theinvoluntary victim of mental disorder
As opposed to, you know, folks that sign up. "Oh, depression? Sure, sure, gimme a decade of that, and.. oh, what the hell, why not throw in a lifetime of paranoia and anxiety while you're at it! I want it all!"
nchoritish
"the practice of retiring to a solitary place for a life of religious seclusion"
mulatto
"(Dated, offensive): a person of mixed white and black ancestry, especially a person with one white and one black parent." What stance did this fucker even think he was taking? I can't tell
prolonged physical suffering seems to cancelevery social instinct of kindness
Talking about survival instincts - "Every man for himself" mentality
the noisy indocility of the blacks in general
...
less a servant than a devotedcompanion
Ties back to the "trusted dog" comment from earlier?
filia
filial: of or due from a son or daughter.
other symptoms of an absent or moodymind.
To be honest, do we care? He's both a slave-owner and a slave-trader... should we be at all concerned with his well-being when he so clearly has no concern for the well-being or lives of those he sells?
relaxes good order than misery.
You don't say.
suffering seemed to have brought out the less good-naturedqualities of the Negroes, besides, at the same time, impairing theSpaniard’s authority over them
As enslavement tends to do... The other annotator's anger is echoed in any decent readers.
their native tongue
Just Spanish, then, I assume. Clarify that this is the conquerors' tongue, not all of theirs'.
in whose rude face, asoccasionally, like a shepherd’s dog, he mutely turned it up into theSpaniard’s, sorrow and affection were equally blended.
An "owned affection" where one knows there is no escape but has learned a "new kind of love". Hm
the raw aspect of unsophisticatedAfricans
All...alright...? What?
.
Yes.
If you asked me, I’d say it’s nonsense.
I'm in love
reads like a male colonialist’s wet dream
This is. This is a callout post hahah
no surprise that this book would have provided an entertaining read back in the 17th century
I mean, to start, again, it wasn't... terrible for the 17th century but like... hhhh I hate that the ending proved you rightt it had some potential
heads straight into daytime soap opera.
You're... not entirely wrong
could not reek more of predictability and cliche
I dunno, the first part about Eliza was wacky and unpredictable, at least to the dumbass that is me
29.95 plus state tax
Hmm.
we’ll throw in the dagger she was stabbed with
Oh I should. Finish the book first. I'll be back.
It was butthe other day that if I had had the world, I would have given it formy freedom, or to have been a servant to a Christian
Your own personal freedom, not that of your children. The servant of a Christian, of a people of chronic abusers, the people who promote an abusive god.
I preferred before myself, undermany trials and afflictions, in sickness, weakness, poverty, losses,crosses, and cares of the world, I should be sometimes jealous least Ishould have my portion in this life
What? The fuck?
I have seen the extreme vanity of this world: One hour I have been inhealth, and wealthy, wanting nothing. But the next hour in sickness andwounds, and death, having nothing but sorrow and affliction.
Wealthy White Woman Wrath
ndthe Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and onthem which hate thee, which persecuted thee"
Call for genocide? Anyone? Is it just me seeing this?
The Indians often said that I should never have her undertwenty pounds. But now the Lord hath brought her in upon free-cost, andgiven her to me the second time.
Hmm
The Lord reward the major, and all the rest, though unknownto me, for their labor of Love.
Don't write it down if you don't know if it happened or not. This is considered fabrication, a fancy word for lying.
I was walking through the valley of the shadow of death
The fuck???
God is the wise disposer of all things
What is that supposed to mean
theirminister being absent, they desired my husband to preach thethanksgiving for them; but he was not willing to stay there that night,but would go over to Salisbury, to hear further, and come again in themorning, which he did, and preached there that day
Is he like a minister or something? She never mentioned it before
how it was buried by the heathen in thewilderness from among all Christians
What? The fuck? Thought you'd be happy the kid at least got a burial? You're all in the same damned dirt, what does it matter anyway?
