Dear friends of The North Woods Call,
Most of us are presumably aware that there are deep philosophical and ideological divides in the United States today. While most of these divides seem to be caused by corrupt propagandists and self-serving demagogues who regularly sow lies, hatred and venom in a cynical effort to manipulate the masses, we all seem to get caught up in the resulting social chaos from time-to-time.
Dr. Larry Arnn, president of Michigan's Hillsdale College, says we're now living in one of the key moments in American history--one of the pivot points.
"We're going to go one way or the other," Arnn says. "[Abraham] Lincoln said that a house divided against itself cannon stand. We've got a house that can't continue to be organized in two different ways. It won't stand."
The key to good decision making, according to Arnn, is knowing what is true, as well as the consequences and alternatives to our actions. That's why Hillsdale College is offering free online courses in American history and the U.S. Constitution for those who want to become more informed citizens.
"How are you going to figure out what the right way is?" Arnn said. "The answer is, learn the story of the country, and learn the principles and institutions that have guided that story, and emerge from it. That's a critical thing for people in America to be doing right now, because--if they're going to exercise choice over what becomes of them--they're going to need to know."
I have taken a couple of these courses and--even though the college has is own point of view--am impressed by the thoroughness and relative objectivity with which the information is presented. There are video lectures, supplemental readings, question-and-answer sessions and quizzes to test your knowledge. And it's all free of charge (unless, of course, you want to make a donation).
College officials say they simply want to help citizens understand the differences between the constitutional republic bequeathed to us by our founders and the now-dominant administrative bureaucracy that has come from 100-plus years of so-called "progressive" thought and policy.
I, for one, learned a lot from these lectures and suspect that others will, too. All it takes is an open mind, a desire to learn and a little time. It is worth the investment. For more information: http://online.hillsdale.edu/
Patrick Henry
Friday, May 24, 2013
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Native Americans and the conservation ethic
By Mike VanBuren
From the late-May edition of The North Woods Call
As a light-skinned man of predominantly European heritage, I can’t claim much Native American descent.
There is some, however. My maternal great-great grandmother was reportedly a full-blooded Cherokee.
Be that as it may, as a typical boy growing up watching 1950s-era television westerns, I was more influenced by the cowboy and Indian mythology that permeated our lives. On one family trip west in 1963, I remember looking for telltale signs of this exciting history in the desert sands along Route 66 in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
Roadside attractions on the “Mother Road” in those days included staged cowboy shoot-outs and traditional native dances presented by colorfully dressed Indians scraping for a living on wooden platforms outside rural truck stops.
In many ways, these things were responses to stereotypical images in the media and literature.
Fortunately, I got a more realistic interpretation of the two cultures in back-to-back classes at Central Michigan University that focused separately on the “Westward Movement in America” and “Indians of North America.” It was a splendid opportunity to get both views of an awful cultural clash in a single semester.
Conventional wisdom says that Native Americans were the first conservationists in the United States—even before the states were united—living close to the land and harboring a deep reverence for the animal and plant life left to us by the “Great Spirit.”
I’ve never been sure if this conservation ethic was deliberate, or simply evolved because Native Americans didn’t have the population numbers, or the means, to cause wholesale damage to the environment. But that’s just a 21st Century white guy talking.
Native writer Vine Deloria Jr. has linked this strong environmental ethic with the religion of native peoples—a close connection between what they believed and how they lived.
“We have on this planet two kinds of people—natural peoples and the hybrid peoples,” Deloria said. “The natural peoples represent an ancient tradition that has always sought harmony with the environment.”
Hybrid peoples, he concludes, view the planet not as our natural home, but something that is ours for “total exploitation.”
I’ve seen the natural view of the world first-hand when I’ve visited Native American communities in Washington State, Oregon, New Mexico, Arizona, North Carolina and northern Michigan. And I’ve read about it in countless books.
Many traditional religious ceremonies performed by indigenous people are done on behalf of the earth, its people and other forms of life.
