Blankets

[Matthew P Wiener]

"Steven Maas (CUTR)" <maas at cutr.eng.usf.edu> writes:

>Matthew P. Wiener takes the song to task for a lack of historicity.  If
>Mr. Wiener intends this as a diminishment of the song (I say "if" because,
>although this seems to be his intent, I don't want to put words in his
>mouth),

I could not possibly mean it as a diminishment of the song, since I have
absolutely no opinions of it qua song, having never even heard of it.  (In
fact, you will never hear much from me evaluating music as such, since I
almost never listen to music.)

>	 I would only say the song makes no claim to be a history book.

Well, yes.

>An artistic work is generally judged using other criteria.

Is this supposed to be news?  Do you want a cookie, or what?

>							     In this case,
>perhaps a criterion could be:  does the song succeed in presenting an
>essentially accurate portrayal of the history of contact between Europeans
>and American Indians in a powerful and unforgettable way, in the space of
>a song?  I say yes it does.

Nothing possibly could.

>			      (Even though some details may be, as Andrew
>D. said, distorted or embellished.)

I don't approve of outright nonsense and lying being passed off as mere
distortions and embellishments.  Nor of the guts of the song being passed
off as "some details" along the way, now that they've been found baldly
inaccurate.

>Mr. Wiener's main point, I guess, is that there is no proof that genocide
>using smallpox-infected blankets was ever successfully committed against
>any Indian group.

Uh no.  My main point is what I said: the song, so far as historicity is
concerned, is utter nonsense.

>		    Again, the song is not a history book; however, of
>course, a lack of proof of the successful implementation of such a policy
>does not prove that it did not happen.

Nothing personal, but I like my raving paranoia confined to Pynchon novels
and similar works.  Would you approve of someone *defending* the spreading
of the infected blankets, since after all, there is no proof to rule out
that what really happened is that the strain happened to be weak and the
settlement in question was _immunized_?

If the mission were a success, I'd think somebody would have crowed about
it somewhere.  They weren't into political correctness quite yet.

>					 At any rate, equally nasty
>policies were, in fact, successfully implemented.

Is this also supposed to be news?  How about two cookies?

>Mr. Wiener has other specific complaints:

>"the West is the wrong part of the country. . ."

>The song may refer to the western hemisphere--I forget whether this is
>made clear.

"The West" in the context of the USA refers to that part of the USA famous
for being the home of TV and movie Indians, the sort that a 60s songwriter
and her audience would know about.

(Without any context, "the West" would refer to Euroamerican culture, not
the Western hemisphere.)

>"these blankets were not traded for land. . ."

>In many cases Indians were promised allotments of food and supplies
>(including blankets) in exchange for moving to reservations.

Two blankets and two hankies???  Pathetic delivery on allotments was common
enough, but this seems a bit ridiculous.  As it is, there were no reservations
at the time of the incident in question, so you're just random associating.

>							       I don't know
>if any of these blankets were intentionally infected with smallpox.

We know of two such blankets.  Two.

>"Uncle Sam did not exist yet. . ."

>And he still doesn't.  I guess Mr. Wiener means as a symbol,

Wow, you're a quick study.  I meant it as used in the song.  Sheesh.

>							      however I
>think the national characteristics that Uncle Sam as a symbol is meant to
>personify existed long before the character first appeared.  Presumably
>the reference is to those characteristics.

Uncle Sam as a symbol stands for a few things: the US government, or the US
nation, or the US people.  National characteristics???  Ridiculous.

>"no tribes were wiped out as a result. . ."

>Smallpox was a major contributing factor in the complete disappearance
>(culturally speaking--it's thought there were a few survivors from various
>tribes who blended in with the Seminoles when they moved into the then
>mostly empty Florida) of all of the original Indian cultures in Florida.

Two cookies and a cream pie!  Really, what does the above have to do with
the historicity of the song?

The #1 factor was the white man's guns aimed at the red men and women.  The
Seminole war was quite brutal, nasty, and we all know who won it.

>Some of this smallpox may have been spread purposefully, the historical
>record is not clear on this point.

As in, completely lacking any such information.  Smallpox spreads all by
itself.  Worse, as has been recently discovered, American Indians have a
surprisingly narrow range of immunological phenotypes, meaning that they
were at much greater risk, over the long run, to foreigners' diseases than
the foreigners were to them.

>				     Other cases of Indian tribes wiped out
>or drastically reduced in population by smallpox and other introduced
>diseases also may or may not have been brought about deliberately.

You can mutter all you like about "may".  Whooptie do.

>"nobody censored any history books over this incredibly minor incident..."

>I don't know that the reference to censored history in the song refers
>only to the particular event Mr. Wiener sets out to debunk.

Well, I do know.  It's part of the sentence, and I am a native speaker.

>							      As recently
>as the 60s when I was in grade school history books definitely leaned
>toward the European side and against the Indians.  Discussions of
>attempted genocide and "ethnic cleansing" were conspicuously absent.

What does that have to do with _censorship_?  Nothing.  The people writing
and the people buying the textbooks were apathetic and ignorant, who thought
Indians were the bad guys in cute outfits in John Wayne movies, with some
exceptions like Tonto.

>I can't speak to newer textbooks.  Finally, "incredibly minor" is in the eye
>of the beholder.

I prefer objective scales that have factual connections with reality, instead
of the eye of the beholder.  (I am also aware they don't actually exist, but
one can go a great distance in that direction.)  If you were to familiarize
yourself with the long sad history of American Indians, you might notice that
the incident in question is easily lost in the noise with no run up of joy as
a result.

>		   Even in the article Mr. Wiener posted it sounds like
>attempted genocide.

Do you have any idea of what the word "genocide" means?  Apparently not.
--
-Matthew P Wiener (weemba at sagi.wistar.upenn.edu)    If Apple owned
 NBC, they would sue Nike for comedy-interface copyright violation.