The twenty pounds, the price of my redemption,was raised by some Boston gentlemen, and Mrs. Usher, whose bounty andreligious charity, I would not forget to make mention of.
You should've made him buy your son first, dude. Make sure he's outta "harm's way" before you are. Or could you not stomach that idea?
The Lord reward them sevenfold into their bosoms of His spirituals,for their temporals
Why would your god reward someone on your behalf? You're no equal? Pay your own damned kindnesses back or else nothing gets done
Iwas not before so much hemmed in with the merciless and cruel heathen,but now as much with pitiful, tender-hearted and compassionateChristians
Tell me, Since Fucking When
my brother-in-law, who asked me, if I knewwhere his wife was? Poor heart! he had helped to bury her, and knew itnot. She being shot down by the house was partly burnt, so thatthose who were at Boston at the desolation of the town, and came backafterward, and buried the dead, did not know her
Oh
nor one house left standing
You watched it burn down? You knew it would be like this???
Aboutthe sun going down, Mr. Hoar, and myself, and the two Indians cameto Lancaster, and a solemn sight it was to me.
So you did take their offer? I'm lost
I have been in the midstof those roaring lions, and savage bears, that feared neither God, norman, nor the devil, by night and day, alone and in company, sleeping allsorts together, and yet not one of them ever offered me the least abuseof unchastity to me, in word or action.
I can't process this right now but it feels important in some way?
the Lord answered my poor desire,
mmmmm selfcentrism
to return again to my going home
Wait, what
the heathen begins tothink all is their own
how many times do I have to say that YOU'RE INVADING THEIR HOME YOU TWAT
poor Christians'
The pity-me bible thumper line strikes again
They mourned (withtheir black faces)
Unnecessary as fuck clarifier, thanks?
triumphed and rejoiced intheir inhumane, and many times devilish cruelty to the English.
FUCKING. BULLSHIT. THINK BEFORE YOU WRITE EVER AGAIN
I was with the enemy eleven weeks and fivedays
You were only with them for like max three months and you wrote a novel about it.
instead of turning His hand against them
Did you never think that You and the Colonizers ARE the Adversary of which it speaks? Or are you that fucking egocentric that you cannot see from any point of view but your own?
the Lord feeds and nourishesthem up to be a scourge to the whole land.
They were here first, you are the scourge. Thanks for your input, and you're wrong :) :) :)
But now our perverse andevil carriages in the sight of the Lord, have so offended Him, thatinstead of turning His hand against them, the Lord feeds and nourishesthem up to be a scourge to the whole land.
I have so much to say here and a lot of it is angry. Let's see.
provision which they plundered fromthe English
Comparing them to pirates of a sort when like. The English burnt their crops to the ground, pillaged, raped, and murdered them... who's he real pirate here like. Clearly not the folks just trying to live here.
by that God strengthened them to be a scourge to His people
Call for genocide - comparing the Native folks to "a scourge" (synonymous to plague btw) to be eliminated by "God's People"
our poor country
SINCE FUCKING WHEN
I can but admire to see the wonderfulprovidence of God in preserving the heathen for further affliction toour poor country
What the fuuuck Mary you racist bitch
But what shall I say? Godseemed to leave his People to themselves, and order all things for Hisown holy ends.
OH is this her Finally not trusting her God for everything? Cool, cool cool cool
our English army was so numerous, and in pursuit of theenemy
"The Enemy" = "The Other" for Rowlandson and it always will
I
-START OF ANTHOLOGY READING AGAIN AFTER EIGHTEENTH REMOVE-
which another time wouldhave been an abomination
Everything that isn't English is an "abomination" to you, though
my sorrowful meat
Thaaat sounds like a gross euphemism, thanks
Then I took it of the child, andeat it myself, and savory it was to my taste.
