Aboriginal Rights

» woorama - "Some home truths about Native Americans"

there is a new john two-hawks article up now - indian etiquette and offense.

i like his writing. the right wing and the anti-indigenous lobby are never constrained by the need to reference or provide proof for their constant littany of anti-aboriginal propaganda - so i think we need writers like mr 2-hawks on our side who do the same. or else we could never hope to maintain any kind of voice in opposition.

"historically established" whose history? that's western history.

mr 2hawks' articles may be subjective, but isn't that needed for just a little balance?

i often find aboriginal thinkers are hindered by rules their right wing counterparts are not constrained by. this is because mainstream people get to say things like "the truth", which assumes that history is some empirical reality with only one version - the anglo-centred version.

the rest of us are hindered by the knowledge that history is constantly shifting, in motion due to the new stories and hidden secrets that are constantly coming to light.

references are not proof - the fact that someone has said something before you is not some divine measure of truth. to wit, this site is not an academic one (thankfully).

rather, as it says in the welcome message, this is a place where aboriginal people can define their own realities and identities, as free as possible from the western constructs that constantly seek to define us. one of these western constructs is academia, which i constantly seek to avoid. thus, our writings here are necessarily subjective, and represent our viewpoint and self-image - us looking out at the world, rather than the world looking in at us, which is what you find in the usual western sociological, anthropological and political texts that to date have defined our identity in the western world.

-- posted by woorama