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Author Topic: Plastic Shamans and Rainbow Warriors  (Read 2043 times)

Atehequa

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Plastic Shamans and Rainbow Warriors
« on: June 26, 2014, 05:07:30 am »
Cultural Genocide
Christian missions and newer troubles
Steadily stealing away our sense of being
Conquered, contained and forced to convert
Some of us still cling to what we have left
Surviving cruel priests and maniacal ministers
Churches of Spain, France, England and America

Old Adversaries
Founding fathers cloaked in Christianity
New Age purveyors, seemingly in the church's shadow
Turning their attention upon our ancient homelands
Seeing us as obstacles as do now their descendants
Having us either killed or methodically assimilated
Starting before George Washington and continuing today

Capitalistic Supremacists
Now forcing a new religion upon us all
Specially crafted to fill needs and coffers
The clergy of grifters, hucksters and frauds
Beholding to a greedy god's all seeing eye
Stirring in impure and artificial ingredients
Not all that picky, they will stew Christians

Spiritual stew
A huge, shiny new age trade kettle
Cooking fires fueled by bones of their dead
People's knowledge and beliefs stewed into lies
Adding in the choice cuts of our spiritual being
Spiced with gaudy trappings and counterfeit objects
Carefully tended by chain restaurant managers

These charlatans
Plastic shamans and medicine people
Still robbing us as did their ancestors
Shameless greed, never are they satisfied
Of privileged lives and gluttonous appetites
Quack swindlers and their attack dog acolytes
Prodding old wounds, they mock our beliefs

Their temples
Once inside they all look the same
Measured unfairly according to status
The love and life within a caste system
Their perpetual ascent to the top of nowhere
Spiritualists channeling fictitious native spirits
Feathers, wolves, buckskin and buffalo hide dreams

Earth Songs
More like cannibalistic hags passing gas
Against a backdrop of mute sylvan greenery
Plastic shamans along with propaganda priestesses
Aside from evil spirits, mouthpieces and vestments
Little different from the Christian missions of old
The great lie over truth, reward and punishment

Rainbow Chiefs
Deviant warriors defending their pots of gold
And flocks of white sheep all bleating the same
Chants, mantras, or anything else they are told
Watchful shepherds who have a taste for mutton
When not preying on us they will eat their own
Their cloying scent transcending space and time

Uncle Tomahawks
Sell outs and those of sordid convictions
Spreading the great lie, they whore for glory
What they have been tricked out of is tainted
Knowledge that these new age charlatans misapply
Attempting to cheaply sell what never should be sold
We will contend with these traitors in the next world

Remaining indomitable
Although many of us do good just to exist
Some still enduring their lot in stoic silence
Others snarl, growl and howl at this violation
The plastic shamans, grifters and card turning
Mockingly unable to summon our revered ancestors
Sometimes successfully seducing our weakest kin
Muckhswe kee sishet tepe?

yewberry

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Re: Plastic Shamans and Rainbow Warriors
« Reply #1 on: June 26, 2014, 08:15:28 pm »
Quote from: Atehequa;151106
Cultural Genocide
Christian missions and newer troubles
Steadily stealing away our sense of being
Conquered, contained and forced to convert
Some of us still cling to what we have left
Surviving cruel priests and maniacal ministers
Churches of Spain, France, England and America

 


Now you're becoming epically annoying.

Brina

Juniperberry

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Re: Plastic Shamans and Rainbow Warriors
« Reply #2 on: June 26, 2014, 08:29:35 pm »
Quote from: Atehequa;151106
Cultural Genocide
Christian missions and newer troubles
Steadily stealing away our sense of being
Conquered, contained and forced to convert
Some of us still cling to what we have left
Surviving cruel priests and maniacal ministers
Churches of Spain, France, England and America

Old Adversaries
Founding fathers cloaked in Christianity
New Age purveyors, seemingly in the church's shadow
Turning their attention upon our ancient homelands
Seeing us as obstacles as do now their descendants
Having us either killed or methodically assimilated
Starting before George Washington and continuing today

Capitalistic Supremacists
Now forcing a new religion upon us all
Specially crafted to fill needs and coffers
The clergy of grifters, hucksters and frauds
Beholding to a greedy god's all seeing eye
Stirring in impure and artificial ingredients
Not all that picky, they will stew Christians

Spiritual stew
A huge, shiny new age trade kettle
Cooking fires fueled by bones of their dead
People's knowledge and beliefs stewed into lies
Adding in the choice cuts of our spiritual being
Spiced with gaudy trappings and counterfeit objects
Carefully tended by chain restaurant managers

These charlatans
Plastic shamans and medicine people
Still robbing us as did their ancestors
Shameless greed, never are they satisfied
Of privileged lives and gluttonous appetites
Quack swindlers and their attack dog acolytes
Prodding old wounds, they mock our beliefs

