[lit-ideas] Re: Giving Thanksgiving
- From: cblists@xxxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 10:43:02 +0100
On 2-Dec-10, at 8:54 AM, Eric Yost wrote:
The Noble Savage is in the very air we breathe.
In my case it has been pretty effectively filtered out by childhood,
early adolescent and adult experiences on the Canadian prairies -
interactions and relationships with both victims (not too strong a
term) and 'perpetrators' (the 'scare quotes' are an acknowledgement
that some of these were beloved and highly respected family members)
of the Canadian Indian residential school and reservation systems. I
was (like many Western Canadian whites) brought up in a schizophrenic
society that was universal in both its condemnation of white Americans
for their treatment of Afro-Americans and its appalling attitudes
towards the Native Canadians living in or on the outskirts of its own
neighbourhoods. A similar schizophrenia characterized attitudes
towards South African apartheid and the Canadian reservation system
(which served as a model for South Africa while setting up its
'homeland' system).
The last 'Indian' I talked with was a Lakota Sioux who some years ago
was touring Europe with his heavy metal band. Perhaps it was just that
he was relieved to talk to someone who's English was fluent and who
had *some* inkling of where he was coming from (unlike those who
interrupted our conversation from time to time with inane comments
ranging from comments on how he was dressed - in jeans and a checkered
flannel shirt - to questions about films they'd seen - in one case
obviously about Maori New Zealanders), but I cherish memories of a
good half-hour of heart-to-heart quiet conversation - not Noble Savage
to White Brother, but Mensch to Mensch ....
Someone asked me to see Avatar when it opened and I refused on the
basis of yet-another-Noble-Savage cliche from the mighty
scriptwriters of LA.
Here I'm with you, Eric (although I have seen the film at home on a
DVD). I can't but see 'Avatar' as a diversion. It's far more
entertaining to watch (and cheer along with) the 3-meter-tall carbon-
fibre-boned Noble Savages with their floating hills and World Soul of
neurologically connected tree roots than to inform oneself of the
struggles and sufferings of ordinary-sized flesh-and-blood-like-you-
and-I folk whose homes, lands and cultures stand in the way of the
Alberta Tar Sands projects.
Unobtainium - the substance from which genuine understanding,
toleration and mutual respect among peoples is forged?
Chris Bruce,
trying to catch his breath, in
Kiel, Germany
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