A little thought. Upon reading the first sentence on page 94 of Ch.4 of this book("most of these pictures focused on the themes of primitive life and savage warfare.") the first thing that popped into my mind: there is no "savage" warfare; War itself is savage. Not exactly trying to counter-argue with Loewen here, just a thought. Whether it be an honorable duel, a skirmish between armies on an open plain, a guerilla ambush in the woods, or a Predator sending rockets screeching through the air, War is supposed to be vicious; after all, someone has to die for it to end.
Anyways, back on topic. Ah, another little thought: the contrast between "primitive" and "civilized". I don't believe that those who consider themselves to be part of a civilized culture should look down on those they would consider "primitive". After all, we are all the same species and we were all apes at one time. Er, you know what I mean. However, looking at this little thought of mine from a different view, I suppose that racism, though denounced as immoral in modern society, was an inevitable aspect of society back then. I mean, I suppose it would be natural if you lived in a land where the neighbors to your east and west and north and south were all the same color as you! And when you encounter these new peoples across the ocean and they're wearing clothes/equipment that is completely, from your view, outdated, it would be natural to consider them inferior. But this is only acceptable in this age, an age without global communications and relationships. Now, people should realize that they live in a world with billions of people who think very differently from themselves, and should be considerate of each other; it is now an age in which Ignorance is outdated.
Wealth does not equal civilization; this is merely a single POV or way of looking at what should determine "civilization". From the POV of the Europeans, who were lustful for gold, the Central American civilizations were indeed not civilized. But of course! It would only be natural for two different cultures to have two different ways of thinking, respectively. One, the "advanced" Europeans whose only material concern was the search for gold, and the other, the "unprogressive" Central American cultures who were more spiritually oriented; no doubt each thought the other to be strange.
The passage on the multicultural interactions that took place in certain parts of colonized North America was interesting to read, particularly the 200-man army instructed in German lol. It's strange to hear that the a few whites prefered Native American life so much as to risk punishment; strange, but amusing. It was also a first for me to hear that European colonies had to watch their own people and prevent them from escaping out, which in many cases the situation is quite the opposite.
Edit: I was reading through this section again and came up with more thoughts on this chapter and will add a few more lines.
I was reading this chapter, and perhaps I was trying to think critically, or perhaps I was just starting to get annoyed by Loewen saying the same thing over and over, but maybe all this criticizing of settlers and Spanish invaders is unnecessary. Loewen started out pointing out how abstract and biased history textbooks are, but he is starting to denounce the actions of the settlers/pioneers/Whites. Unfortunately, I think that being human means being violent; even animals fight each other for territory, mates, and whatnot. I say "even" because I think people have this strange thought that as an "intelligent race" we should grow out of the violent nature that is natural to animals, and become peaceful beings. This is ideal, but sadly unrealistic, I believe. Therefore, it is inevitable for humans to have killed each other all throughout history, and the conquering and slaughtering of the Native Americans was therefore, in a sense, inevitable, that one day someone would end up conquering someone else; otherwise, I'm sure the human race would not have been able to come to the present stage as we have. I don't believe Loewen is being fair when he criticizes figures of the past and their actions. Society probably accepted slavery as naturally as we embrace capitalism in society today. The human race can be related to a toddler; we were immature, "innocent", naive; people today should criticize people back then only as they would criticize themselves when they were immature children.
On a last note, I would like to point out that on pg.101, it is suggested/hinted at that "civilized" cultures should know better than to wage war and commit to violent acts. I don't believe being a "civilized" or "primitive" culture has anything to do with being belligerent or peaceful; this is only an ideal aspect of human culture, an aspect that would be a good to have in being part of an advanced society. Violence is one with animal nature, and when an animal gets as intelligent and sophisticated as a human, violence can only increase in level.
I think that should be enough blogging for one chapter lol.
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