my mom said her sister would insult people by calling them bird names such as “yellow-bellied sapsucker” and “red-headed woodpecker” (last one reserved for people with red hair)
What’s really wild is that the native people literally told the Europeans “they walked” when asked how the statues were moved. The Europeans were like “lol these backwards heathens and their fairy tales guess it’s gonna always be a mystery!”
Maori told Europeans that kiore were native rats and no one believed them until DNA tests proved it
Roopkund Lake AKA “Skeleton Lake” in the Himalayas in India is eerie because it was discovered with hundreds of skeletal remains and for the life of them researchers couldn’t figure out what it was that killed them. For decades the “mystery” went unsolved.
Until they finally payed closer attention to local songs and legend that all essentially said “Yah the Goddess Nanda Devi got mad and sent huge heave stones down to kill them”. That was consistent with huge contusions found all on their neck and shoulders and the weather patterns of the area, which are prone to huge & inevitably deadly goddamn hailstones. https://www.facebook.com/atlasobscura/videos/10154065247212728/
Literally these legends were past down for over a thousand years and it still took researched 50 to “figure out” the “mystery”. 🙄
Adding to this, the Inuit communities in Nunavut KNEW where both the wrecks of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror were literally the entire time but Europeans/white people didn’t even bother consulting them about either ship until like…last year.
“Inuit traditional knowledge was critical to the discovery of both ships, she pointed out, offering the Canadian government a powerful demonstration of what can be achieved when Inuit voices are included in the process.
In contrast, the tragic fate of the 129 men on the Franklin expedition hints at the high cost of marginalising those who best know the area and its history.
“If Inuit had been consulted 200 years ago and asked for their traditional knowledge – this is our backyard – those two wrecks would have been found, lives would have been saved. I’m confident of that,” she said. “But they believed their civilization was superior and that was their undoing.”
“Oh yeah, I heard a lot of stories about Terror, the ships, but I guess Parks Canada don’t listen to people,” Kogvik said. “They just ignore Inuit stories about the Terror ship.”
Schimnowski said the crew had also heard stories about people on the land seeing the silhouette of a masted ship at sunset.
“The community knew about this for many, many years. It’s hard for people to stop and actually listen … especially people from the South.”
Indigenous Australians have had stories about giant kangaroos and wombats for thousands of years, and European settlers just kinda assumed they were myths. Cut to more recently when evidence of megafauna was discovered, giant versions of Australian animals that died out 41 000 years ago.
Similarly, scientists have been stumped about how native Palm trees got to a valley in the middle of Australia, and it wasn’t until a few years ago that someone did DNA testing and concluded that seeds had been carried there from the north around 30 000 years ago… aaand someone pointed out that Indigenous people have had stories about gods from the north carrying the seeds to a valley in the central desert.
it’s literally the oldest accurate oral history of the world.
Now consider this: most people consider the start of recorded history to be with the Sumerians and the Early Dynastic period of the Egyptians. So around 3500 BCE, or five and a half thousand years ago
These highly accurate Aboriginal oral histories originate from twenty thousand years ago at least
Ain’t it amazing what white people consider history and what they don’t?
I always said disservice is done to oral traditions and myth when you take them literally. Ancient people were not stupid.
100 good questions to ask your friends at 4:02 am when you can’t sleep (can also function as an asks list)
Are you bothered by your cosmic insignificance?
Do you mourn for a place or person you’ve never known?
Do you really think there is somebody for everybody?
Do you place any value in gender roles?
Do you have to be related to be family?
Are your platonic relationships just as valuable as romantic or family ones?
Are you in love? Do you want to be?
Do you think you can put love into categories (family, platonic, romantic, etc.) or is it just one general sensation?
Would you be happy with a life without romance?
Are you always going to be a little in love with somebody?
Would you change your appearance if you could?
Do you have the feeling you’ve lost something you might have had in another life - whether it be a person, a place, a world, a language, etc.?
Do you believe in reincarnation?
Would you want to be reincarnated?
Do you think you’re special, or just another person amongst billions? Can you be both?
Do theoretical ethical debates have any value? Is it important people discuss ethical dilemmas, e.g. the trolley problem?
Did you have imaginary friends? Do you still have them?
Are you religious? Do you think your religion is ‘correct’?
If you aren’t religious, do you wish you were? Why?
Do you want a grand adventure?
Do you have somebody, whether it be a friend or stranger, who you think you could have loved if the circumstances were different?
How long does it take you to fall in love with somebody?Is the sensation of ‘falling in love’ or ‘being in love’ better?
Is love about convenience or something more? Can it be about both?
Do you think you really understand your gender and sexuality?
How fluid is your concept of gender and sexuality?
What’s the most life-changing choice you’ve made so far?
Are you afraid of growing old?
Would you want to live forever? How about for a billion years, a million, a millennium, a century?
Do you believe in some form of god/s?
Are your choices fated or of your own free will?
Do you have a hunch about how you’re going to die?
Do you believe in star signs?
How old do you have to be to be considered an adult?
Was your childhood happy?
What are you missing from your life?
Have you ever met someone who had a very similar personality to your own? Did you get along?
Do opposites attract?
Is your life what you expected it would be five years ago?
Do you know what you want out of life?
