One Native American anon responds to another on how cultures die out, and how it relates to what happened to theirs:
>I am a Native American Indian. It is our culture that we do not own land people walk on.
I am also a Native American. Our culture died because we allowed it to die. Culture can only survive if someone is willing to fight for it. If no one is willing to, it will die. You’re seeing it happen now in Europe, as well as in America, Canada, and Australia.
It was never about the land. It was about the hearts of the people. The clay was secondary at best, irrelevant. You don’t need land to preserve the identity of a people. It does help, but it is not necessary.
The majority of our people, if one could even use the term to describe the numerous disparate and warring tribes, were not interested in preserving their ways, or at least, not interested enough to make significant efforts and strides to do so. Our ancestors could have used the knowledge of the Europeans to build towns and cities, chapels and schools. We could have sent children to study medicine and engineering, built our own printing presses and firearms, raised our own libraries filled with books penned by our own hands.
They chose not to. What happened to us is terrible, regrettable, tragic, and horrific. But do not pretend we do not share at least equal portion of the blame. We did not march ourselves down the Trail of Tears, no, but we did not strive to survive it, either. We were given land. Was it enough? No, not even remotely. But we were given it nonetheless. It was ours, to do with as we pleased. What did we do with it? What have we done with it, in all the intervening centuries?
Nothing. We have built trailer parks and casinos. Are we to blame “the white man” for that as well? How far down the rabbit hole will you reach, looking for excuses? To what lengths will you go to avoid accepting responsibility for your own choices and actions, including your lack thereof?
It is easy to pass the blame to others. Feel free to cite me what that has ever accomplished for anyone, ever, in the history of the world.
Will you blame the long dead for your circumstances today forever? Is that your goal?
The dead are dead. They mean nothing. Stalin is dead. The Nazis are dead. The people who fought the Nazis are dead. The American pioneers are dead. Joan of Arc is dead. Bismark is dead. Winston Churchhill is dead. Sitting Bull is dead. The men who founded the United Nations are dead. The soldiers who fought in World War I are dead.
Our ancestors are dead. And so are all of the people who tormented them.
They are all gone. They have power only as memories and ideals. And while an idea is not to be underestimated, that does not change that they are all gone. What is real is what is here, right now. You. Me. Everyone around you. That’s real.
The world is made up entirely of those who were born into it with the inherited lots that were cast to them. Whether that lot is a weapon and a blessing, or a curse and a burden, is entirely up to you and what you choose to make of it. We can make of this world and our inheritance in it a palace or a prison, at our discretion.
You can accept responsibility for that, accept that the burden falls squarely on you to change your lot in life if you are dissatisfied, or you can cry as the walls come tumbling down. It is your choice. And the consequences of what you choose are yours as well.
Very heavy stuff. The more ominous side to this Indian anon’s warning is that as he says, it doesn’t just apply to what happened to the Native Americans. The same thing is happening in various degrees to many different cultures around the world, some of which have been dominant in their respective societies until very recent times.
The next few decades ahead of us will be pivotal for the human civilization, for better or for worse.
Original screen cap:
Temple of Zagan 