11-22-2018, 05:52 AM
Open-d: " Were the Hawaiians not barbaric, where the kapus a figment of my imagination?"
Your original quote was "primitive barbarians." Hawaiians might have been somewhat primitive, but barbarians? Compared to who? Centuries ago the Spanish ran the Inquisition (trial by ordeal-put your hand in boiling water to prove your innocence), some Americans burned witches, and much of the world was keeping and torturing slaves. And Irish potato famine--starving your own people.
The Hawaiians killed people for offending a chief; in the American south we killed black men for glancing at a white women. And today in the U.S. we put some prisoners in solitary confinement. And we allow homosexual rape in prison and then think it is humorous.
Native peoples have nothing on civilized society in terms of barbarism.
The primitive thing--liberal social scientists seek to banish that politically incorrect term. But there is objectivity here. Cultures that developed metal working, written language and the wheel were advanced. Those that didn't were generally primitive.
The Hawaiians did well for their environment. They had little basis to invent any of those three. They developed sophisticated canoes and complex sailing expertise. That's not so primitive.
Some native American tribes that lived in the Nevada area primarily ate rodents and lived in huts made of sticks. And didn't do much else. Lucky if they killed a deer once a year. Primitive.
Your original quote was "primitive barbarians." Hawaiians might have been somewhat primitive, but barbarians? Compared to who? Centuries ago the Spanish ran the Inquisition (trial by ordeal-put your hand in boiling water to prove your innocence), some Americans burned witches, and much of the world was keeping and torturing slaves. And Irish potato famine--starving your own people.
The Hawaiians killed people for offending a chief; in the American south we killed black men for glancing at a white women. And today in the U.S. we put some prisoners in solitary confinement. And we allow homosexual rape in prison and then think it is humorous.
Native peoples have nothing on civilized society in terms of barbarism.
The primitive thing--liberal social scientists seek to banish that politically incorrect term. But there is objectivity here. Cultures that developed metal working, written language and the wheel were advanced. Those that didn't were generally primitive.
The Hawaiians did well for their environment. They had little basis to invent any of those three. They developed sophisticated canoes and complex sailing expertise. That's not so primitive.
Some native American tribes that lived in the Nevada area primarily ate rodents and lived in huts made of sticks. And didn't do much else. Lucky if they killed a deer once a year. Primitive.