What the fuck did you just steal from a literal starving child? What the FUCK
I went into another wigwam, where they were boiling cornand beans, which was a lovely sight to see, but I could not get a tastethereof.
It isn't yours. Isn't materialism your whole deal? Why should they be expected to give to you when - I don't need to rehash the entire colonial encounter, just. Trust me, this line, at least, is in bad taste
four Englishchildren, captives; and one of them my own sister's
What a coincidence?
T
-SKIPPING AHEAD TO EIGHTEEN FROM HERE BECAUSE I'M RUNNING OUT OF TIME-
"For a small moment haveI forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee."
You already quoted that one. In this Remove, even. Ya boring
I cannot express toman the sorrow that lay upon my spirit
Oh but isn't that what this is? Your best attempt to try?
I had only a little swill for the body andthen, like a swine, must lie down on the ground.
Uncleanliness of the self/spirit here? Ties in to the religion argument from Gil and Del's group
On the Sabbath days, I could look upon the sun andthink how people were going to the house of God, to have their soulsrefreshed; and then home, and their bodies also; but I was destitute ofboth;
Pity-me tie to religion, as Rowlandson is wont to do
Many sorrowful days I had in this place, often getting alone
Your own self-pity doesn't allow you to mourn the loss of a close child... oh shit this is depression. This is depression with religion, isn't it. You don't consider suicide because that would be "evil" and you just force yourself to cope oh that sucks
there was one benefit init--that there was more room.
More than once has shown little to no emotions at the death of a literal child
and I never saw him afterward,till I saw him at Piscataqua in Portsmouth
Don't bother with the first part if you're just going to follow it up with that!
Thus the Lord carried me along from one time to another, and made goodto me this precious promise, and many others.
hmmm
we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men
Daemonization?
assoon as I came in they began to rant and domineer, asking me where I hadbeen, and what I had been doing? and saying they would knock him on thehead. I told them I had been seeing the English youth, and that I wouldnot run away
Feels more like an abusive parent and child relationship than captor and slave in this context/style
he was as muchgrieved for his father as for himself
So this runs in the family, then. Got it.
Hearing that my son was come to this place
What? When? How?
Philip's maid came in with thechild in her arms, and asked me to give her a piece of my apron, to makea flap for it. I told her I would not. Then my mistress bade me give it,but still I said no.
Unwilling to help child, who has done nothing for you.... parallel between your actions and the actions of your captors to your baby? Power dynamics were the only influence of outcome in both situations.
So like were thesebarbarous creatures to him who was a liar from the beginning
I legitimately don't understand this sentence.
He laid upon me less than I deserved.
hmmm.....
Soeasy a thing it is with God to dry up the streams of Scripture comfortfrom us
I mean, you drank from those metaphorical streams for months, are you really so surprised they ran dry with your efforts to wring every ounce of meaning out of them and into you and your life?
being taken by them
Not "going back to them"? Aren't they supposed to be your heroes? Oh wait I forgot they're terrible and the world is a hellscape right right right
a company of barbarous heathens
You take every opportunity to throw in more daemonizing, don't you?
I hope it is not too much to say with Job
Comparing yourself to (I assume?) an author of (?) bible passages(?). (I'm not really very aware of Christianity but also... do I need to be? This feels like overstepping some kind of religious boundary? But who am I to say)
I thoughtI should have been quite blinded, and have never seen more, but lyingdown, the water run out of my eyes, and carried the dirt with it, thatby the morning I recovered my sight again. Yet upon this, and the likeoccasions, I hope it is not too much to say with Job, "Have pity uponme, O ye my Friends, for the Hand of the Lord has touched me."
Overdramatic hyperbole.
I considered their horrible addictedness to lying, and that there isnot one of them that makes the least conscience of speaking of truth
Spreading some lies yourself, I see
He answered me that such a time his master roasted him, and that himselfdid eat a piece of him, as big as his two fingers, and that he was verygood meat
Interesting amount of information to glean from an old memory without fabrication.
