ridecamp@endurance.net: [Fwd: Re: [Fwd: Re: selenium]]

[Fwd: Re: [Fwd: Re: selenium]]

Lynn-Marie Kara & Luther Sturtevant (karakat@spiritone.com)
Thu, 24 Apr 1997 20:09:27 -0700

Tivers@aol.com wrote:
>
> In a message dated 97-04-24 21:41:46 EDT, you write:
>
> << > ...As an aside I read somewhere that Custer's horses suffered from
> > selenium poisoning because they were not used to the forage in the
> > region that they were persuing their target.
>
> >> "persuing their TARGET?" Excuse me? Native Americans certainly were
> targeted, but don't in general like to be referred to as "the target"
> in
> contemporary discourse, even when referring to historical events. I
> certainly wouldn't myself and neither does our son!
>
> Luther, Lynn-Marie & Naiche >>
>
> Accuracy in language is to be encouraged, not discouraged. If Native
> Americans, or Indians, as they were referred to in those times, were being
> pursued as targets of Custer's troops, how would you rewrite history to
> accurately state that fact? I would assume that you would gleefully pounce
> upon the fact that Custer's troops later became Sitting Bull's targets. Or,
> would you deny that the entire encounter took place for the sake of political
> correctness?
>
> ti

Ti,
This has nothing to do with P.C. However, I guess accusing someone of
being P.C. is now about the most politically correct thing to do. Talk
about not using accuracy in language!

This does, however, have everything to do with being understanding and
caring about the feelings of others. I would hope that we have come a
ways since the days of the old west when the "only good Indian was a
dead Indian"...though sometimes I wonder. There are all kinds of ways
to refer to events in the past, using absolutely precise language,
without continuing to affirm the hatreds and animosities of the past,
and I would hope that we have the humanity and intellegence to do so.
The fact that my parents refered to the Japanese people as "Japs" during
the Second World War does not mean that we can only report on that
period accurately by referring to Japanese in the same manner.

Now, on with endurance!

Luther, Lynn-Marie & Naiche (Arapaho)

Home Events Groups Rider Directory Market RideCamp Stuff