Colonial Sadness

[LBernier at tribune.com]

     Please, Henry, "defense of colonialism?"  NOT!  I just get tired of 
     the attitude that native peoples (defined as everyone outside of the 
     predominantly white European "modern" culture) are somehow lessened if 
     they, well, play with toy motor cars in their igloos, or mud huts, or 
     UN housing or whatever.  It's an attitude which treads a little too 
     close to the "noble savage" and I find it offensive.
     
     The problem with American capitalism isn't, IMO, that they force it 
     down the throats of under-developed countries - it's that they use the 
     labor force of those under-developed countries to make the goods at a 
     fraction of what it would cost in the US, in order to ratchet up the 
     profits, and NONE of those profits get reinvested in the country of 
     origin.  
     
     Jean.
     

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Colonial Sadness
Author:  gravity at nicom.com (Henry M) at Internet_tco
Date:    12/11/96 10:00 PM


It's called contrast. A useless factory-made toy. Frozen snow. 
I haven't heard such thoughtless defense of colonialism in years. 
"If they want it, it must be good for'em." It may be inevitable, and 
I would never dream of keeping such blessings as guns and big macs 
outta the hands of anyone that has been taunted with them, but to 
feel no regret...
     
On 11 Dec 96 at 8:48, LBernier at tribune.com wrote:
     
> From:          <LBernier at tribune.com>
> Date:          Wed, 11 Dec 1996 08:48:17 -0600 
> Subject:       Re[2]: the Voice of Steely
> To:            pynchon-l at waste.org
     
>      Craig opines
> 
>      > Reminds me of a photograph way back in a 1970s _National > 
>      Geographic_, showing an Inuit hunkered down in his igloo for 
>      the > night, playing with a battery-operated motor-racing
>      track. One of > the strangest and saddest photos I have seen. 
> 
> 
>      Why was this sad, Craig? - would you rather see the Inuit
>      eating chewing on some dried seal meat while his fat pregnant 
>      barefoot wife sits next to him repairing his mugluks with a
>      bone needle and polar bear sinews?  Damn those third worlders 
>      (although Alaska was part of the US last time I checked - or 
>      was this a Canadian Inuit?) who just won't stay quaint and
>      backwards!
> 
>      Jean.
> 
> 
> ______________________________ Reply Separator
> _________________________________ Subject: Re: the Voice of Steely 
> Author:  "Craig Clark" <CLARK at SHEPFS2.UND.AC.ZA> at Internet_tco
> Date:    12/11/96 8:56 AM
> 
> 
> David Casseres <casseres at apple.com> writes: 
> 
> > One of the most heartbreaking examples I've read about is the 
> > passage in Paul Theroux's _Happy Isles of Oceania_ about Cook 
> > Islanders, who once had a particularly appealing version of
> > Polynesian culture, vegging out on the sofa and watching imported 
> > porno videos....
> 
> 
> "Living inside the system is like driving across 
>  the countryside in a bus driven by a maniac bent 
>  on suicide."
>    - Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow" 
> 
     
Keep cool, but care. -- TRP
Moderation in moderation. -- Husky Mariner
     
http://www.nicom.com/~gravity