Questions That Run Through My Mind (what there is of it)

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:ROFLMAO: Good one Snip. I am small enough to be one though. :angel:
:LOL:
I have a really tall family. At 5.9 I'm the short one! I would have loved being short, the boys in school were always smaller than me :wacko:

Buying pants is really hard too. I can only wear extra lenght with my spaghetti legs!
 
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claire, i'm sure you didn't mean it, but saying a troubled person of native descent deserves to stay on the reservation is exceedingly offensive. it's like saying poor black people deserve to live in the projects, or trashy white people deserve to live in broken down trailer parks.

and the early explorers were looking for a shorter route to get to the spice and silk trades of india and asia, not that they thought the native americans looked southern asian. as was just mentioned, the first natives the explorers met weren't necessarily the darker skinned type.

no biggie, though. just pointing it out for reference. since this is addie's thread, i'm sure she'd appreciate the attempt at historical accuracy and wider base of knowledge.

The way that I read that was this person looked nearly full blood native American, like someone that lived on a reservation. I don't know where the "troubled" part comes from, I've reread the post and don't see mention of the person being troubled, maybe I'm missing something?
 
yup, you're right. i may have read that wrong. but still, saying anyone belongs on a reservation for any reason if they have native blood is offensive.
 
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OK, I understand where you are coming from, I didn't read it that way. I read it that this person could live on a reservation and fit right in.

Tone isn't always expressed accurately in the written word unfortunately. I've heard people use similar terminology, but the way it was said, wouldn't be mistaken by most as offensive.
 
Anyone up for a little Paul Revere and the Raiders? :D

BTW, didn't Major Charles Winchester III live on Penobscot St?
 
agreed, bakechef. that's why i said that i was pretty sure that claire dodn't mean it that way.

just a thought that ran through my head, as is this thread.
 
Kylie, is the term "Aussie" considered derogatory to Austrailians? I know to call me an Indian is just fine with me. But some person(s) decided that it wasn't PC. So overnght I became a Native American.

This is a complex topic so I'll have to address it piecewise.

I have often heard Australians refer to themselves as "Aussies" so I'll guess it is not a pejorative to them.

I've always hated the designation "Indian" because it perpetuates the ignorance of Chris Colombus in thinking he had discovered the continent of India (sailing west) when in reality he had rediscovered the continent of North America (after countless visits from Scandinavians for many centuries).

I prefer the term Native Americans. I often visit the 4 Corners area of UT, AZ, NM & CO, and have often met many Native Americans, and I've found them to be a very friendly people. I'll admit I haven't asked them what they want to be called.

Aside: I'm just totally fascinated by ancient ruins particularly from the Anasazi who inhabited the 4 Corners region from about 800-1200 CE. I've visited dozens of the ruins, and visited many of them multiple times. This ancient American culture just totally fascinates me.
 
The last Native American I talked to told me when I asked her what she preferred to be called, "Mary." We are excellent friends.
 
OK, I understand where you are coming from, I didn't read it that way. I read it that this person could live on a reservation and fit right in.

Tone isn't always expressed accurately in the written word unfortunately. I've heard people use similar terminology, but the way it was said, wouldn't be mistaken by most as offensive.

There are some things I do take offense to. Asking me if I do war dances. Do I/we still scalp people. Do we still live in tee pees. Do we need permission to leave the reservation. Get the idea? Maybe offense is the wrong word. Amazement at some of the stupidity. North Americans should know better. And if they don't, I blame their school systems. They are still teaching that when the white man wins, it is a victory. When the 'redskin' wins it is a tragedy or a massacre. Not all schools systems. I have found that the closer to an area where Indians are living, the more educated the populace is. I wonder what the kids in Palm Beach or Beverly Hills are being taught.

When my youngest was in scouting, he went up to Maine to visit the tribe and try to find out what he could about them. We had a friend whose family came from Russia in 1918 and was fascinated with my son's family history. He wanted to learn also. So he took him up there for a school vacation week. One of the tribe members gave my son a full headress and breast plate of animal bones. When he came back he showed them to his troop. As bt will tell you, scouting is founded on the practices of the living practices of Indians. The Troop learned a lot and the leaders were forced to do some reading so they could answer questions intelligently. The Troop now owns the headress and breastplate. And a lot of kids have been learning about early America.

Our schools need to teach more honest history of our country. :angel:
 
addie, the thing about the orbital structure of the eyes makes sense. since it's presumed north America was first settled by northern Asians, the one trait that is the most different/distinct between western Europeans and Asians that might survive several millennia would be the eyes.

same goes for dominant traits like hair colour.

skin colour would be much more affected by climate since it's an organ that is the most rapidly replaced.

We don't have the strong sun that is found in the west and south. And we 'had' more forest that you will find in the Southwest and the Plains. We don't have the desert that they have in the Southwest. We also don't have the red clay that was often used for ceremonial paint. It does stain the skin. Our hunting is done in the woods, out west, they hunt out in the open under the sun. The further south you go, you will find that the Indians skin was darker than those along the Northeastern seaboard. But the eye and cheekbone structure remains the same. And we still do all our hunting is the woods. :angel:
 
The whole what to call people of various races thing baffles me. Do people actually go around saying things like "that white, black or Indian friend of mine?!"

My friends have names, I don't refer to them by colour.
 
how do you refer to a large group of people that share a certain trait such as ethnicity, snip?

do you name each one?
 
lol, reminds me of an old comedians'joke.

a comedian gets up on stage and says, "i'd like to thank you all for being here tonight... thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, ..."
 
how do you refer to a large group of people that share a certain trait such as ethnicity, snip?

do you name each one?

It depends on the situation. If they are ladies I would refer to them as the group of ladies, if they are South African I would say South Africans etc.
I'm not often is situations where people group according to skin colour or ethnicity.
 
snip, my earlier point to claire would be like saying that someone looks or acts like they belong in orlando.
 
People with lighter skin tones can absorb more vit D than those with darker skin tones. In northern climates, lighter skin tone was an evolutionary adaptation because of the shorter days. Darker skin tones protect people from the burning effects of the sun. The closer to the equator, the darker the skin tone. It is fairly simple. I have very pale skin--my ancestors all came from Northern Europe.
 
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