Their temples
Once inside they all look the same
Measured unfairly according to status
The love and life within a caste system
Their perpetual ascent to the top of nowhere
Spiritualists channeling fictitious native spirits
Feathers, wolves, buckskin and buffalo hide dreams

Earth Songs
More like cannibalistic hags passing gas
Against a backdrop of mute sylvan greenery
Plastic shamans along with propaganda priestesses
Aside from evil spirits, mouthpieces and vestments
Little different from the Christian missions of old
The great lie over truth, reward and punishment

Rainbow Chiefs
Deviant warriors defending their pots of gold
And flocks of white sheep all bleating the same
Chants, mantras, or anything else they are told
Watchful shepherds who have a taste for mutton
When not preying on us they will eat their own
Their cloying scent transcending space and time

Uncle Tomahawks
Sell outs and those of sordid convictions
Spreading the great lie, they whore for glory
What they have been tricked out of is tainted
Knowledge that these new age charlatans misapply
Attempting to cheaply sell what never should be sold
We will contend with these traitors in the next world

Remaining indomitable
Although many of us do good just to exist
Some still enduring their lot in stoic silence
Others snarl, growl and howl at this violation
The plastic shamans, grifters and card turning
Mockingly unable to summon our revered ancestors
Sometimes successfully seducing our weakest kin




Did you write this? It's really quite evocative. I may not agree with all of it and even find some of it painful to read,  but I definitely get a sense of your emotion and  current POV.  Which I guess is why I'm be interested in hearing more about what inspired you to write this poem. And if it happens to not be your own original work, why do you relate to it?
The pace of progress in artificial intelligence (I’m not referring to narrow AI) is incredibly fast. [...] The risk of something seriously dangerous happening is in the five year timeframe. 10 years at most.--Elon Musk

I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence," [Bill] Gates wrote. "First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent. That should be positive if we manage it well. A few decades after that though the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern. I agree with Elon Musk and some others on this and don\'t understand why some people are not concerned."

stephyjh

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Re: Plastic Shamans and Rainbow Warriors
« Reply #3 on: June 28, 2014, 05:12:26 am »
Quote from: Atehequa;151106
Cultural Genocide
Christian missions and newer troubles
Steadily stealing away our sense of being
Conquered, contained and forced to convert
Some of us still cling to what we have left
Surviving cruel priests and maniacal ministers
Churches of Spain, France, England and America

Old Adversaries
Founding fathers cloaked in Christianity
New Age purveyors, seemingly in the church's shadow
Turning their attention upon our ancient homelands
Seeing us as obstacles as do now their descendants
Having us either killed or methodically assimilated
Starting before George Washington and continuing today

Capitalistic Supremacists
Now forcing a new religion upon us all
Specially crafted to fill needs and coffers
The clergy of grifters, hucksters and frauds
Beholding to a greedy god's all seeing eye
Stirring in impure and artificial ingredients
Not all that picky, they will stew Christians

Spiritual stew
A huge, shiny new age trade kettle
Cooking fires fueled by bones of their dead
People's knowledge and beliefs stewed into lies
Adding in the choice cuts of our spiritual being
Spiced with gaudy trappings and counterfeit objects
Carefully tended by chain restaurant managers

These charlatans
Plastic shamans and medicine people
Still robbing us as did their ancestors
Shameless greed, never are they satisfied
Of privileged lives and gluttonous appetites
Quack swindlers and their attack dog acolytes
Prodding old wounds, they mock our beliefs

Their temples
Once inside they all look the same
Measured unfairly according to status
The love and life within a caste system
Their perpetual ascent to the top of nowhere
Spiritualists channeling fictitious native spirits
Feathers, wolves, buckskin and buffalo hide dreams

Earth Songs
More like cannibalistic hags passing gas
Against a backdrop of mute sylvan greenery
Plastic shamans along with propaganda priestesses
Aside from evil spirits, mouthpieces and vestments
Little different from the Christian missions of old
The great lie over truth, reward and punishment

Rainbow Chiefs
Deviant warriors defending their pots of gold
And flocks of white sheep all bleating the same
Chants, mantras, or anything else they are told
Watchful shepherds who have a taste for mutton
When not preying on us they will eat their own
Their cloying scent transcending space and time

Uncle Tomahawks
Sell outs and those of sordid convictions
Spreading the great lie, they whore for glory
What they have been tricked out of is tainted
Knowledge that these new age charlatans misapply
Attempting to cheaply sell what never should be sold
We will contend with these traitors in the next world

Remaining indomitable
Although many of us do good just to exist
Some still enduring their lot in stoic silence
Others snarl, growl and howl at this violation
The plastic shamans, grifters and card turning
Mockingly unable to summon our revered ancestors
Sometimes successfully seducing our weakest kin

 
I totally get the anger about the way Native spirituality is appropriated and bastardized. I do. It's my heritage too, and it pisses me off. But this level of scorn and sneering doesn't make it better. Deliberately inflammatory language chases people away from the individual using it, not from the problematic behavior. There's a huge difference between standing up for yourself, your people, and your rights, and just stirring people up to get them stirred up. I mean, what did you hope to gain from posting this? Were you going for discussion? Debate? Criticism of your form? Pats on the back? I'm afraid I don't see where you were going with it, except that your choice of words carries an implication of disdain and superiority that I can't get behind.
A heretic blast has been blown in the west,
That what is no sense must be nonsense.

