiming that they were created for any other purpose than to eradicate Aboriginal culture ought to take a closer look at the historical record.
China Offically Overtakes U.S. as World’s Largest Polluter…
Bet none of the eco-communists will admit to this stunning development.
The real kicker is that China has an economy that is four times smaller, that’s right, smaller than the U.S. and yet it is producing more pollution!
How about we stop trading…
When Did Father`s Day Start?…
my father gave me a present which I have been able to convey to both of my sons and hopefully they will likewise convey to their children: a great sense of humor….
It is a defence mechanism IMO - a way of avoiding or minimizing the simple fact that your [supposedly enlightened and civilized] culture and government, in very recent history, supported (in some cases) by your tax dollars, and most certainly by your parents tax dollars, engaged in very violent, arrogant, and racist policies against an Aboriginal minority.
Those who engage in such stupidity rather than see history (as admitted by their government) as it is are to be pitied as well as scolded.
Dawg: Godwins Law holds little sway here.
I daresay that the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and Ang Lee are “well-intentioned”, at least in their own minds. Are we to forgive them for their attrocities?
I don’t even know the topic, but in my experience you almost never use an emotion to defend a position. I always try the truth, no matter how odd that seems. ;)
Light Humor Sunday Trackposts…
Now for some light humor from my brother…
I would argue that applying today’s standards, understandings and expectations to a policy written 100 or so years ago is Monday morning quarterbacking to the extreme. Other countries were behaving in similar (or in the case of South Africa, worse) fashions up until what, the 1960/70/80s?
That being said, it was a brutal policy and truly indefensible.
We are not talking about 100 years ago, I have friends and relatives who were mentally, sexually, and physically abused in these schools Candace - to apply the “ancient history” argument to this discussion is to apply the term “ancient” to me and my friends - and while I’m getting closer every year I’m not yet 1/2 of those 100 years you speak of.
What Dawg said was that the purpose of the schools was ethnocide - the killing of a culture. And he is quite correct. That goal was explicitly stated again and again, usually phrased more positively - “introducing young Indian and Inuit children to Western culture to help them assure their future”, “rescuing poor natives from a life of squalor and poverty”, and so on.
I don’t doubt that many of the bureaucrats and priests and teachers were decent folks who thought they were doing the right thing. But they weren’t.
@Candace - I have always wondered about this argument that you can’t apply today’s standards to past events - I have never seen a convincing argument as to why not.
The only way we make progress and move forward as a society is by looking at past events and judging them - and then learning from them. To say “it was a brutal policy and truly indefensible” in the same post as “I would argue that applying today’s standards, understandings and expectations to a policy written 100 or so years ago is Monday morning quarterbacking to the extreme” is basically saying “our ancestors were fucken assholes, but then again EVERYONE was a fucken asshole back then.”
Wrong is wrong, don’t try to weasel out of it.
Candace - would you make the same claim about Slavery? Of the 1973 attack on Israel? Or women not being able to vote? Or the Jim Crow Laws? If not, why is this any different?
NEWS & OPINION ROUNDUP (16 JUNE 2008) "NO ATHIEST IN FOXHOLES" EDITION…
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Every era incorporates unexamined wrongs that most of its residents don’t notice. MOST slaveowners at the height of slavery didn’t walk around burdened by a secret sense of guilt. Most nineteenth century males didn’t think there was anything odd about the fact that their wives couldn’t vote. To us the injustice inherent in those situations is obvious; to them, it was wallpaper.
I wonder what transparently obvious social evil future generations will be shaking their head about when they look back at us.
Balbulican said: “I wonder what transparently obvious social evil future generations will be shaking their head about when they look back at us.”
Child Welfare.
I’m guessing the prison system, but we’ll have to wait and see. Did you have plans for your next life?
This part I understand. The part I don’t understand with is why this is some kind of excuse or how it diminishes the atrocity in question.
If you don’t mean to excuse or diminish the atrocity, then why bring it up in the first place? A little too Bill O’Reilly for me.
what transparently obvious social evil…
Whooee! Child welfare, the prison system, the separate school system, homage to car culture, bottled water, controlled immigration, circumcision, who knows?
I reckon our biggest failure (the human race’s, that is) is worldwide poverty and starvation. We’re on the cusp of an even bigger disaster than we’re already in and yet, millions live like kings while millions starve. With all of our resources, we will look back in shame at the 24,000 people who starved to death every day in 2008, so far. That’s eight times the 9/11 death toll — every single day.
JB
@JimBobby - I concur.
What’s this whole “Child Welfare” thing though?
Child welfare was Wideye’s suggestion. I suspect he’s talking about the abuses of various social service agencies like Children’s Aid Society. The tip of that iceberg shows up every so often with some horrific tale of child abuse under the negligent eye of some social service bureaucracy. But that’s just what i suspect Wideye might have been referring to.
