Goddamnit people, really now, you're going to make me talk about this, aren't you? Oh, I WAS going to write a hilarious post about Lance Armstrong finally having the ball to come clean about his drug use. So thanks, people. You just ruined a Goddamn joke about sack cancer. I fucking hope you're happy. Now I have to talk about this bullshit and why everybody is an asshole.
I'm going to be frank. Every single post that I've seen regarding Idle No More has been pretty stupid. All of them. If you've been posting stuff for or against the movement, chances are I've seen it. Chances are high that I wasn't impressed either. So I'm here, as a representative of white people everywhere, I come forward as their King, to explain very clearly why both parties are completely wrong.
Oooooo, I should also mention that out of both parties, neither include the actual people protesting, a.k.a the First Nations people. They actually have a pretty good reason for protesting, the same reason they've protested in the past and the reason they are more than likely going to protest again unless things are figured out. I've got no beef with them, in fact, I agree with the movement. That's not saying I have criticism or varying ideas, but that's neither here nor there. The parties that happen to be completely out to lunch on the subject are in two camps. The 'Entitled White Assholes who don't understand why the First Nation people are protesting in the first place', and the 'Entitled White Assholes with university degrees who are stunningly bad at explaining exactly why the First Nation people are protesting in the first place'.
I'm almost convinced that a degree in sociology will actually lower a person's IQ
So, let me talk to the first group, the 'Entitled White Assholes who don't understand why the First Nation people are protesting in the first place'. I'm not actually mad at y'all. You see, the other camp has been pretty ignorant on exactly what an average entitled white asshole would know about Treaty laws, not to mention most of you work in trades or went to school for something useful. What you have to understand is that when party #2 starts throwing around words like 'Solidarity' and 'Hegemony' or concepts like 'White Privilege' or 'Colonization', they're actually talking about something quite a bit deeper, it's just that you need to spend a lot of time learning and reading about the subjects to understand exactly what the fuck they are talking about. Don't worry, ol' Mr. Charlton here is gonna define some things.
White Privilege.
Fuck you Mr. Charlton! I've worked for everything I got!
Whoa whoa, Lone Star, let me explain this idea for a sec. White privilege doesn't mean you get money handed to you at birth, or that you get a free handy at the local rub-and-tug. Part of what it means is that because of your skin color, society at large will make a stereotypical assumption about your character. When you're white, that stereotypical assumption is void.
Let me give you an example. Let's say Peter McWhity, John Runs-with-Dreamcatchers and Darkay Token are hanging out at party. Things are winding down, so the three friends nab a bottle of cheap scotch from the liquor cabinet and head down the road, passing it amongst each other. They finish the bottle and head their separate ways. Both Peter McWhity and John RWD hop on the transit. When Peter gets on the train, somebody sees them and thinks to them self "Man, that guy is WASTED". When John hops on a bus, somebody sees them and thinks to them self "Man, that guy is WASTED. Why are Native people drunk ALL THE TIME?". Spot the difference?
The next day, Peter McWhity gets confronted by one of the home owners about the missing scotch. Peter fesses up. Home owner thinks to himself "That guy is an ASSHOLE". One of the other home owners confronts Mr. Token about the missing scotch. Darkay confesses. Home owner thinks to himself "That guy is an ASSHOLE. I should have known it was the black guy!".
This sort of thing happens all the time, and is damaging to the group as a whole. Part of what white privilege means your personal actions aren't going to count against your entire ethnicity. These subconscious ideas can stay around for decades. You ever here that Irishmen are big drinkers? Totally false, Britain actually consumes the most alcohol in Europe by leaps and bounds. But the myth arose in the late nineteenth century when Americans saw a huge rise in Irish immigrants. Rumors were spread that the Irish were lazy drunkards to discourage them from getting hired over Americans. This idea has stuck around for years and will more than likely keep sticking around.
The most vile form of racism
Back to our three amigos. When they all apply for the same job, Peter McWhity has the advantage because his ethnicity doesn't conjure up the stereotype that he's a drunk or a thief. In fact, that's why our society has things like affirmative action in place, to combat stereotypes. So what does this have to do with Idle No More? Well, let's get to the very bottom of why the protesters are actually protesting. Keep in mind that, yes, I am simplifying things a whole bunch.
What you need to understand is that Canada is a TREATY nation. When our ancestors came to Canada, it was already inhabited by the native population. Being white Europeans, we assumed any one who didn't drink tea or line up in a big field during war times was an absolute savage. We were also interested in colonizing this land because the way Europeans measured their penis lengths at the time was how many colonies one had. But there was an issue. The natives! Although they were un-Christian pagan sinners who weren't ashamed of their fun bits, they were considered extremely well versed in the art of war. Now, the European settlers could have gone to war with them and more than likely won, it would have cost a lot of money and a lot of white Christians would have died. So all parties involved decided to sign a treaty! And that treaty still stands today! It meant that we were going to be friends!