I told them the skin was off my back, but I had no othercomforting answer from them than this: that it would be no matter if myhead were off too.
That's powerful.
an old Indian bade me to come to him, and his squaw gaveme some ground nuts; she gave me also something to lay under my head,and a good fire we had; and through the good providence of God, I had acomfortable lodging that night.
Not through the "province of god", through the kindness of others. The difference is important.
my master being gone, who seemed to me the best friend that I had of anIndian
Hmm.
their insolency grew worse
(Insolence: rude and disrespectful behavior.) Do you. You do remember that you're their captive, yeah? Like. of course they're not going to respect you, you're part of the folks killing and raiding their homes, do you deserve respect from them? Respect is earned?
sell me to my husband
Wait where did the husband come from? What did I miss?
my Bible; she snatched it hastily out ofmy hand, and threw it out of doors
Hmm
theheavenly rest
Death?
My headalso was so light
Mountain-climbing? Or exhaustion?
tiresome and wearisome
redundant
Sometimes I met withfavor, and sometimes with nothing but frowns
For disobeying your literal keeper, I could see why that's a problem. If you treat their generosity with hard work in return, they will continue to be generous. If not, they will not.
told me they would buy me, if they were able,and yet these were strangers to me that I never saw before
Kindness? Among humans? Shocking. Sorry, snarky again... um. Here Rowlandson writes about an act of extreme kindness towards her as if it is the first time. Interesting
the thought that it was bear made metremble. But now that was savory to me that one would think was enoughto turn the stomach of a brute creature.
You've been with them for months and still make it a point to be shitty even towards their acts of kindness.
.
At this point I've just been using the annotations for snark, sorry. I'll try to stop myself next time.
I found myself as unsatisfied as I wasbefore
Is that really a surprise with you?
Webemoaned one another a while
...yeah of course you did...
Heshowed me the way to my son.
Which will never be mentioned in a kind way, I'm sure, despite them letting you wander off? This feels like proof of my scare-quotes around captivity earlier tbh
and there being no Christiansoul near me
WE KNOW WE ARE awARE STOP IT
Naananto, was killed in the Narragansett country
What? First time he's been brought up and now he's dead
.
Long aside to speak of having enough time and willpower to complete the tasks assigned you
It seems to be a bait the devil lays to make menlose their precious time.
Pretty sure that's not tobacco
.
As I only have rude things to say about much of this, I'll refrain from saying anything at all.
a vast and howling wilderness
Ethnocentrism in motion
where through thegood providence of God, I did not wet my foot
okay this is the second time you're mentioning this what the Fuck does it mean
God did not give them courage or activity to go over afterus
The fuck, no, dude they just. They gave up. People do that. Your god had nothing to do with it, rest assured
strange providence of God in preserving the heathen
quiet endless screams
I could starve and die before I could eat such things
Overdramatic
their filthy trash
Hefty tonal shift
"When thou passeththrough the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers theyshall not overflow thee"
Just because it mentions a river does not make it relevant to what is happening.
my knitting work
You spend a fuckton of time talking about their "savagery" but like. Who lets their captives knit that you know of?
I sat downand wept sweetly over this Scripture. At this place we continued aboutfour days
Sharp turn there
my daughter Mary (whom I never saw again till I saw her in Dorchester,returned from captivity
This feels reminiscent of The Searchers in a weird way...
I cameto Chap. 30, the seven first verses,
Fuckin hell
to Him who is above all
Organized religion is kind of fucked to be honest
This was the comfort I had from them
Pretty sure that's a threat but cool
he took oaken leaves and laid to his wound,and through the blessing of God he was able to travel again. Then I tookoaken leaves and laid to my side, and with the blessing of God it curedme also
What is this. How does it work, cause I think it's just more lies
, I say,
Needless interjection?
as He wounded me with one hand, so he healed me with theother
Christianity sounds super abusive/abuse-positive... this horribly explains a lot of behavior that was normal until recently and I hate it, thanks
pagans (now merciless enemies)
Wonder why
howrighteous it was with God to cut off the thread of my life and cast meout of His presence forever.
nervous laughter wh-what the fuck
looking that every hourwould be the last of its life; and having no Christian friend near me,either to comfort or help me
...
it seemed at presentworse than death that it was in such a pitiful condition, bespeakingcompassion
Mercy-killing?
