NOTE: Written in the spirit of light fragments--don't expect complete sentences and thoughts but consider the ingredients referenced and connect the dots for yourself.
"The arc of the moral universe is long, but bends toward justice"
"What shaped the behavior of the man... systems, etc."
"we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderer." -Dr. King after four girls were murdered in an Alabama church
If you pay close attention to the name of the missionary, it's Chau--this is an Asiatic name.
Three levels
A Christian might view this as a loss of life and to the institution, maybe a moment of martyrdom
A pro-indigenous progressive
might see it as
"the arc of the universe" bending toward justice
how right the indigenous people defended their island, made it clear, and prevented a possible epidemic when the invader returned despite their initial act of dissuasion.
As the son of Vietnamese refugees,
I notice another thing: the missionary's last name is Chau.
Chau is an asiatic name, and his face--Vietnamese too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chau
Vietnamese descendents experienced a few things
1) If you have any connection to South Vietnam, I suspect there's a decent chance you might be related to a people called the Champa -- a muslim vietnamese population that was persecuted into genocide by the (?Tran dynasty?).
2) Vietnam was also colonized by the French, and Japanese, and some might argue the Russia + the U.S. as well
when we later examine the Vietnam War between its North/South with the various backing governments.
For any "colonized" nation, there's a category for something I call
colonial [perhaps to a country like England, Spain, China, or Japan]
and/or
institutional [i.e. if a church is the first to set significant colonial influence -- just as the Catholic Church did on many an occassion]
Applying the stockholm syndrome concept in psychology at a collective scale, :
when the population under former colonization becomes ardent supporters of the former institution they were once subjected to.
For examples in Asia, the French language and anything related are often held in high esteem by Vietnamese people. Under Chinese Communism, several religious practices were eradicated during their most recent cultural revolution within the past century. Or Japanese mannerisms get adopted as a value in South Korean diction.
So we must question: why did he feel so compelled to go to the Sentinel Islands?
Indoctrination is part of it--a relgious faith
But as someone who grew up in Michigan having lived, worked, in proximity to shootings, or staying in squats, or chose homelessness over conventional housing arrangements
there's a part of me that understands what it's like to be drawn to the possibility of finding acceptance in others
other places
other people
other challenges
other discomforts
other dangers
and Jim Carey.
"Your need for acceptance can make you invisible in this world."
The greatest dare just might be to do as Carey says:
"Risk being seen in your fullest glory."
Chau probably had a great heart for compassion and all the values that make the various Christian faiths compelling on face.
Yet organized religion frequently preys upon the vulnerabilities that come with basic needs -- especially when the ways of life, survival, and culture are systemically eradicated.
Christianity is no stranger to this: deuteronomy 12 gives explicit directions for what policy circles classify as cultural genocide: you've seen me write about this elsewhere before.
We may place issue on the conquistadors, but the ministers in the settlements have as much a role. Look to the boarding schools and how native peoples were often beaten and demeaned for speaking their original languages, eating their traditional foods, and partaking in their customary celebrations or ceremonies.
"we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderer." -Dr. King
And when the people who stand up in defense of their needs to the settlers:
Who becomes top priority for eradication?
Leaders -- of course the Generals, the ardent Warriors, and political leaders, but also the griots, historians, poets, musicians, scholars, doctors, architects, engineers, etc. anyone of significant influence
and if there's public concern, it's done by stigmatizing anyone whose work is easy enough to appear divorced from creating any tangible and practical value.
In the way Red communist doctrine interpreted "revolution(s)", one of the first tasks at hand is to eradicate the intelligentsia--the kind of people I listed above.
That's not too far off from what Christianity does too.
Among hard-line capitalist advocates, you'll hear justifications in a similar form-- the near-sightedness for quarterly and annual profit often blinds them from the recognizing the deeper, interconnected values that come with culture.
