FUTHER CONVERSATIONS WITH READERS
VIOLENCE & VIABILITY
James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.
© December 13, 2008
“The violence done us by others is often less painful than that which we do to ourselves.”
Francois Duc de La Rochefoucauld (1630 – 1680), French Courtier and Moralist
GERMAN FRIEND WRITES:
Jim,
It was not at all my intention to accuse anybody of crimes in the past. Finger pointing doesn’t do any good and cannot take away ones own defaults. I only wanted to explain that slavery was nothing special around the world at a certain historic period, whereas the Red Indian situation is specific to the Americas.
And also this issue is not an exclusive US one, because the conquest of South and Latin America caused similar interference with the natives there.
Looking back to the past with resentment or with shame respectively is to no avail. What counts is the reaction in the present time and looking into the future! And that's not easy at all.
What a coincidence:
In the news this morning there was a report on an exhibition in the city of Bremen of “The world of Sitting Bull." Ernie LaPointe, the last surviving great-grandson of Sitting Bull, spoke about his great-grandfather's legacy and the ways in which Sitting Bull's life has been distorted and mythologized in official histories.
Take care and never mind (reference my error mentioned below),
Manfred
DR. FISHER RESPONDS:
Manfred,
I don't mean to extend this chatter on this subject, but in my book (never published) NOWHERE MAN IN NOWHERE LAND, I excoriate the Roman Catholic Church and the Catholic missionaries of Spain. I go on in that book to show what mainly Spanish missionaries did to North and South America during the Spanish Conquest and Exploitation period that followed.
It was horrendous and ludicrous to the extreme. Killing cultures and superimposing Christianity on them was so unbelievable I could hardly fathom it, and me being of Christian heritage.
That is interesting about Sitting Bull. The interesting thing about all cultures, the American Indian culture no exception, is that virtually everything that man is and man does is mythologized, as if necessary to make it live in the future. The Story of Jesus, which is apropos this time of year, has been proven by scholars to be largely mythology. That does not diminish from the Life of Jesus, but is representative of what “Sitting Bull” has endured.
We Americans are part and parcel of a violent society. In Tampa here, alone, we have more murders per year than Japan, which has roughly the same population as the United States.
The United States has always been violent from its inception or colonizing period until the present. We have more guns than people -- "the right to bear arms" being in the Constitution -- with an indigenous mistrust of authority.
We even have in our Constitution, and the Federal Papers that we have a right to overthrow our government if it impinges on our rights to "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness."
We are also frequently driven to create seditious acts that keep us in toll. It was true in the Civil War, WWI, WWII, and most recently with the Patriotic Act since 9/11, where our privacy has essentially been taken from us. Soon we will have as many cameras watching us as watch the Brits in England.
Incidentally, I got a lot of hate mail from my substantial email address book when I came out early for Barak Obama, and then wrote what was wrong with the United States, and what needed fixing. I was called "not worthy to be called DOCTOR," and "not patriotic," and "why don't you go somewhere else where pinkos like you live," and on and on.
Americans don't like to think about their sins, or their violence -- we have more murders in the United States per population than anywhere else in the world -- and how much Americans love war. Peter Gay, the European, who wrote about the era between Queen Victoria and Sigmund Freud, speaking of Europe, called it "pleasure wars." Well, the shoe fits Americans, too.
It is interesting to me that the two most warring like nations, the two nations that seem to get the most pleasure out of war are the United States and Russia. We make -- both societies -- good soldiers because we like to kill each other daily on our streets and byways. Sad.
My wonder is what is to happen to the Soviet Union’s arsenal of atomic and nuclear weapons in the era of eclectic terrorist groups throughout the planet. Dirty nuclear bombs could do terrible damage to civilization and morality far worse than 9/11.
Will Obama change the dialogue? I don't know but I think he brings forth the possibility with a rare intelligence and ability to articulate his ideas. I think he is the best writer as Commander-in-Chief since Jefferson. Articulation often seems the problem of American authority, that is to say, the president doesn't say what he means, and doesn't mean what he does. Obama may be able to correct that.
The world can no longer tolerate a self-indulgent, narcissistic society that consumes a quarter of the fossil fuel, and hordes other resources to maintain its lifestyle. I will not be around for it but I think the so-called "rainbow coalition" of multi-race, multi-religion, multi-lingual, and multi-culture is good for the United States. I have no problem whatsoever with the fact that everybody doesn't speak English. It is a nice feeling to be in the center of the world when you're at the supermarket.
With all its sins, the United States is a vibrant, resilient and dynamic society with a heart and soul and human constitution that is a measure of its possibility. It must stop beating itself on the chest, however, saying such things as the US is "the lone superpower" and the American presidency is "the most powerful office in the world."
It would be nice to see my country hunker down to the fact that it can't even meet the needs of a few thousand people when a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina suddenly falls upon it.
Thank you, as always, for your stimulating views.
Be always well,
Jim
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PREVIOUSLY: I misspoke regarding the disposition of the migration and resettling of the American Indians in President Andrew Jackson’s administration. I said “North East” when of course it was the Pacific North West.
JRF
MANFRED,
Correction -- President Jackson drove the American Indians to the PACIFIC NORTH WEST with “The Trail of Tears.” I was trying to get this out as we were leaving the house for a get together of BB's school people. Sorry.
Be always well,
Jim
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