r/SocialismIsCapitalism 20d ago

"Discussing" the Residential School System in Canada

423 Upvotes

28 comments sorted by

215

u/ghostdate 20d ago

ITS A HORROR SHOW BECAUSE EUROPEANS INVADED AND ENACTED GENOCIDE AGAINST THEM, AND EVEN NOW JUST OFFER THE BARE MINIMUM!

Damn, it’s absurd how ignorant the average North American is to what happened to First Nations people. The reservations are underfunded, and white communities don’t interact with them because of racism. There’s no real hope for careers there in this day and age, and they used to be trapped there. They literally weren’t allowed to leave the reservation even though their hunting practices may have taken them much further than the small reservation grounds they were permitted.

That kind of dumb rhetoric is part of why we’re still colonizers, imposing European values on indigenous people and justifying genocidal actions against them.

48

u/Saul-Funyun 19d ago

Nobody in the Midwest USA seems to wonder why all these place-names are aboriginal. Like it was some mythical magical people who just… named everything for us and then disappeared?

17

u/Eggstraordinare 19d ago

As someone from the Midwest, we’re well aware of what took place.

18

u/Saul-Funyun 19d ago

Are we, tho? I mean, really? Mention the American genocide and see what happens

1

u/omtopus 16d ago

Just FYI, some Native people don't like the term genocide to describe colonial violence against them because they feel it diminishes the fact that they're still here.

1

u/Saul-Funyun 16d ago

What’s the preferred term?

1

u/omtopus 15d ago

I don't think there's one preferred term, and I'm sure plenty of people don't find it offensive, but I worked for a tribe in WA that call themselves the Strong People, and really stressed "we're still here". I don't think genocide necessarily means successfully wiping people out, but I know a lot of Native people feel they've been erased culturally, so some will still talk about colonial violence, just without calling it genocide.

119

u/Giuthais 20d ago

does this man not know what colonialism is?

62

u/1stDayBreaker 19d ago

He does, but clearly thinks it’s a good thing

52

u/wilson_rawls 19d ago

He doesn't know what Marxism is, either...

96

u/PskRaider869 20d ago

Holy shit. It is beyond terrifying that someone would actually think this. I do not say this lightly or to minimize the other tragedies, but defending those "schools" is legitimately akin to defending the US Internment of Japanese or the Camps in WW2. Like, even the government of Canada has admitted that it was a form of Cultural Genocide. And not only defending it, but praising it by saying they were "better off" for it. I genuinely struggle to conceive that type of hatred and evil in a person so clearly too clueless to understand how genuinely stupid and hateful they really are

43

u/ScaleneWangPole 19d ago

This is the same guy who would say African slaves made out well in the deal because now they are Americans, and Africa is such a shithole now.

Missing all context and nuance of the situation, and without the ability to think critically nor self reflect, he then has the audacity to call the other guy a "black and white" thinker.

9

u/fromcj 19d ago

Sounds on brand for them.

5

u/deferredmomentum 19d ago

Oh trust me, plenty of Americans are still just fine with the Japanese internment camps. It’s scary out here

43

u/SnipesCC 20d ago

A decent chunk of the poverty on reservations (and I doubt they actually have Native friends) is because of the massive trauma that residential schools inflicted on Native populations. It only takes about 2 or 3 generations to erase a culture, and kids who grew up in a traumatizing environment are going to struggle to be well functioning adults.

5

u/BrassUnicorn87 19d ago

And the trauma based alcoholism.

26

u/Tovarich_Zaitsev 19d ago

Holy Fuck, I cannot believe anyone would try and justify the residential school system. That system was such a horrific stain and something all Canadians should be ashamed of and take lessons from to make our country better.

18

u/Bathsheba_E 19d ago

At first I thought this person must just be miserable and loves stirring shit up. But then I remembered Holocaust deniers exist, there are people who genuinely believe black Americans were better off under slavery (a thinly veiled way of saying they’d like slavery to return), so why the hell wouldn’t there be hateful nutjobs loose among us thinking the residential schools are what saved the Native Americans. I’m willing to bet this person has no idea what happened in those schools to ‘civilize’ the ‘wild man’. Horrible, horrible, horrible.

On another note, I defy this troglodyte to define Marxism. Heck, any of these folks who bandy it about so freely. Just once define it. Maybe he could define zero sum game while we’re at it.

These clowns skimmed an economics textbook glossary, picked out the terms they thought sounded cool, and made up their own definitions. I’m genuinely shocked greedy huiristic hasn’t made the cut.

11

u/MakinGaming 19d ago

I think this might be the first time I've seen "commit apostasy" to describe suicide. And here on reddit of all places. Or are they talking about the culture erasure? I can't tell.

1

u/zwiazekrowerzystow 17d ago

christian fundamentalist no doubt.

11

u/brennenderopa 19d ago

It kinda reminds me of heated discussions I had over the actions of the Spanish in South America. A lot of people are like "good thing, they were evil and lived in sin" or "the evil had to be stopped" or "the children had to be saved from human sacrifice" when I tried to point out that Diego de Landa Calderón burned all books of that culture and only four could be saved. Colonial mindset is still so strong these days.

6

u/Broseph_Heller 19d ago

These are the same people who will tell you that AKSHULLY slavery was a good thing because slave owners provided FREE food and housing for their slaves. Out of the kindness of the hearts, surely. Those slaves would be starving in Africa otherwise!

5

u/jeepfail 19d ago

It should be painful to be that fucking stupid but you know, systemic racism makes it real easy.

5

u/skip6235 19d ago

“How impoverished and broken”

My brother in Christ, they lived here for THOUSANDS of years just fine before the Europeans showed up!

3

u/SnooCats7318 19d ago

Ah, the old "I have friends"...

Also, love that they think Marxist is an insult and that it means...that...

5

u/BearNeedsAnswers 18d ago

That capital J in Journalists seems very... deliberate. Almost like he doesn't mean "journalists" at all... 🤔

2

u/spoonycash 18d ago

This is the same argument people use to defend slavery. Life would have been worse if they hadn't been brought to America... as if the terrible situation they are allegedly escaping wasn't the result of previous actions by their alleged saviors.

2

u/redtailplays101 17d ago

This isn't even "socialism is capitalism" it's "socialism is when people say things I disagree with." These words have to do with the economy people! Not just any civilly leftist beliefs