> Thought I'd share this little anectdote from yesterday's American Literature class:
>
> While discussing William Wells Brown's _Clotel_, the conversation naturally progressed to the American slave trade, and why it thrived for as long as it did, the nature of enslavement, the concept of the social "other", and why it was/is so easy to dehumanize this "other.
>
> The professor started on a tangent regarding the Native Americans, and the first settlers' opinion of them. He then posed the question "Why did the settlers not enslave the Native Americans?"
>
> Among other ridiculous answers were these two gems:
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> "Because they wouldn't have made good slaves. Indians are thin and weak."
>
> and...
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> "Because they wouldn't have worked as hard as other slaves. Indians are lazy."
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> Each of these responses were followed by a look of fright on the professor's face (though surprisingly few students shared his expression). He asked "Where did you learn that?" And they each confidently replied: "In high school."
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> Now, I went to an white, conservative, relatively culturally-insensitive high school, and even *I* was never taught such trash. So now I'm wondering, where is this sort of thing professed?
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> This all, by the way, took place in a so-called upper-level course at a major university.
>
> Gr"somewhat frightened"ace

That's terribly offensive in a couple of ways. First of all, what teacher in their right mind could possibly decide that it would be a good idea to teach such a thing to their students?! Realisticly, how can any educated person make that kind of generalization about an entire civilization? We're talking about a culture that hand-made everything they owned out of simple resources: land and animals. Additionally, the buffalo is not exactly a small animal, how could weak and lazy people kill them?
I doubt General Custer would call them weak or lazy.

Secondly, the fact that these students heard this from their teacher and never bothered to think about it for themselves is equally frightening. It's one thing to accept historical data as being factual, but this description is clearly a biased opinion which could easily be argued. Any student who accepts opinion as being fact is missing out on a very important lesson: how to think and rationalize for themselves. Developing one's abilities to do so is just as important as digesting all of the other information thrust upon you in a classroom. Once a student graduates and joins the working society, a large amount of the information that they've accumulated through the years will slowly be forgotten (unless it's something that they use on a daily basis). However, one's need to think for themselves and form their own opinions will always be there and continue to grow (well... maybe not everyone).

I guarantee you, if that teacher had made the same accusations about ... oh, let's say... Jews, or African-Americans, or Japanese... he would have probably seen a bit more opposition.

Tra "prejudice and generalizations is for losers, man" nio