The culpable behaviors are transcendent across too many ideologies, but we must not let the systems that send people to their deaths escape our gaze for critical amendment and learning.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=V80-gPkpH6M
"The arc of the moral universe is long, but bends toward justice"
"What shaped the behavior of the man... systems, etc."
"we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderer." -Dr. King after four girls were murdered in an Alabama church
If you pay close attention to the name of the missionary, it's Chau--this is an Asiatic name.
Three levels
A Christian might view this as a loss of life and to the institution, maybe a moment of martyrdom
A pro-indigenous progressive
might see it as
"the arc of the universe" bending toward justice
how right the indigenous people defended their island, made it clear, and prevented a possible epidemic when the invader returned despite their initial act of dissuasion.
As the son of Vietnamese refugees,
I notice another thing: the missionary's last name is Chau.
Chau is an asiatic name, and his face--Vietnamese too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chau
Vietnamese descendents experienced a few things
1) If you have any connection to South Vietnam, I suspect there's a decent chance you might be related to a people called the Champa -- a muslim vietnamese population that was persecuted into genocide by the (?Tran dynasty?).
2) Vietnam was also colonized by the French, and Japanese, and some might argue the Russia + the U.S. as well
when we later examine the Vietnam War between its North/South with the various backing governments.
For any "colonized" nation, there's a category for something I call
colonial [perhaps to a country like England, Spain, China, or Japan]
and/or
institutional [i.e. if a church is the first to set significant colonial influence -- just as the Catholic Church did on many an occassion]
Applying the stockholm syndrome concept in psychology at a collective scale, :
when the population under former colonization becomes ardent supporters of the former institution they were once subjected to.
For examples in Asia, the French language and anything related are often held in high esteem by Vietnamese people. Under Chinese Communism, several religious practices were eradicated during their most recent cultural revolution within the past century. Or Japanese mannerisms get adopted as a value in South Korean diction.
So we must question: why did he feel so compelled to go to the Sentinel Islands?
Indoctrination is part of it--a relgious faith
But as someone who grew up in Michigan having lived, worked, in proximity to shootings, or staying in squats, or chose homelessness over conventional housing arrangements
there's a part of me that understands what it's like to be drawn to the possibility of finding acceptance in others
other places
other people
other challenges
other discomforts
other dangers
and Jim Carey.
"Your need for acceptance can make you invisible in this world."
The greatest dare just might be to do as Carey says:
"Risk being seen in your fullest glory."
Chau probably had a great heart for compassion and all the values that make the various Christian faiths compelling on face.
Yet organized religion frequently preys upon the vulnerabilities that come with basic needs -- especially when the ways of life, survival, and culture are systemically eradicated.
Christianity is no stranger to this: deuteronomy 12 gives explicit directions for what policy circles classify as cultural genocide: you've seen me write about this elsewhere before.
We may place issue on the conquistadors, but the ministers in the settlements have as much a role. Look to the boarding schools and how native peoples were often beaten and demeaned for speaking their original languages, eating their traditional foods, and partaking in their customary celebrations or ceremonies.
"we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderer." -Dr. King
And when the people who stand up in defense of their needs to the settlers:
Who becomes top priority for eradication?
Leaders -- of course the Generals, the ardent Warriors, and political leaders, but also the griots, historians, poets, musicians, scholars, doctors, architects, engineers, etc. anyone of significant influence
and if there's public concern, it's done by stigmatizing anyone whose work is easy enough to appear divorced from creating any tangible and practical value.
In the way Red communist doctrine interpreted "revolution(s)", one of the first tasks at hand is to eradicate the intelligentsia--the kind of people I listed above.
That's not too far off from what Christianity does too.
Among hard-line capitalist advocates, you'll hear justifications in a similar form-- the near-sightedness for quarterly and annual profit often blinds them from the recognizing the deeper, interconnected values that come with culture.
The culpable behaviors are transcendent across too many ideologies, but we must not let the systems that send people to their deaths escape our gaze for critical amendment and learning.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=V80-gPkpH6M
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