WHEN THE PROBLEMS BEGAN
A couple of historical notes are rattling up echoes that have plagued us for the last 400 to 500 years.
There's an item that archaeologists believe they've found the wreckage of the Santa Maria, one of the famous three ships employed in Christopher Columbus' original voyage to the new world. Said ship is believed to have gone down on Christmas day in 1492 off the Island of Haiti. You may recall the ship sailed with the Nina and the Pinta on that fateful crossing.
This is of particular interest to me because I spent time on that Island of Hispaniola as part of an archaeological expedition looking for another Columbus ship that went down 4 years later in another bay during a hurricane. One thing led to another and our explorations widened and we ended up producing two documentaries for Discovery Communications.
I became very familiar with the Dominican Republic, neighboring Haiti and the history of that first encounter of native Taino and the white European explorers and warriors. One of our programs had our teams spending months over a couple of years, probing and exploring the jungle forests, diving hundreds of feet into dark cave waters, and picking through ancient artifacts with experts.
We obviously did not find the ship, but the search and the history were interesting, enough so to lead us on the trail of the story of a final bloody encounter between the two civilizations. That program on the doomed tribe and once secret sites was a fascinating though heartbreaking project. The bottom line was the good and trusting Taino people were brutalized and ultimately slaughtered by the Europeans who there primarily for wealth and greed.
We obviously did not find the ship, but the search and the history were interesting, enough so to lead us on the trail of the story of a final bloody encounter between the two civilizations. That program on the doomed tribe and once secret sites was a fascinating though heartbreaking project. The bottom line was the good and trusting Taino people were brutalized and ultimately slaughtered by the Europeans who there primarily for wealth and greed.
CLOSER TO HOME
I note that today is the 407th anniversary of Englishmen stepping ashore and setting up what was to become the longest continuing European settlement in the new world-in what is now Virginia. Jamestown is no doubt historic, but it too is fabricated from the same nexus. European court society and business interests seeking to lay claim to native land, with little or no regard to the rights and claims of indigenous people. A variation of power makes right or the arrogance of a self righteous idea.
Was ever such, probably. Europeans did not have sole franchise on this brand of human behavior. But imagine how things would have been different if the Spanish had sought to understand the Taino instead of slaughtering them. Or if the marriage of John Rolfe to Pocahontas had been the norm for the relationship of the English, Spanish, Mexican and later American governments with the native people of this continent, instead of the lies, betrayals, violated treaties and such.
ELECTORAL PORN
People who pay attention to world politics are chuckling over a campaign spot being used in Denmark. Unlike the dull and droning attack ads inflicted upon American voters, this creative effort is designed to prompt voter participation. While our vote turn out continues to decline, this spot causes one to wonder.
See you down the trail.