What makes a person ‘good’? Are you a ‘good person’?
What fundamentally matters do you?
Is freewill an illusion?
Do you create art? How do you define art?
How often do you lie? Is all lying inherently bad? Are you generally truthful?
Do you want to be remembered after your death? What for?
Is true world peace ever possible?
Do you have to suffer to truly understand the human condition? What is the human condition? How can you really experience it?
Are you free? Will you ever be? Can anyone be truly free?
Do you hold yourself to higher standards than you hold others?
What do you expect from a friend or partner?
What question could you ask to find out the most about a person?
Do you justify all your beliefs or have you just inherited/absorbed some?
Which beliefs do you have that is most likely to be wrong?
Can human really understand the complete nature of the universe, space and time?
Is a conscious what makes someone a person?
What do you think about artificial intelligence?
Do you thinks humans are obsessed with escapism (books, video games, movies, etc.)? Are you looking for an escape? Do you think that’s a bad thing?
Are we eventually going to ‘run out’ of new combinations for music, art, language, etc.? Is there a limit to human creativity?
What do you think the next era of music will be like?
What do you think the next era of fashion will be like?
Do we live in tumultuous times, or do they just seem so strange because we’re living in them?
Would you want to meet a clone of yourself? Would you like them?
How confident are you, really?
How consistent is your perception of time?
What age should people be allowed to vote? Should children and teenagers be allowed to vote?
How do you feel about the idea ‘an eye for an eye’?
What’s the worse thing a person can be?
How do you feel about monogamy?
Can you be in love with someone and still fall in love with someone else?
What’s the tragedy of your life?
Would your life make a good play?
Should people be prosecuted for crimes that weren’t considered crimes at the time?
Would you fight for your country? Do you feel a sense of loyalty to your nation?
Do you believe in gender equality in every aspect?
Do we have a moral obligation to care for others? To what extent?
Do you crave approval and/or praise?
Is there comedy in all tragedy and tragedy in all comedy?
Are you ever going to be satisfied?
When you are sad, do you listen to music that conveys your emotions or music that makes you happy?
Is your music organised by mood or sensation or do you just listen to everything at any time?
Would you marry a friend if they needed you to (e.g. for citizenship)?
Are you a deep person?
Given the chance to live your life on Mars, with no hope of returning to Earth but with the promise of scientific discovery and glory, would you take it?
Are you who people think you are?
Do you think you would be happier if you had been born a different gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, nationality or religion?
What’s your toxic trait? Are you trying to improve yourself and fix it?
Do you anger easily?
Are you a jealous person?
If you lost all your memories, would you have the same personality?
Given the chance to reset your life (with none of the knowledge you currently have), would you take it?
Is hate as strong as love? Who do you hate?
Do you speak multiple languages? Which do you dream in? What language would you want to learn?
Do you draw meaning from your dreams, or do you disregard them?
How would you describe yourself when you love? Do you love forcefully, unconditionally, gently, quietly, desperately?
Is unrequited love real love?
Is your perception of yourself similar or the same to how others perceive you?
Are you overly analytical?
Do you ever feel that you are really a terrible person, and only act good out of societal or some other obligation?
Do you believe in magic? Are you superstitious?
What belief do you have that isn’t logically grounded, but you still firmly believe in?
But it’s worth mentioning that the second I saw the panel with the cop, my heart dropped, and it’s a shame that this is the initial reaction that I have towards cops interacting with POC
The fact that the notes are filled with non-Black people who suddenly got worried when they saw the cop ….. in an illustrated story.
Now try imagining how hard it is irl for Black mothers, and Black people in general. Each encounter with the police could end with our death, even if we did absolutely nothing wrong.
I think most of us deal with it—bc let’s face it, we have no other choice—but I’d be lying if I said that every single time I come into close proximity to the police, somewhere in the back of my mind there wasn’t always the thought: “what if …”
“what if today is the day” … “what if this cop had a bad morning” … “what if this cop doesn’t like black people” … “what if he thinks my phone is a gun” … “what if he thinks I’m acting suspicious” … “what if he needs to fill a quota” … “what if he mistakes me for some nondescript black man but I fit the description anyway” … “what if my car insurance payment didn’t go through and I don’t know about it” … “what if I have a taillight out” …. “what if he thinks I have a bad attitude” … “what if it was a rough day for me and I do have a bad attitude” … “what if there’s not even any cops around but a white person thinks I look out of place” … what if what if what if
Obviously I cannot speak for everyone who is Black, but these thoughts flash through my mind every single time I see a cop. Every time. Maybe it only takes a microsecond, but it’s always there. Always.
LOL. I know we may make it look easy. But yeah, it’s still there.
And even though I’m very healthy and I manage to … adapt(?) to those fears, I figure that kind of constant on/off stress has gotta be taking some kind of toll on me, right? On Black people in general. It’s like perpetually unexpected games of Russian roulette. Or maybe like the Spanish Inquisition. (No one ever expects it).
Sometimes I wonder if white people understand the constant extra calculations that Black people are doing continuously as we’re out and about. Calculations for any contingency encounter with the police. Or with some white person who might call the police because they’ve mistaken my melancholy mood for “suspicious” behavior. Calculations that white people don’t ever need to do. At least, not because of simply being in the general proximity of the police.
