Toxic Avenger VI

Maybe you remember the awful (in a good way) '80s movie series The Toxic Avenger?  If you don't, it's okay.  You should watch, at least, the first one.  It's good for a laugh and several "O_o" moments.  Plus, I swear the toxic spill in RoboCop is recycled from the first Toxic Avenger movie.  Speaking of RoboCop....what is this atrocity?!

Anyway.  I could rant on Hollywood's craptacular remakes of classic movies and television series, but this particular article is way more important than that.  Just a note, Hollywood, just because you have CGI doesn't mean you should use CGI.  Star Wars was perfectly fine before you came along and "remastered" it...and then made the sucky pre-quals (though, I hold Lucas more responsible for the suckitude there).

THIS RANT actually has to do with this article published on November 15, 2012 (I know, I'm a few days late... be happy.  Be grateful I've taken time out of my Masters courses to write, nay, to entertain you).  I'll let you read it.

Oh, wait, we've tried that before.  You want me to just tell you what's in the article.  Fine.  Here's a recap:

White Man steals Red Man's lands.  White Man allows Red Man to establish "sovereign nation" within the newly formed, stolen, country.  White Man proceeds to treat Red Man like a second-class citizen for the next few hundred years, culminating with ensuring safe water supply.

Well, actually, that's not entirely true.  You see, there was a war in there...there was the Trail of Tears, too (is this the U.S.'s version of the Holocaust because we seem to forget about it very conveniently).  Then there was the establishment of the sovereign nation on the "reservations."  If you're not sure what the sovereign nation thing means, it means that the reservation is not subject to the laws Federal government--they are in charge of themselves--they govern themselves.  The government gives them money (almost as an apology for stealing and destroying their land) and, apparently, gets to decide things like....how outsiders get to use the reservation's land.

That's right.  The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency...lemme say that again, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY) has granted permits to oil companies to drill on the reservation and then dump the wastewater at the surface.  A loophole was written into that law back in the '70s that allowed for the wastewater to be disposed of, surfacly, as long as the companies could prove the water was being used by the farmers.

The Natives (in this case, the Shoshone) don't even want the drilling, let alone the crappy water that's polluting the natural streams and creeks.  Thanks, EPA, for making the environment a safer place to exist!  Read the article.  It'll make you mad if you have any kind of sense, logic, and human decency.  The States get to set their own laws regarding oil companies drilling on their land--and usually, their laws are stricter than the EPAs (are we really surprised here, kids?).  But, in the case of drilling on the reservations, you know, the land of the sovereign nation, the EPA gets to decide what's acceptable.

Well, folks, THIS is NOT acceptable!  This is horrendous, appalling, and a whole bunch of other big words meaning full of crap.  We've screwed the Native Americans enough, haven't we?  Or, is this our way of being the "supreme race" and driving other races to extinction by genocide, forced inter-racial marriages, banning of ceremonial/religious practices, etc?  It's all there in your history books, kiddies.  Take a look.  We enslaved black people and they revolted, overcame, and have integrated well into the U.S. culture;  we owe them nothing (sorry, if you're reading and feel entitled, tough luck...you get none from me).  We stole  the land from the Natives; we practically slaughtered them and nearly killed them off with our diseases; we hustled them into "their own" lands reserved for them, then forbid them from practicing their own religion....and now, we slowly try to poison them because, clearly, we could care less about their well being--they don't pay taxes, anyway (duh, sovereign frickin' nation)!

Injuns!

Who would have ever thought way on back in 1584 when Sir Walter Raleigh received permission to colonize Roanoke, Virginia, that the United States would have deceptively bought the land from the Indians, then treated them like inferiors and forced them, essentially, off their own land. Don't we attack other countries for doing that? Ah, how far we've come. Thank you, America.

I'm sure that the Indians feel the same. I mean, they were singing the praises of the American government as the Army marched the "Five Civilized Tribes" from their homelands in the deep South to "Indian Territory" in Oklahoma. And by saying "singing the praises of" I mean "totally loathing them." The Trail of Tears marked a certain...low point in the Nation's history.

Really, the American government has not treated the aboriginal people of the continent very well. At all. And to all the "African-Americans" out there who think I owe you something simply because I'm white--piss off. I owe you nothing. We've had equal rights in this country since the 60's. Get over yourself, get a job, and make something of your life other than a waste of air. Why is that blacks like James Earl Jones, Morgan Freeman, and Barak Obama can make a positive impact on society? Because they don't think America owes them anything. Take a clue from them.

If you're a NATIVE American...yeah, I owe you something. My ancestors are the ones that chased you off the land. My ancestors are the ones who deceived you and then tried to eliminate your people. My current government still persecutes you and still treats you as if you were not legitimate people.

This study is rather disturbing. Grant it, I think it's a tad misleading as "the rest of America" consists of 50,000 cultural and sub-cultural groups that don't exist within the tribes, but a 10% ratio of death by alcohol-related means is a wake up call. Our government is busy off policing the world, the very people to whom we owe a great deal of thanks sit on their government-granted acreage and drink...because there's nothing else to do. They're cut off from the rest of society, in a lot of cases. They're depressed. They have no ambition and, really, why should they? The government--even though it has agreed that the tribes are sovereign nations--still try to worm their way in to take control. The Governator wants to try to tax Indian casinos here in CA. To make them "pay their fair share." They don't have a fair share.

What if...back when the White Man came to the shores of this new nation, that the Indian chiefs had said, "Fine. You can settle here, but here's the law by which you must abide"? I'm sure, eventually, we would have passed the Indian Removal Act, but it probably would have been much later. What if a Native American were to have been placed in charge of the new government that was forming? It was the White Men that drove them from their lands. The Trail of Tears wasn't for the removal of the Sioux or Blackfoot. It was for the removal of the tribes that had integrated themselves into life in the South.

If you knew your once-great people had been nearly obliterated and ostracized by the society that had "tamed" them and you were reduced to living on "tribal land" or trying to re-enter the society that had snubbed you (and continues to do so), you'd probably drink yourself to death, too. Now, this is not necessarily true of all Indians on reservations. Some have chosen to work harder and be better--David Midthunder is a good example. So is Graham Greene (though, he's Canadian).

Of the number of Native Americans that remain, 10% die of alcohol-related incidents (such as DUI's and sirocis of the liver). Why are we slapping the hands of other nations in the world for invading other countries and trying to force the people out when...we've done that ourselves? Why are we not setting the example and actually helping the Native Sons and Daughters? We think we're helping by saying they're offended by being called Indians or red-skins or saying high schools can't have "Braves" or "Chiefs" as their mascots because the Indians will be offended.

I don't think they care half so much about that as they do about being forgotten by the bastards we are.