IS Mise, the liberal narrative robs brown skinned people of all agency, it can't work if Indians and Aborigines are accorded the normal intellectual attributes and motivations of a fully realised person.
I've read extensively on the subject and it's clear that the plains Indian ruling castes didn't give a damn about their subjects, that the "braves" were a corrupt elite who were only out to get what they could for themselves and that their actions in large part precipitated the crackdown on Indians after the war between the states.
The U.S didn't steal Indian land they bought it and the chiefs embezzled and mismanaged their way into racial and societal ruin, see the "Trail Of Tears", SOME Indians were relocated after 1830, ie the ones who'd been sold out by their brethren who stayed on their ancestral lands in comfort.

Dear CH,

I've also decided to leave this discussion.

It is now possible to explore the past - by
means of archival records,
large numbers of books, articles, and many, many,
primary sources.

Today we can know a great deal about the history
of Indigenous-Settler relations world-wide.
But as historians
have pointed out - knowing brings burdens
which can be shirked by those living in ignorance.

Thank You for having raised the issues.
And, I look forward to
further discussions with you in the future.

Take care.

Dearest Foxy,

I'll have to come back to your comments about Aboriginal history :)

I missed Four Corners but 60 Minutes had an inspiring program on the Kurdish Women's Militia, the YPJ - how could it not be inspiring ? - and my faith in the Left, in humanity, was restored ! Not necessarily the pusillanimous 'Left' here but most certainly in those wonderful women fighting for us all in Kurdistan. They all know that would happen, what does happen, if one of them is captured, but they keep going. Just amazing ! We can certainly learn from them and maybe, one day, we will have to.

It would be so much easier for every one of them to migrate and sit in cafes and prattle about gay marriage and paleo diets, but they have more important battles to fight. They're holding the line against Islamo-fascism, in a very long war. I hope with all my heart that they win it, and that Kurdistan will one day be a free, independent country of thirty million proud people, building a secular society based on equality for all and the rule of law.

Love always,

Joe

Jay Of Melbourne,

The movie of the book should have come out before the paperback edition. To set the tone as more idealistic and motivational than historically correct. I accept your criticisms as likely having validity though.

Jay,

"Little Bighorn was a massacre, Custer was outnumbered four to one and his men were butchered and mutilated after being over run."

It wasn't a massacre because the fight was between two groups of armed fighters, that the US soldiers were out numbered didn't make it a massacre.
Had that idiot Custer brought his Gatling guns with him, and if he had not split his force then the battle would probably have gone his way and if the service carbines of his troops had been well designed the firepower of the troops would have been more sustained and more Indians would have died.
The dead soldiers were mutilated, their stomachs were cut open to release their spirits, a kindness that the Indians did to brave foes, likewise their scalps were taken as worthy trophies.

George Armstrong Custer was not mutilated because the Indians didn't want to do him any favours and he was not scalped because his hair was not considered a worthy trophy nor was coup counted upon his body.

The Indians held him in utter contempt.

runner,

"love the way many judge history ignoring the fact that our people now are far more corrupt and immoral than those they are judging."

Care to back that up with examples?

From my own family history, I can drag up the conditions of my peasant ancestors in Dorset, England.

The people were so poor that they usually only had one set of clothing and both men and women would work naked in the fields and run and hide when a stranger appeared on the roads.
My ancestral village, Stourpaine, was such a pit of misery that it featured in the London Illustrated News in 1846 an an example of the degradation to which the peasants of Dorset were reduced.

In fact when famine hit Ireland, those Irish who were fortunate enough to be able to get to England would not go into Dorset as the conditions were worse there than those they had left.

Had people in general in those times been better than those of today then there might have been a bit less suffering in Dorset and adjoining counties.