-Robert Burns

Merin

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Re: Plastic Shamans and Rainbow Warriors
« Reply #4 on: June 28, 2014, 10:36:54 am »
Quote from: Atehequa;151106
Cultural Genocide
Christian missions and newer troubles
Steadily stealing away our sense of being
Conquered, contained and forced to convert
Some of us still cling to what we have left
Surviving cruel priests and maniacal ministers
Churches of Spain, France, England and America

Old Adversaries
Founding fathers cloaked in Christianity
New Age purveyors, seemingly in the church's shadow
Turning their attention upon our ancient homelands
Seeing us as obstacles as do now their descendants
Having us either killed or methodically assimilated
Starting before George Washington and continuing today

Capitalistic Supremacists
Now forcing a new religion upon us all
Specially crafted to fill needs and coffers
The clergy of grifters, hucksters and frauds
Beholding to a greedy god's all seeing eye
Stirring in impure and artificial ingredients
Not all that picky, they will stew Christians

Spiritual stew
A huge, shiny new age trade kettle
Cooking fires fueled by bones of their dead
People's knowledge and beliefs stewed into lies
Adding in the choice cuts of our spiritual being
Spiced with gaudy trappings and counterfeit objects
Carefully tended by chain restaurant managers

These charlatans
Plastic shamans and medicine people
Still robbing us as did their ancestors
Shameless greed, never are they satisfied
Of privileged lives and gluttonous appetites
Quack swindlers and their attack dog acolytes
Prodding old wounds, they mock our beliefs

Their temples
Once inside they all look the same
Measured unfairly according to status
The love and life within a caste system
Their perpetual ascent to the top of nowhere
Spiritualists channeling fictitious native spirits
Feathers, wolves, buckskin and buffalo hide dreams

Earth Songs
More like cannibalistic hags passing gas
Against a backdrop of mute sylvan greenery
Plastic shamans along with propaganda priestesses
Aside from evil spirits, mouthpieces and vestments
Little different from the Christian missions of old
The great lie over truth, reward and punishment

Rainbow Chiefs
Deviant warriors defending their pots of gold
And flocks of white sheep all bleating the same
Chants, mantras, or anything else they are told
Watchful shepherds who have a taste for mutton
When not preying on us they will eat their own
Their cloying scent transcending space and time

Uncle Tomahawks
Sell outs and those of sordid convictions
Spreading the great lie, they whore for glory
What they have been tricked out of is tainted
Knowledge that these new age charlatans misapply
Attempting to cheaply sell what never should be sold
We will contend with these traitors in the next world

Remaining indomitable
Although many of us do good just to exist
Some still enduring their lot in stoic silence
Others snarl, growl and howl at this violation
The plastic shamans, grifters and card turning
Mockingly unable to summon our revered ancestors
Sometimes successfully seducing our weakest kin


While I don't think this is your motive, I wonder if you posted this for workshopping purposes?  The poem is great, but there are some places where you need to develop your lines.  

And yes, this poem speaks to the atrocities of both history and of today.  First, the culture was destroyed, then appropriated.  I sincerely wish that wasn't the case.

Nyktipolos

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Re: Plastic Shamans and Rainbow Warriors
« Reply #5 on: June 28, 2014, 03:02:43 pm »
Quote from: stephyjh;151349
I totally get the anger about the way Native spirituality is appropriated and bastardized. I do. It's my heritage too, and it pisses me off. But this level of scorn and sneering doesn't make it better. Deliberately inflammatory language chases people away from the individual using it, not from the problematic behavior. There's a huge difference between standing up for yourself, your people, and your rights, and just stirring people up to get them stirred up. I mean, what did you hope to gain from posting this? Were you going for discussion? Debate? Criticism of your form? Pats on the back? I'm afraid I don't see where you were going with it, except that your choice of words carries an implication of disdain and superiority that I can't get behind.

 
FWIW, it's being posted in the subform where people often post poetry and without directly asking for critique, but I agree that I'd like to know more about why you wrote this poem, Atehequa.

