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From The Cradle of Civilization to a Grave of Indifference -- Discussion

Fri Jul 27, 2007 at 03:20:11 PM EST

Civilization's African Toll: From The Cradle of Civilization to a Grave of Indifference, an editorial from GreyHawk, centers on the plight of the Hadzabe tribe of Tanzania, who have ...

...a simple request. "Please just tell the world that we are dying." No accusations, no calls for warfare. Just a simple request -- more of a reminder, really -- that we should be aware of the passing of an indigenous people from the face of the earth.

The Hadzabe resurrect an age old issue ... the sacrifice "man" has to make for "man" in the name of civilization.

"Today, modern humans wage war in the Middle East over control of precious energy resources while in Africa a myriad of other struggles continue and erupt in violent outbreaks of bloodshed. It is the overlap, however, of the Cradle of Civilization into the Cradle of Humanity where the most stark contrasts are occurring -- a battle of irony and hypocrisy between noble savages and civilized people."

We are also asked to stop and consider who is the "savage" and does our advanced technology only supply the veneer of civilization.

In that way, however, we betray ourselves as nothing more than a bunch of self-deluded "noble savages" who have simply developed different technical and social structures with which to engage in the same age-old conflicts, pitting us against our fellow man, against nature and against those whom we've come to hold in contempt as trespassers or impediments to our development of "the greater good."

Read Greyhawk's editorial and then come back here to discuss ...

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From The Cradle of Civilization to a Grave of Indifference -- Discussion | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 hidden)

The issues of the Hadzabe, the San and (5.00 / 3) (#1)

of all indigenous folk that stem from the clash of "advanced" civilization with their own cultures is an age-old study in the cost and price of living, of advancing, and of knowing when and where to draw a line in the sand.

Even if, as a previous story illustrates, that could mean walking away from $5 billion.

by GreyHawk on Fri Jul 27, 2007 at 04:10:18 PM EST

History Repeats Too Much (5.00 / 3) (#2)

Nicely written GreyHawk! Lots to think about. Butterfly wings causing hurricanes kept coming to mind.

I've never been able to come to a comfortable place with the question of humanity. Are we inherently generous or inherently selfish? I often lead towards believing we're selfish because of the ongoing contradiction that we survive as individuals but damn our species.

by susie dow on Fri Jul 27, 2007 at 05:23:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I'd like to think that the jury is (5.00 / 3) (#3)

still out on that question; there are tremendous amounts of human compassion out there, just as there are vast wastelands of irrational fear and misdirected anger.

I think we're still evolving as a species, and if we can keep ourselves from getting too technically advanced -- long enough for our minds to evolve an equal amount of wisdom to manage our evolving technological power -- then we have a chance of breeding out the contemptuous aspects of our species.

It's one of the only comforting thoughts I have after seeing such examples of callous destruction and disregard for others.

:/

by GreyHawk on Fri Jul 27, 2007 at 05:30:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]

From the comments (5.00 / 3) (#5)

on dKos, shaharazade says what I was trying to put into words here ...

Some times the caring and helping itself become the very problem. Humanism and nature, even in our own society, seem buried. I feel compassion let's people off the hook, even within our own culture. We seem blinded to any other way but that which is deemed progress, leaving behind in our hubris, the fact that we know nothing but a tiny piece of the picture. Our remedies are often worse then the problem.
by shaharazade on Fri Jul 27, 2007 at 02:27:09 PM PDT

by roxy317 on Fri Jul 27, 2007 at 05:42:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]

: Yes, shaharazade nailed it. n/t (5.00 / 2) (#7)

by GreyHawk on Fri Jul 27, 2007 at 07:24:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]

And let's not forget the San people. (5.00 / 4) (#4)

In the ePluribus Media editorial, I also mentioned the San People. The San suffered a horrendous fate. They were openly, legally, permitted to be hunted by white hunters; and then stuffed and mounted (in whole or just parts) as trophies until the 1930s.

Barbarism dressed as "civilized" sport, dehumanizing those who are not "as civilized" in the eyes of those who are in no position to judge...

:/

by GreyHawk on Fri Jul 27, 2007 at 05:30:30 PM EST

Scalps, hides, bone...who are the real barbarians? (5.00 / 3) (#6)

Justification for a multitude of abuses by the English over the Irish and the Scots; Turks of the Armenians; Germans of the Roma and the Jews; Chinese of the Tibetans; Spanish of the Mayan; masters over slaves in too many societies.

Human violence knows no limits on its depravity.

by susie dow on Fri Jul 27, 2007 at 05:45:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

: No limits, and an almost infinite supply (5.00 / 2) (#8)

of justifications for violence that are "exceptions" to the rule of civilized society.
It's our capacity to review, however, and eventually recognize hypocrisy that enables us to hope that we are capable of change -- and to strive for that change.

by GreyHawk on Fri Jul 27, 2007 at 07:27:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]

The graphic on this is gorgeous... (5.00 / 3) (#9)

yet, that molten lead like light coming out of African, matches so much of what you say in your article.

by Cho on Fri Jul 27, 2007 at 09:03:45 PM EST

: To me is seemed like (5.00 / 3) (#10)

an "all seeing eye", kinda eerie.

by roxy317 on Fri Jul 27, 2007 at 09:20:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]