A big part of the treaty was concerned with reservations. What the treaty stated was that the Native reservation was considered it's own little nation state, to be governed by the people that lived on them. If any change to the law of Canada was to any way affect the land of the First Nations people, it had to be put on the table and discussed with them before it was allowed to pass. Any attempt to move forward without the First Nations people was considered an act to colonize the reservations, what we'll call colonization.
Unfortunately, Europeans are shitty neighbors. Britain, France and Spain have rich history of signing treaties amongst themselves, breaking them and then going to war. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's all they were doing for well over a thousand years. And we've managed to keep up the tradition.
Recently, a bill when through the house of commons called Bill C-45. Bill C-45 has to do with the waterways in Canada and how they were protected. It went from 'All waterways and water bodies are protected at a federal level' to 'Only a few waterways and water bodies are protected at a federal level'. As far as how many a few is, I think it's about nine that are still protected. It means that if you want to build a dock on your lake or a pipeline by a river, you used to have to get permission from the federal government. Studies had to be done in order to assess the impact your dock or pipeline had on the water surrounding it. That's no longer the case. The First Nations people are pissed because a dock or a pipeline might have consequences to the tiny little bit of land they call home, and technically the federal government was supposed to talk to them first because it's the law. That's what Idle No More is about. It's about the fact that the First Nations people are supposed get a seat at the table to discuss laws that affect them and the federal government keeps blowing them off. Pretty much EVERY protest involving the First Nations people has this issue at the very core of it.
Now! Back to the white privilege thing. I said part of WP involved not having any stigma attached to your ethnicity. The other part is not understanding that because you have privilege, it also means you have more power. And the biggest problem with being in power is that you'll consider how you do things is normal.
You hear this all the time. "Man, if only ALL Native people acted THIS way, things would be fine!". Or the classic "I don't have a problem with gay people, but it bothers me when they act SUPER gay and faggoty". What you are actually saying is "Man, I hate it when people act differently than I do. If they all acted like me, there'd be nothing wrong!".
Chris is awesome because he doesn't act like a nigger
See, because you're in a position of power, you see the boat as going the course, smooth sailing. Then this uppity group of people start making demands. The nerve! Why can't things continue to be like they are? Well, the boat ride has been pretty rocky for others.
And that's what you don't about how Canada as a country has treated the First Nations in the past. Really shitty. I mean, REALLY shitty. When we wanted them to go to school to learn European things, they got raped as children. When they celebrated festivals, we considered them un-Christian and had them banned. Up to as recently as 1972 we were actually sterilizing some of them so they couldn't have children. Ms. Dances-with-Rain became Ms. Never-Bears-Fruit. Shitty things too numerous to list. That mistreatment over the years, a lot of which was very, very recent, is the reason why suicide rates among native is way higher, why they make up a huge portion of the prison population and why native women are far more likely to disappear.
Combine all that with the fact that we, as a Nation, can't even follow treaty law that was signed, makes for a pretty pissed off bunch of people. I mean, c'mon! We rape 'em, take away their fun festivities, tie their tubes so they can't have babies and NOW we can't even follow our own laws? Fuck, I'd be pissed too!
Is it more complicated than that? Obviously. What I'm getting at is this protest isn't about money or handouts. It's about the deal we originally struck as law and our inability to follow it. That's what's at the heart of Idle No More.
So, to the people of the 'Entitled White Assholes who don't understand why the First Nation people are protesting in the first place', I didn't write this piece to change your mind, but open it up to the idea that way things are benefit you more than it benefits others. Maybe it'll change your mind, maybe it won't. At least you'll hopefully have a better idea as to why they are blocking roads and making you late for work.
To the 'Entitled White Assholes with university degrees who are stunningly bad at explaining exactly why the First Nation people are protesting in the first place'. Goddamnit. I had to do your fucking job? I didn't go to school for this shit, I draw lines and circles on a computer for a living. I had to do a shit load of research into this complicated mess. I don't want to be spending my weekends looking into treaty law. You smug cocks. Instead of writing papers geared towards your peers, maybe you should be writing with the people you are trying to convince in mind. I hear the word 'Solidarity', I instantly think this person went to Talk-Like-a-Dickhead University. Mike the Mechanic or Susan the Nurse isn't going to spend an evening brushing up on terms like 'Principles of Stratified Diffusion'. They wanna come home, eat some chicken and maybe get drunk or stoned. That's it. Tasty chicken and getting fucked up. Mike doesn't berate you for not knowing how your car runs and Susan spends her day cleaning up after your piss and shit. The least you can do is not act like a smug prick when explaining things. It makes you look like a spoiled, privileged, entitled asshole.
Hopefully that clears things up. Did I make some gross generalizations? Of course. But I can get away with it because I'm the King of the White people.
Sincerely,
The Illustrious Mr. Charlton
p.s. I swear, every person I meet that has studied sociology acts like that cargo-cult science is the end-all, be-all of the academic world.
p.p.s. As far as the cargo-cult claim goes, the definition of science is 'Repeatable Results'. Anything else is just academics.
No comments:
Post a Comment