Pocahontas - tonythemisfit on Flickr
Ignorance truly is bliss, and intentionally leaving a state of bliss runs counter to our human nature. Could this be why, as people, we are so reluctant to accept uncomfortable truths? Remaining in comfortable oblivion is far easier than challenging our beliefs.
I follow the Native Appropriations blog where Cherokee and P.H.D-student Adrienne K writes about “the use of Indigenous cultures, traditions, languages, and images in popular culture, advertising, and everyday life” Native Appropriations offers many well-written, thoughtful articles showing examples of harmful stereotypes in American culture. Many are obvious once pointed out by the site’s owner. The problem comes when harmful stereotypes are not so obvious to most of us.
Recently, Adrienne wrote about an energy bar company using bastardized Native American imagery and traditions in its marketing. The author thought this company’s methods hurt indigenous people, but I didn’t get it. I didn’t see how the seemingly positive images in the ad campaign were hurtful or even disrespectful to native people.
Situations like this are typical. For instance, we all agree that slavery is wrong. We know that calling a black man the n-word is unacceptable. Anyone in disagreement is so far out of the norm, he isn’t taken seriously. It gets more difficult when discussing the Redskins or Florida State University’s tomahawk chop. Further difficulty arises in discussing affirmative action or reparations. These are difficult topics we’ve so far been unable to talk about. Or at least we’ve been unable to talk about them in any meaningful manner.
While myriad reasons prevent open dialog on these matters, it really comes down to two things. Dominant cultures are usually willing to remain ignorant, while minority cultures are often unwilling to accept any challenges to their victimhood.
This presents an interesting conundrum. While we in the dominant cultures often revel in ignorance like swine in slop, victimized cultures are often unwilling to go through the necessary dialog to enlighten their oppressors. And who can blame them. They’ve been oppressed, often physically or emotionally. They would have to trust their oppressors enough to participate in emotionally-draining dialog. In the end, we are all damaged creatures, emotionally unable to resolve our condition.
The dominant culture needs empathy to understand the plight of minority cultures, but enlightenment eludes us when we cannot challenge and question the perceived wrongs. Even if all of the perceived wrongs are in fact real, we will never see it that way without being able to challenge the facts. I’ll leave it to the psychologists and sociologists to understand why we, as humans, work this way.
Back to the problem at hand. While exploitation flows from dominant to minority cultures, the responsibility must lie in both cultures to address the problems. Human nature demands it. Yet at the same time, human nature prevents it.
So what’s the solution? Time…. We need to spend time together. Just like dinner is the cure for racism, spending time together learning about different cultures is our best hope for easing the impact of native appropriations.
Don’t think this simple solution is easy. It is not. Just like coping with grief, challenging our beliefs is difficult. The conversations I’m proposing are certain to be emotionally draining. I expect arguments, anger, hurt and resentment from all involved. But oh how freeing it would be to actually resolve these issues, even on a small scale.
We should not run from this challenge. Instead, we should face it with gusto. While ignorance is bliss, living in ignorance is a lie.