(as I may say)ravenous beasts
You may not
so many Christians
Christians = colonizers, colonizers = invaders
the Lordby His almighty power
Stop believing that your god changed the outcome of this whatsoever
a company of sheep torn by wolves
Presupposing innocence of the self and evil of the Other
in her place
In death?
were webutchered by those merciless heathen
Unreliable narration
devour us
I don't think so
though another time, if any Indian had come to the door, they were readyto fly upon him and tear him down
And you... wonder why they're angry? Seriously
amazing
Interesting use of the word
Thus these murderous wretches went on, burning, anddestroying before them.
A lot of me is wondering what exactly she's leaving out, as in, what prefaced this attack - I heavily suspect that it was retaliation for what her or her people had done to them, but of course she'd never even fuckin assume that, would she
See now that I, even I am he, and there is nogod with me, I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal, neither isthere any can deliver out of my hand.
Comparing herself to a god?
it becomes nearly impossible for some to see the truth
Humans tend towards this kind of obscurity when writing anything personal - they want people on their side - with horrific outcomes, in this instance, but some objectivity would be healthy to add to all writing.
her captors did what many U.S. citizens proudly claim they would do should an invasion happen today
This is a callout post and I'm kind of loving it to be honest.
unquestionable
With how much she hyperbolizes, it does make me wonder what she's fabricating, so I don't know if its necessarily completely unquestionable, but sure
.
Awesome.
what truly characterizes American literature
Fragility and vapid arguments.
some good old fashion comedy and sass
Gather up all your excitement, folks, we got some good ol' fashioned sass somewhere in here
constantly refining
Then how do you know that your first few paragraphs will remain true over time? What with Trump era being potentially only halfway through or less, we could be looking at a wildly different text several years from now when everything's gone to shit
the underpinnings
...?
an unexpected combination of texts
Unexpected to whom, exactly? I'm curious what kind of audience this was written for.
We do not claim to have
Good.
tries to unpack that
What is the point? American literature being as fragile as the stereotypical "male ego" is for a reason - it doesn't belong. It needs to be broken and rebuilt to be true to itself and to all its fragments, which have been lumped together under the guise of diversity for too long. Perpetuating a useless, crooked ideal gets us nowhere as a society.
this anthology is relevant to students today.
...And will lose relevance steadily over the next decade until it, like every anthology, is barely relevant in any context but historical. Unfortunately, the idea of "a fresh take" is so old that every time the phrase is spoken, the entirety of another human being's life work is forgotten to history.
it moves beyond the voices of old white men talking about even older white men.
Unfortunately, the creators of the canon still exist in many ways. Every old anthology that influences the next anthology is the opinion of those old white cis men poisoning the next generation. We can never escape their bony grasps, no matter how hard we try.
framing the texts in new and provocative ways
Do they need to be framed in new ways? Will taking them out of their historical context really work towards your goal, or will it lose meaning of the original works? It really depends on how well the pieces are framed.
