[Indigsol] What Margaret Wente Wrote was Really Dumb – and also Racist

[Ben Powless]

 submitted for op-ed to the globe and mail (unlikely), and to be published
to rabble.ca and the dominion (dominionpaper.ca)

*What Margaret Wente Wrote was Really Dumb – and also Racist *
by Ben Powless

Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente went over the line today.

Not normally known for pulling punches, the controversial columnist today
provided an apology and justification for Olympic Committee member Dick
Pound's assertions that "Canada was a country of savages" a few hundred
years ago.

In her article, titled "What Dick Pound said was really dumb – and
also true<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081024.wcowent25/BNStory/specialComment/home>,"
Wente goes on the offensive against all those who were offended by Pounds
comments, and makes the case that Natives were indeed savages, and that's
why Canada should continue its plans to erase their "neolithic culture".

"North American native peoples had a neolithic culture [sic] based on
subsistence living and small kinship groups... They had not developed
broader laws or institutions ..., evidence based science ..., or advanced
technologies... Until about 30 years ago, the anthropological term for this
developmental stage was 'savagery'," she writes.

Until about 30 years ago, the technical term for this would be ignorance.
Today, it is just plain racism to argue cultural inferiority and pretend
that all Native peoples are the same. Apparently Aboriginal problems today
can be explained by the fact that we have a "relatively simple neolithic
kinship-based culture" trying to make it in a world too complex for us.
Broken treaties, residential schools, police discrimination? Not a problem!

She goes through great pains to de-romanticize Indigenous cultures. Arguing
that modern drugs have no relation to Native medicines? Maybe Wente should
take an Aspirin, a medicine derived from willow bark, a traditional
medicine. This is beyond the point. She could do her homework, but she has
other motives.

She feels it is wrong for Canadian society to feel collective guilt, since
Native peoples had 'absurd' spiritual beliefs, weren't ecologically
sensitive, and basically were good-for-nothing. And this guilt is what's
pushing us to try and protect Aboriginal cultures – effectively dooming
them.

"[A] neolithic culture cannot possibly give them a future. And it's time for
us to face that." She's a brave one, concerned for poor little Indians,
calling for us to accept racist policies like the ones that resulted in
residential schools and Native leaders in jail. No, Margaret Wente's town
isn't big enough for more than one culture, unless it's based on White
values.

This kind of thinking and writing is unacceptable today. Dick Pound may have
made some unsavoury remarks that he regretted, but this is just appalling.
Within one day, a Facebook
group<http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=45016000567>has been
created, with over one hundred members calling for Ms. Wente to be
fired.

Ms. Wente should not be allowed to keep her position at the Globe and Mail,
publishing such virulent lies, while Mr. Pound should resign his Olympic
Committee position and McGill Chancellorship.  The newspaper should distance
itself from her remarks and work instead to build understanding of different
cultures. I am urging people everywhere to write letters to the
editors<Letters at globeandmail.com>,
to Wente <mwente at globeandmail.com>, and to her
boss<egreenspon at globeandmail.com>,
letting them know you're not buying the paper.

We have to stop allowing such racism to go unchallenged in our society. We
must demand respect and understanding for all.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.resist.ca/pipermail/indigsol/attachments/20081026/e60fcf9b/attachment.html>