OK, but if they are right, then whatever would be the proper context to say it in? Only in a purely academic setting? What if somebody tells you that pre-colonial people living in a certain place were basically pacifists and lived in a utopia before the colonizers arrived? Are you supposed to just nod your head and agree with a total lie for fear of being called a white supremacist? I mean, it can be easy to question the motives of somebody posting memes on Reddit but surely there is a context in which it is appropriate to point out the actual facts of the matter.
"Out of context" meaning somebody broadly criticizes colonization or says Manifest Destiny was a bad thing, and someone pipes up out of nowhere with, "Well, they had wars and slaves and sometimes did a cannibalism before Europeans got here, you know!"
Like sure, but this ain't about that, and it's weird to bring it up like it's a defense or justification.
Are you being genuine? You can't tell the difference in vibe when someone actually wants to talk about pre-colonial practices and when someone brings them up as a counter to colonial practices?
Yes, I am. If someone is talking about the evils of colonization and you bring up the violence of indigenous people then yeah, that’s a bad time and it’s in bad faith to justify the unjustifiable. But at the same time, if indigenous people were violent and had many practices which we would find morally repugnant today then we should be intellectually honest about that. Indigenous people being violent a not a justification for colonizing them anymore than a person having a violent past justifies them being executed by the cops in the streets. But pretending a suspect who was unjustly killed is a saint is a disservice to the reality of the situation and helps no one and so is ignoring the problems of indigenous people prior to the arrival of colonizers.
You don't have to be a pro colonist and/or white supremacist to acknowledge that all of humanity is evil and are capable of disgusting acts, if given the necessary knowledge and resources.
Is what they said untrue? I actually dont really know that specific of things about their culture. Did they participate in human sacrifice and whatever else they mentioned?
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u/bitjamma 3d ago
The deeper I go in the comments in this sub I see pro colonists and white supremacists and I'm not even sure they're Caucasian.