Quote:
Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz
I think there would be a rather large contingent of people that would say that technological advancemet aside, the standard of living for many Natives today is lower than it was 500 years ago.
I would say that at this point, the debate is how much is self inflicted, and how conterproductive to fixing the situation are claims such as this one about cell phone signals.
I've been through a lot of reserves, and I gotta say, living in a teepee and hunting for a living would probably be preferable to some of the places I've seen. Certainly this is a group of people that at one time were tremendously disadvantaged, but at this point there are any number of programs avaialbe to help make their lives better, but when their leadership pulls stunts like this it creats a culture looking for handouts, and those of us on the outside see the entire comunity as greedy.
Untill the leadership of a lot of bands start using the advantages afforded to their community properly, and to better the lives of the rest of the band, instead of looking for handouts like this, the problem will persist.
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I think that large contigent of people would be the same contigent of people who want to get money for transmitting cell phone signals through their air space.
It is a weak argument when it has a disclaimer that says "technological advancement aside". Any aboriginal person who's standard of living is below what is was 500 years ago can blame nobody but themselves.
I would say that living on free land, buying groceries with money that they do nothing to earn, and having a heated structure to live in is far better than living in a teepee and hunting for a living. As you said, there are so many programs in place to help them succeed, that I do not feel bad for those who fail, and I disrespect those who want more.
If they want to charge us for transmitting cell phone signals through their air space; then I why don't we start pushing for aboriginal levies on groceries, gasoline, cars, clothes, firearms, electricity, entertainment, and anything else that they want to consume that comes from our culture. See how they like that. They use Europeans as an excuse for their problems, and funnily enough, they do it through newspapers, computers, television and radio rather than smoke signals.