Also FWIW: there has been a recent upsurge in "Rainbow Warriors" and "Rainbow Tribes" going public. I've only seen glimpses of it through certain tags on Tumblr, but I imagine with powwow season starting, they are getting out there more and trying to insinuate themselves into communities and legitimize their claims. I agree that trying to insult them isn't going to get us anywhere, but at the same time these people can be just as nasty back, and lying and using relationships they've made to fight back against Native folk is just as gross.

I don't really know where I stand on the issue, beyond being on the side of those who have no issue with telling people when asked "where is your family from? who are they?". It's a common enough thing to ask people here (it may not be elsewhere) that it's not a frightening question for me anymore; but especially for "pretendians" I've seen a lot of nasty comments and backlash at being asked, that provides the first moments of doubt and wondering if we're being taken advantage of again. (And this is way different from when you've been asked, Stephy, and I know we've talked about it. Just want to say that that's not directed at you!)
"Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night." - Sarah Williams
On the Rivers

stephyjh

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Re: Plastic Shamans and Rainbow Warriors
« Reply #6 on: June 28, 2014, 03:14:37 pm »
Quote from: Nyktipolos;151429
FWIW, it's being posted in the subform where people often post poetry and without directly asking for critique, but I agree that I'd like to know more about why you wrote this poem, Atehequa.

Also FWIW: there has been a recent upsurge in "Rainbow Warriors" and "Rainbow Tribes" going public. I've only seen glimpses of it through certain tags on Tumblr, but I imagine with powwow season starting, they are getting out there more and trying to insinuate themselves into communities and legitimize their claims. I agree that trying to insult them isn't going to get us anywhere, but at the same time these people can be just as nasty back, and lying and using relationships they've made to fight back against Native folk is just as gross.

I don't really know where I stand on the issue, beyond being on the side of those who have no issue with telling people when asked "where is your family from? who are they?". It's a common enough thing to ask people here (it may not be elsewhere) that it's not a frightening question for me anymore; but especially for "pretendians" I've seen a lot of nasty comments and backlash at being asked, that provides the first moments of doubt and wondering if we're being taken advantage of again. (And this is way different from when you've been asked, Stephy, and I know we've talked about it. Just want to say that that's not directed at you!)


I think that my biggest issue with it is, if I've got as much reason as the next person to be angry about Native issues (can't prove the Cherokee descent, because my great-grandmother covered it up on paper to protect her children, and the reason I'm not registered with the Catawba nation isn't because of some bullshit  blood quantum issue but because from the 1950s to the 1990s, the federal government officially did not recognize our existence), and it's making me take a step back from the nasty sneer, what's it doing to people who want to show proper respect but don't know how? I'm not opposed to the anger, and I feel it myself. But being angry at cultural appropriation doesn't mean one has to look down on those who buy what they're sold. Is it problematic and destructive? Yes. Are the Native people who attempt in good faith to teach, and get their teachings used inappropriately, "traitors" or "sell-outs" who "whore for glory," just because someone who was taught did something selfish and destructive with that knowledge? I think that's pretty extreme, and not in a good way.
A heretic blast has been blown in the west,
That what is no sense must be nonsense.

-Robert Burns

Atehequa

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Re: Plastic Shamans and Rainbow Warriors
« Reply #7 on: June 29, 2014, 02:05:20 pm »
Quote from: Juniperberry;151214
Did you write this? It's really quite evocative. I may not agree with all of it and even find some of it painful to read,  but I definitely get a sense of your emotion and  current POV.  Which I guess is why I'm be interested in hearing more about what inspired you to write this poem. And if it happens to not be your own original work, why do you relate to it?


I wrote it. It was meant to be informative.
 
Really I'd rather be sharing other kinds of poems, but perhaps it's the ones such as this which people take notice of. Art displayed either fetches reaction or else goes unnoticed.
Muckhswe kee sishet tepe?

Ai

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Re: Plastic Shamans and Rainbow Warriors
« Reply #8 on: June 29, 2014, 04:40:06 pm »
Quote from: Atehequa;151589
Art displayed either fetches reaction or else goes unnoticed.

Good point.

Juniperberry

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Re: Plastic Shamans and Rainbow Warriors
« Reply #9 on: June 29, 2014, 06:55:46 pm »
Quote from: Atehequa;151589
I wrote it. It was meant to be informative.

 
You definitely gave me a little more insight into those issues. I'd like to learn more, are there any websites/personal blogs that you would recommend?
The pace of progress in artificial intelligence (I’m not referring to narrow AI) is incredibly fast. [...] The risk of something seriously dangerous happening is in the five year timeframe. 10 years at most.--Elon Musk

I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence," [Bill] Gates wrote. "First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent. That should be positive if we manage it well. A few decades after that though the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern. I agree with Elon Musk and some others on this and don\'t understand why some people are not concerned."

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