Sunday, February 01, 2009

It takes a proverb...

As grad student experts have long taught us, Western culture is quick to marginalize and devalue knowledge from the "Other." For example, look at the recent ridicule aimed at the "Egg of Power" sculpture President Obama keeps in the Oval Office. There is a disturbing hint of racism to the ridicule, because that sculpture happens to refer to a traditional proverb that comes from, depending on how you Google it, either Kenya or a 1993 Hallmark Kwanzaa card. Would these critics be so cavalier in their snickering if the president had brought some traditional white art, like a Successories poster or replica Harry Potter wand?
...
"Beware the eye of the tiger, for he is a survivor, and he knows many power ballads."
Mulleti

"Give a man a fish, he will eat today. Promise a man a million fish, he will contribute heap big wampum to your tribal election campaign fund."
Iroquois

"While the polar bear bickers with the seal, that fat asshole walrus snarfs all the fish."
Inuit
And so on. Go, now. Or you'll regret it

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