JB
Ok, in that case I guess it makes sense.
I come from a very (very) large family - 11 of whom are adopted and/or foster siblings. Having heard the stories of my siblings of life in previous homes, I would say that Child Welfare does more harm than good.
PATIENT EVIL - An R.J. Godlewski / Right Truth Blog Exclusive - Chapter Fourteen…
Haytham downshifted through the five gears of the truck as the guards motioned for the vehicle to park adjacent to one of the coral-colored rectangular buildings, exhaling as he finally switched off the diesel engine. He knew that his task was far from…
Hacking Is So Much Fun! (not)…
I FOUND THE PROBLEMI’ve found what and who the problem is, I think. It was rather obvious when I started going through every single URL and link from last night, when Sally Vee caught it - in a brand new post. I don’t know if the code has been …
Its my personal and humble opinion that the Child Welfare Legislation is old and so broken that is SHOULD be the next obvious evil . It may have started with (again) the best of intentions to protect children…who would disagree from such a lofty goal….but in fact only removes children from one harm leaving them exposed to a myriad of others.
I am an older child of the “sixities scoop”. The five children removed from my mother were not taken because of abuse or neglect. We were removed because she worked and left the children in the care of her mother, our Grandmother. How shocking that it was considered neglect for an Aboriginal woman to work and support her family. How shocking it was for her to come home to find her children gone - without a trace.
So un-clean water, circumcision, car culture…yup bad. The reason I say Child Welfare policies is because after all this education about the impacts from the residential school, we can say today with knowledge - that there are more Aboriginal children in institutional care today than at the height of residential schools. And still there are precious few programs geared towards the family and supporting the needs of families to say together. And that’s why it is the most obviously shocking and transparent evil…but if it doesn’t impact you directly, why would you think of it?
This is not a knock to the families that foster or adopt - more power to those who care and give of themselves but I am referring to legislation that needs to be revised. If not Child Welfare legislation as a whole - then certainly the Aboriginal Child Welfare policy…as a policy analyst/researcher my passion has been and always will be the well being of Aboriginal children but I am prepared to accept that this legislation does no one any favours.
Balbulican…I’m open to possibilities for my next life. I guess I don’t care much so much as I have an easier time. I like being a woman - it has its struggles but I think being a man has it’s own set of challenges. I’m kinda just getting the hang of being woman so another go next time around should help…what about you?
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@wideye - That is pretty terrible wideye.
I guess my own perspective comes from my own experiences with my siblings, all of whom are grateful that my parents adopted and/or fostered them.
Inuviit? Namimiutaugavit?
Federal Way graduates High School students who did not graduate…
OK, I may be narrow minded, but this bothers me. I overheard this today on The Commentators.
Here in Washington, like other states, we have the state standards of graduation. One of those is the controversial WASL, which has been …
Agga. Itkiliq. ;)
Obama Is Hands On, Gives A F** You And Winnie Too!…
So, I wonder how the Missiah is doing at being a hands on administrator, as I mentioned yesterday at McCain Blogs (Via Memeorandum)
NY Observer - Clinton Bundler on Obama’s Doyle Pick: The Biggest ‘Fuck You’ Ever
A former bundler to ….
[...] According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, , and Stageleft, thanks to Linkfest Haven [...]
Left Continues Denigration Of McCain’t Military Service, POW Heroism…
You know, I didn’t think that the left could sink any lower than debauched literati Gore Vidal’s “POW denial” published over the weekend in the New York Times. Unfortunately, it would appear that I was wrong. Just consider this disgusting……
[...] According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, , and Stageleft, thanks to Linkfest Haven [...]
NEWS & OPINION ROUNDUP (18 JUNE 2008) THE HANG PRESIDENT BUSH EDITION…
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preying on the ignorant…
Fuel prices are going up. The cost of a barrel of raw oil has more than doubled, and is working on tripling, since last year. Food prices have gone up accordingly, and other products seem to be following suit. Basically,……
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Random Presidential Thought…
While watching some stand up the other night, I got to thinking….does Bush watch/listen to this stuff as well? And if so, does he get upset? Does he laugh? I guarantee you the people who work in the white house think everything said about him is …
big lice?
@Shmohawk Hey, dude, it’s not MY language. Besides, wasn’t it YOU guys who came up with “Eskimo”?
Inuktitut names for other ethnic groupings are pretty weird/cool.
White folks, generally, as referred to as “kabloonaq” (spelled any of a zillion ways, so don’t jump down my throat, Throbbin’). It’s also been translated a zillion ways, but my favourite rendering is Minnie Aodla Freeman’s translation, “People who pamper their eyebrows”.
Blacks are “Portugee”.