chapter 2 post

Ricky Woodie
Ethics
Chapter 2
26 August 2007

Chapter 2

When reading this chapter I feel that the author Ronald Takaki thesis is that the English are hypocrites for calling the Indians savages, when they them selves acted far more like savages then the Native Americans. The chapter starts out comparing the Indians with the Irish , stating that both groups were savages. The English said they were savages because they were not civilized. They felt that the Native Americans represented the Devil in Gods eyes. Upon arrival it seemed clear that this was not true. Takaki talks about how The Indians were very civilized and structured. They farmed well by growing plenty of crops and established seasons, so they knew when to grow and what to grow. They also kept there soil very fertile. When the English came over they took back slaves to the queen and gruesomely tortured them by ripping them apart. They made excuses for why they needed the Indians land claiming they were not using the soil and that God wanted them to take the land. When the white men began to starve they showed signs of being savages by eating dogs, cats, and even corpses, to survive. One example of how savage they were was in the begging of the chapter where Takaki says that one man murdered his pregnant wife, ripped out the child then cut her up into a bunch of pieces and ate her. The white began attacking the Indians and stealing there food. They killed and poisoned the Indians. When the Europeans brought over diseases and killed off half the Indian population, they claimed that it was Gods work. The white man slowly took over the new land and forced the Indians out, stating that they would be executed if they did not give up their land. When Thomas Jefferson became president he told the Indians that it was there fault they were ding off and would have to become farmers instead of hunters to survive. He was saying this so he could take their land once they were civilized.

This is a good argument, but it just seems too bias. The author may want to include some savage activity from the Indians, then compare them too that of the white man and show how they were no where near as savage as the white man. The author also needs to cite where he got records of these incidents so the reader knows that they are actually facts and not fiction.

When reading this chapter I agree with the authors argument and feel that the Europeans were the savages not the Indians. How they murdered the Indians and killed their own and ate them when they had no food. They raped the Indian women and tricked the Indians. They would offer the Indians poisoned wine to kill them. They chopped them up in little pieces. I knew in the past they killed off the Indians, but I never knew the details before of how they did it.