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	May 11th, 2009 - 01:15 am

At the very best, deeply misguided. That passage could be a whole essay of breakdown of wrongness all by itself.

(Hmm, I was wondering why I keep seeing NDN crop up for Native Americans. First link that comes up on Google: National Desexing Network. That was an odd moment of cognitive dissonance right there.)

(They're talking about pets.)

The essay I'm working on at the moment for uni is about the anglicisation of Scottish culture after the Act of Union in 1707. The odd thing is, the annihilation of Scottish culture happened in such a way that not only did a number of Scots actively participate in it - my lowland Scottish, incredibly knowledgeable and intelligent and analytical history Ph.D. lecturer didn't think it happened to anyone but the Highlanders. I'm fairly sure I've actually convinced him otherwise, in our discussions of the subject. (Which is both awesome and intimidating. When you know that your lecturer is looking forward to reading your essay because he thinks he might learn something from it... no pressure or anything.)

Anyway, one of the most important ways this happens, I'm finding, is with language. If you control the language, get to define what's "correct" and what's not, and in doing so can disconnect a people from their cultural heritage, so that what came before is incomprehensible to them, you've just about already won.

Which leads me to wonder about something I'd never consciously thought of before.

Why does just about every notable Native American leader I've heard of have a name in English?

Sitting Bull. Black Kettle. "King Phillip". Big Foot.

Something there is very wrong.

(This may become a post all its own when I really get into collating my essay data.)