The discovery of just one other way of being and becoming human puts to rest forever, for that discover- er, the destructive myth of a Euro-American monopoly on civilization, or language, or humanity
If only people gave a damn enough to self-educate, this would feel like a satisfying conclusion
perceived as "vanished" or in terms of Halloween and Thanksgivin
What a depressing thought
as complicated as those of any other of the world's people
And it's honestly ridiculous that it feels strengthening and righteous to say so, as it seems at the same time to be an obvious statement that we should have always known
they tend to expand the scope of English- language composition and critic
Excellent
ommunities, who are by necessity cul- turally adap
It's a shame others can't/don't at least try to take a cue from them. Resistance to change is what's slowly killing the idea of global society/understanding
a static and zoo-like future
When I was a kid, that's what I worried reservations were like, a literal human zoo people could visit, and I wondered how in the everloving fuck that was allowed? I still know so little about what's going on and what went on that I hold that child-like fear that that's what's happening seeing the current state of the world
. Indian characters are vali- dated and made credible by acting in ritualized patterns, speaking in archaic slogans, and, above all, nobly not succeeding
That's gently if not wholly fucked up.
of the
Mmm don't'cha love when the writer of a piece is calling out a thing and then proceeds to go ahead and do that thing
o the aesthetic of their
Inherent racism and exclusionism based on xenophobia and/or ethnocentrism? Yeah what a fuckin ~aesthetic~ ugh
such victories are rare
People really dig ripping apart old texts until they lose all of their original meaning, huh
to insure ethnic credibility
I want to scream. People are. Fools
bemoan the "obvious" loss of culture;
This just makes me think of those women on ChatBox or... whatever that was? Talking about France, chilling in their bikinis with their affectations, talking about how quaint everything was that wasn't England, talking about how they love to go on holidays. Those kinds of white women who just can't see for the life of them why you can't just spontaneously go to a spa when you feel like trash, you know the people, the ones with "wine culture" bags and shirts that they wear unironically.... I don't remember where I was going with this, but I'm angry now
anathem
Xenophobia? In this previously culturally accepting culture? (It's more likely to be propaganda than you think?)
sociologically dubious
What an excellent phrase, thank you.
either by ritual or throug
Nothing that sounds this hardcore Klingon should be associated with. Well, hopefully, anything yet, but here it is.
happy and mindless chil- dren
Mmmmmmm hate that, thanks
s of less successful im
Humans are fascinating and disgusting.
Hopis oft appear to be telepathic
What in the good goddamn? Why?
how to understand it.
Ahhh no, bad - armchair anthropology
Shakespea
My god this prick was still alive in the damn colonial era - I had to google it, he lived until 1616 and was writing until 1613 that seems insane
ots as Wild West
This is 100% a jab at the Wild Wild West
oes appear, in a course titled "Native Ameri- can literature.
Whose material was clearly chosen by someone who didn't want to teach that class. Not a baseline for all other badly-made canons (I fuckin hope)
ath! The hunter has become the hunted, and all because of her own improvide
Honestly, there are several lessons to gain from this, though, and, to me, at least, this wouldn't be the obvious one. I think it could also be interpreted as having patience even in what you deem to be the worst of situations, or your impatience and anger could lend you to a bad situation. Would this interpretation be wrong, as an outsider to the culture?
s and in quilling him to death when he rene
Which was harsh? I think? He got you across, didn't he?
r, he agreed without any clarification of the te
Assuming the terms would be "within reason" isn't an unreasonable assumption to me. Perhaps he could've taken her across and gathered all of her things to bring back to her as a compromise, but the story assumes that once the contract is in effect, no alterations or compromises can be made - it seems somewhat unreasonable, at least from an outsider's perspective.
Survival, especially in the wild, is always preca
I feel as though outright stating this is almost beyond pointless somehow, but, sure.
this superficially insigni
What? Dude it's, it's about betrayal, about overworking yourself in an attempt to be polite, it reads like a fuckin retelling of a modern-day service worker dealing with a shitty customer, like? The fuck do you mean insignificant you piece of soggy sandwich bread
ethnographic
Culturally relativistic
o the core of meaning in an expression of literary
While I take issue with this wording in any context, which assumes all art is purposeful, I'm gonna try to ignore it because I still have a ways to go and I can't get angry about this phrasing right now.