I like to think that pure Christianity similarly honors God’s creation and promotes good stewardship of the earth and its resources—although Deloria has harsh criticism of the Christian church and its unwitting role over the years in aiding the exploitation.
In an introduction to his book, “God Is Red”—Deloria said late 20th Century U.S. Supreme Court rulings “all but prohibited the practice of Indian traditional religions and opened Indian lands to coalitions of developers, mining interests and other exploiters.”
Clearly, he said, the struggle is between a religious view of life and the secularization that science and industry have brought.
In a society that now seems intent on wiping all vestiges of religion out of American life and culture, this does not bode well for the future. Have we already ignored biblical warnings and those of native conservation advocates for too long and “in our knowledge become fools?”
“It gives me no comfort to have predicted religious confrontation two decades ago, only to see it now in its most virulent form” Deloria said. Nor do I look forward to paying the penalties that Mother Earth must now levy against us in order for her to survive. ... It remains for us to learn once again that we are part of nature, not a transcendent species with no responsibilities to the natural world.”
From the late-May edition of The North Woods Call
As a light-skinned man of predominantly European heritage, I can’t claim much Native American descent.
There is some, however. My maternal great-great grandmother was reportedly a full-blooded Cherokee.
Be that as it may, as a typical boy growing up watching 1950s-era television westerns, I was more influenced by the cowboy and Indian mythology that permeated our lives. On one family trip west in 1963, I remember looking for telltale signs of this exciting history in the desert sands along Route 66 in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
Roadside attractions on the “Mother Road” in those days included staged cowboy shoot-outs and traditional native dances presented by colorfully dressed Indians scraping for a living on wooden platforms outside rural truck stops.
In many ways, these things were responses to stereotypical images in the media and literature.
Fortunately, I got a more realistic interpretation of the two cultures in back-to-back classes at Central Michigan University that focused separately on the “Westward Movement in America” and “Indians of North America.” It was a splendid opportunity to get both views of an awful cultural clash in a single semester.
Conventional wisdom says that Native Americans were the first conservationists in the United States—even before the states were united—living close to the land and harboring a deep reverence for the animal and plant life left to us by the “Great Spirit.”
I’ve never been sure if this conservation ethic was deliberate, or simply evolved because Native Americans didn’t have the population numbers, or the means, to cause wholesale damage to the environment. But that’s just a 21st Century white guy talking.
Native writer Vine Deloria Jr. has linked this strong environmental ethic with the religion of native peoples—a close connection between what they believed and how they lived.
“We have on this planet two kinds of people—natural peoples and the hybrid peoples,” Deloria said. “The natural peoples represent an ancient tradition that has always sought harmony with the environment.”
Hybrid peoples, he concludes, view the planet not as our natural home, but something that is ours for “total exploitation.”
I’ve seen the natural view of the world first-hand when I’ve visited Native American communities in Washington State, Oregon, New Mexico, Arizona, North Carolina and northern Michigan. And I’ve read about it in countless books.
Many traditional religious ceremonies performed by indigenous people are done on behalf of the earth, its people and other forms of life.
I like to think that pure Christianity similarly honors God’s creation and promotes good stewardship of the earth and its resources—although Deloria has harsh criticism of the Christian church and its unwitting role over the years in aiding the exploitation.
In an introduction to his book, “God Is Red”—Deloria said late 20th Century U.S. Supreme Court rulings “all but prohibited the practice of Indian traditional religions and opened Indian lands to coalitions of developers, mining interests and other exploiters.”
Clearly, he said, the struggle is between a religious view of life and the secularization that science and industry have brought.
In a society that now seems intent on wiping all vestiges of religion out of American life and culture, this does not bode well for the future. Have we already ignored biblical warnings and those of native conservation advocates for too long and “in our knowledge become fools?”
“It gives me no comfort to have predicted religious confrontation two decades ago, only to see it now in its most virulent form” Deloria said. Nor do I look forward to paying the penalties that Mother Earth must now levy against us in order for her to survive. ... It remains for us to learn once again that we are part of nature, not a transcendent species with no responsibilities to the natural world.”
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