> Peshewegunzh,
>
> I am Mary Mihalyi. I sent the message that so enraged you.
> The young woman studying anthropology is my daughter. Perhaps you
> thought I was a faculty member trying to match up Student A with
> Indian B and be done with it.
I wasn't particularly enraged; I just happen to tell what I believe
our response ought to be - people can then choose for themselves
what to do.
> You say, "While we're at it people, let's take back our
> education process from the European occupiers." Without getting into
> my sob story, I must tell you that none of my family has yet benefited
> from that education process, but I certainly intend to do everything
> in my earthly power to provide it for my daughters.
I had the "benefit" of that indoctrination process that is slyly
termed education, and I am concerned that my own children do not
become pawns and become swallowed by it - they are not being educated by
the Europeans' state schools.
> And now this is what my daughter taught me from her study
> of anthropology: that the western way is not the best way; that
> there are peoples who know how to live in harmony; that the future
> of our planet depends upon people turning away from this western way.
Interestingly, I don't happen to exactly believe just like that; that is
the current mindset of the European educational system in its decline,
and is certainly the cant that is preached within it, regardless of its
veracity. The current western "way" is not the best (out of a bad lot, it
may compare more favorably than some others) but I must emphasize that
while the rightful heirs of this continent are not the European
occupiers, neither are we especially "noble" or "savage" as compared
to other human beings. Looking romantically to a way of life that as
envisioned only exists in the minds of angst-stricken European activists
is not a realistic solution to their problems, or to our real
problems, either. I could point out that while Indians made the best use
of the horse on this continent, it was introduced by foreigners. When
one considers ideas, one should consider the validity of the ideas
themselves, rather than whether they are politically correct because they
come from either a western or eastern or Indian source. In the largest
sense, I do not believe in intellectual property: the best ideas
belong to anyone who will make good use of them.
> She worked for Greenpeace last summer canvassing neighborhoods
> raising money and educating people about James Bay. To you, she is
> probably an occupier, or at best, a do-gooder, but to me she is a woman
> searching for truth.
Here's hoping she comes to find it.
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Peshewegunzh
peshe%mamia.UUCP@mthvax.cs.miami.edu
mthvax.cs.miami.edu!mamia.UUCP!peshe
peshe@mamia.UUCP
mthvax!mamia!peshe
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