marcmagus

atrialcapacity:

aha i’m seeing it around again so let’s please remember that the “there are two wolves inside you, one is evil, one is good” (and every single variation thereupon created for funny internet meme fandom reference purposes, thank you) is a textbook example of native fetishism and half-assed appropriation - it is a false “inuit legend” created by billy graham. yes, that billy graham. originally he said the story was inuit, then upon being called out in the canadian press, he changed it to a “cherokee legend” because he knew the cherokee wouldn’t be able to do anything about it due to censorship of native americans in american media.
“so what?? i’m not even using it in a way that references the original! it’s just a funny phrase / a tiktok audio / etc!” - the reason i personally hate this fake legend so much is because it was invented to support christian beliefs - the idea of inner darkness and original sin versus inner goodness and morality is a christian one entirely, and not a part of inuit or cherokee beliefs. if you know any damn thing about native history both on and off turtle island you should be able to figure out why exactly it’s fucking shitty to compare christian ideals to native legend in any way shape or form, or imply that the two are related somehow, or that natives have always believed in christian ideals pre-colonization, even. and by repeating it as a funny phrase it doesn’t really actually take any power away from it like so many well meaning non natives seem to think it does. all it does is keep circulating a myth that further pushes real native cultures (cultures!!! never a monolith) out of society’s view!!!

(via stayoutofitnick)