Originally posted by: Terumo
Originally posted by: Nutdotnet
Haha...sorry, but you still SOUND like an idiot (see, there's a bit of a difference between calling someone an idiot, which I didn't, and saying you sound like one).
Oh, wow, what a come back. Nah-hah-nee-boo-boo.
I'm sure you're a bright individual on many fronts, but on this you're wrong. And you're getting your panties in a knot because you've found someone who actually has some background in this that is perhaps SMARTER THAN YOU in this subject?!?! My god, burn the bridges!!!
How are you smarter? Dancing around with your jockies on fire doesn't equate to intelligence, let alone class.
Never claimed to have the breath of knowledge of the archives at the Scott Polar Institute, but I do know my way around this topic, and not only via books. All you can come back with is -- I live here <stick tongue out> -- and appear like a juvenile delinquent.
....Yawn....
You say you've studied the Arctic for 20 years. If you love the Artic so much why haven't you visited there? Have you visited Alaska? 20 years is a long time to study a geographic subject that you've never seen.
Have you ever been to Cornwallis Island? Where's Cornwallis Island, bucko? What hamlet is there and why would I mention it?
I'm sitting here surrounded by (an inventory of 40, of just 2 regions) topo maps for a reason, not just because they can line my walls. Can you even use a topo map (GPS is unreliable near the north magnetic pole)?
Yes, I AM A CITY BOY...NOW. Well, if you can call Anchorage a city. I was born in Anchorage, and grew up in Seldovia. Seldovia is NOT a city, it's a VILLAGE of less than 300 people and is only accessible by boat or plane. No, it is not a village in the Arctic Slope, but a village nonetheless. Guess what, we had internet when I was in highschool. The villages on the Arctic slope have internet NOW. Why? BECAUSE OF THE OIL COMPANIES. They helped outfit many of the smaller villages with Satellite internet service a few years ago.
Sell your soul to the company store as long as they give you a Snicker's bar.
Today even the remote hamlets in the Canadian arctic have internet access, but only in public facilities -- satellite calls are expensive and the wait is l-o-n-g. Takes almost a minute to ring up.
What is with this history lesson that you're giving that has nothing to do with the subject? The Natives live in Villages NOW, and they lived in Villages LONG BEFORE THE "WHITE MAN" came. So sorry, that was simply retarded.
To let you know of your stupidity in trying to speak for a community you don't understand, then telling others to shut up when they actually know more than you. Being that you actually was born and raised in Alaska, you should've at least known that the Inuit never lived in villages.
So before claiming others are ignorant, check your own six. And do the world a favor and not begetting more ignorance.
The Native population, just like any population WANT to succeed and provide for their families.
Meanwhile they lament that their kids no longer speak their language, or can hunt. That they take up nasty behaviors (like glue sniffing, a chronic problem in dry hamlets), and leave their lands to make
money in cities.
They were once proud people who dependent on no one, but the invaders came and called them savages and "reformed" them. Now they're facing all the societal problems technology and the Western world could bring, most now live on handouts (why oil money is just another welfare check). Meanwhile, their way of life is becoming wiped out, or become a tourist oddity for the bands that has trinkets (like carvings and beadwork) to sell.
Don't talk about them, as you don't understand or even care. All you consider of success is what the Western world thinks it to be.
The problem Natives have is NOT with the oil companies (because they provide jobs and practice Native Hire preference), it's with the lack of education given in the smaller villages, it is the rampant abuse of Alcohol by the Native population, it's the lack of expansion once a child grows up and realizes that he/she is stuck in the village without taking a huge risk by moving to the "big city". The oil companies expansion and providing more jobs will allow the Native population to make great money, gain valuable experience, and allow them to be successful and proud! Can't you understand that?
Read above, for a real history, not one of a city boy still trying to "reform" the "savages".
They don't need handouts, they don't need interference. They need their independence and they need their
autonomy.
Before you rant and rave anymore, take a trip to the Arctic Slope and then get back to me. Pictures aren't enough.
I suggest that you live with the Inuit and learn something about them before offering advice.
BTW- I am a very liberal democrat....but we need jobs to help this economy.
BTW, I'm a Traditional conservative, but foreigners can bring problems that hurts communities, their culture and life. So never claim a conservative doesn't understand the plight of people.