Did anyone else find the ending to be the least bit offensive?
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HeatherMac320 — 19 years ago(August 22, 2006 01:48 PM)
"Unless you fast-forwarded the movie right to the end, you would have understood that Mt. Rushmore was a defacement of a natural monument. The Black Hills are a sacred area for the American Indians. For America to blast the faces of their leaders into the rock of the Black Hills is a travesty."
Very well said GhettoMafioso! And I thought it was an absolutely splendid ending to a brilliant film!
"Shocks are so much better absorbed with the knees bent." - Lord Summerisle -
mekaatnu — 17 years ago(July 29, 2008 09:58 PM)
Come to think of it, the monument itself is like a subliminal/symbolic tasteless gesture-a slap in the face. Kinda like naming a predominantly white club in Harlem- the Cotton Club!The former example is far, far, far worse than the second-I'm just making an observation.
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keesch83 — 19 years ago(May 15, 2006 03:35 AM)
being a blind conservative is one thing, i'm simply saying that there should be a level of respect given towards a monument that represents our country. Every country has history, and there aren't many of them that are completely innocent, but i'm tired of everyone romanticizing the native americans like they were just this peaceful little race that would never harm a soul. If you don't have enough respect for something that represents the country you live in, then you might as well leave, because this country isn't run by native americans anymore just as countries in europe have conquered over territories of other nations. Get over it . I'm an american, i don't feel connected to my german or british ancestors, so i feel i have to respect the country that i live in currently. not the one that it used to be a few hundred years ago. i'm not going to take a dump on something that native americans hold sacred (regardless of what colonizers did years ago) and i expect native americans would have the same respect. By the way, don't respond to me, because you know what, i really don't care.
"Then you leave me no choice than to play you in a game of hungry hungry hippos" -
hghspray — 19 years ago(May 18, 2006 09:59 PM)
Your completly missing the point ,what you as americans finds sacred ,we as natives dont ,and when it comes to the monument ,the people who bulit it didnt respect the fact that they were defacing our sacred black hills by making the monument. Not to meantion who they were honoring.If your people ,the americans didnt respect the fact that to the lakota the black hills is the most sacred place on earth to them,why would you expect us natives to respect the monument.If americans want respect they need to give it first,which they didnt and every time we indians see that monument it reminds us how you americans really feel about our culture or our sacred places.
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MissPiggy13 — 19 years ago(June 06, 2006 04:02 PM)
It isn't run by us anymore cause we been run over,out of our lands, put on reservations, assimilated, pushed out of our culture,taken over by others, and have to watch it all destruct (our land, languages, culture,etc.) - very hard to 'get over it' as you say. You might not feel connected to your ancestores cause you don't actually live in the UK or Germany. Apparently you haven't a clue as to respect. And btw, i care if you do or don't respond to me.
Nobody notices the sober Indians. On tv the drunk Indians emote In books drunk Indians philosophize -
mekaatnu — 17 years ago(July 29, 2008 10:11 PM)
Blast that monument! That monument was a middle finger to Native Americans. These folks defaced a hill Native Americans found sacred to show who was in charge. Why the hell should some Native Americans or progressive non-natives give a good damn about offending the sensibilities of Americans who extol that monument. Native Americans were the first ones here-they do not have to necessarily respect what outsiders hold sacred when it DESIGNED offends them. If anything, everybody who is not Native and don't like this can go back to where they came from because no matter how long you stay in a country-if you are not indigenous-especially if you are a settler or benefit from the act- then you are a freaking guest!As for holding on to the past, folks wronged have as much a right to hold on to the past-if they so choose- as long as the oppressor treats them the more oppressed- as second-class. One more thing, natives have often been portrayed as so-called violent savages as much as they have been portrayed as noble savages so this goes both ways; and, pacifist or not, which is besides the point- Native Americans did not conquer the European homeland. The Europeans conquered the homelands of Native Americans!
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cmcurrie2 — 14 years ago(July 24, 2011 11:42 PM)
Whoa . . . I grew up with people like you. So clueless about the ways you offend others as a group. The Rushmore 'monument' is to celebrate the eviction of our native people from their land. Nothing more. I would love to see the faces converted to Sitting Bull, several other leaders, and at least one Native woman. You need to realize that the Native Americans have not ever been allowed to achieve justice. No one has done similar harm to your group: count your blessings, and ask some respectful questions or try to help.
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Vspeeds — 19 years ago(October 07, 2006 09:00 AM)
I find it offensive to choose to see the attempted genocide of an entire race in this country as some little mistaken blurb in a history class and instead see it as "helping" or something like that. I think it's offensive to sign a treaty promising the Black Hills (a sacred place) to the ndns there and then completely break it and carve into it the faces of people who may have helped along this discrimination. To carve up and blast away in those Hills is the equivalent of burning a church.
Yeah, we all know the old stories of the evil white-man, but give me a break.
It's that type of indifference and ignorance that helped facilitate so many atrocities. No, you are not responsible, but as long as your type of attitude prevails, they are NOT just "old stories". And what I mean by that is that your type of attitude minimizes all that has happened and looks at it as no big deal. Literally millions and millions were killed here through the advantage of firepower, killing the the vulnerable, very old and very young, diseases brought over from the filthy conditions the Europeans were immune to (fyi, they were immune because they were conditioned to literally live in sh*!ty and poor conditions (and not all transmitted diseases were through sex; there are very early examples of the first uses of germ warfare in the form of "gifts" like blankets given to the native that were from the smallpox infirmary of the nearby Army. And while we are at it, even if it was sexually transmitted, rape was very, very common). So who were really the "savages"????
The OP's entire original post is what is most offensive to me. -
ReinaMissy — 19 years ago(December 01, 2006 01:51 PM)
Well put, indiegurl. I was as offended as you are by the original post in this thread; the depth of its indifference to the near cultural genocide perpetrated on this people is astounding.
I found the ending of "Skins" to be not only touching, but very metaphorical: the red tear trailing down Washington's cheek for all the crap that's occurred in the past 150 years.
FWIW, I'm White but I'm not a bleeding heart liberal. I don't need to be a liberal to acknowledge the reality of what one race did to another on this land. Anyone who tries to deny it is, quite frankly, an imbecile.