By presenting the breadth of indigenous literatures superficially, each one of them is done a severe disser
While not exactly what the Europeans of the time were going for, I get the feeling they'd be proud to know that it's currently viewed in this way and has been so since their ignorant asses hauled all those diseases over the pond.
n the diminishment by almost 85% of the aggregate Native American population during the contact p
That's a fucking tame way to put that
ds old world diseas
You mean uhhh 95% of disease on the planet because of the close livestock-human relationship vs the so-called New World? Yeah of course they were fucking unprepared for that what did you expect
n the activity known as "wa
Oh my god Europe was more horrible than previously assumed, I thought they'd at least engaged in some kind of large-scale combat of some kind, but? Oh dear we broke the Prime Directive. OH dEar we're the reason it EXISTs aren't we? Oh dear
s a lunacy to be politely ignored
Hhhhhhhhhhha... no...
an appellation marginally appropriate only to a trans-Pacific population they had never see
I feel like a dick for laughing at this
a new ethnic group
But uh... what did they think people from India were even like...? Are you? Couldn't they like. Ask these new folks like "hey, so. Which way to Central India from here?" and when they got no real response or recognition of those words, realize, "Oh, shit, I was wrong, my bad"? How ridiculously incompetent did you have to be before they shipped you off with your Junior Explorer badge and a gun to go out into the world?
nd e) since Europeans were never wrong,
See, these. These are the kinds of people that deserve bitch-slapping. Right here.
a) all natives of North America lived in North America, and b) none of them were Euro- peans, then therefore c) they must all be the s
This isn't a fucking logic triangle or whatever. You called yourselves explorers! Explore! Don't just assume this self-manifested "logic puzzle" is correct, VERIFY IT!
misclassified
Insane to think anthropologists were like. Barely a thing at this point.
a new species of ape; perhaps manifested devi
I'd love to have a time machine just to go back and educate fools. Or just bitch-slap 'em if they refuse to listen
could not be human.
Whoops. I hate being accidentally right when I'm just trying to rant about aliens on earth for no good reason
ver, the "discov- ery" of "Indians" in the Americas was a major event indeed
Almost like finding aliens on your planet, I'd assume, but even then, people fucking believe in passive fuckin aliens, is it so hard to grasp other folks on your planet just. Trying to live?
regard the sudden appearance of "new" people with equanimity
You mean treat other human beings like human beings? Shocking
as that under normal
...for THEM. Again, ridiculous to believe that they believed that this was the only way it had ever been done... fuck, history really is written by the winners, isn't it.
by a continent-wid
...which took time to develop and create, forced on some, brought to others, shared by many, and was definitely not always the damn case. This idea that wherever you go you should be able to relate to everyone simply shouldn't be expected, and it was ridiculous to believe that, with written history available and oral history being shared, people ever thought so.
very long time the world, for Europeans, was simply
Egocentrism at its finest. Examples seen in the current president (synonym: circus peanut with a wig glued to it): "If it wasn't big news where I could see it, it wasn't big news". Also known as "most colonial leader-states"
lin- guistic affinity groupings were rarely even geographically clustered
I'm sure there's many fascinating ways this could be explained, but all my brain insists on coming up with is, "Well, there are only so many sounds the human face can make, so... it was bound to happen somewhere." This is unhelpful at best.
the time Columbus first accidently bumped into the Bahama
For, what, 1979? I'm actually pleased as punch that they outright said he didn't fucking discover north america. Considering a lot of other outright falsehoods and lies still spread in the seventies and eighties, /this/ is one thing I can be slightly happy about having come out of this time period - fact, for once.
mutually unintelligible languages
Ethnocentric viewpoint
among the most linguisti- cally and culturally plural areas the world has ever known
I'd be interested to know if there was a detailed list somewhere of the languages or cultures documented across North America.
not difficult to examine or comprehend.
Can't tell if this is rude or reassuring but either way I'm not a fan of that tone.