Not the Worst
April 29, 2007Virginia Tech Massacre: Not the Worst in American History
Once again, the mainstream media is attempting to rewrite American History to suit their perverse sense of Fairness, and the American public fell for it, hook, line and sinker. For days, they went out of their way, along with a cadre of expert talking heads, to sell us on the MYTH that the Virginia Tech shootings were the worst massacre in American history. This is just not the case, not even close. Yet it was bought by the American people like it was spoken from the heavens itself.
Taking a brief stroll down “History Lane”, we find far worst deadly rampages, mostly by the settlers of this continent against the native inhabitants, although there were native atrocities against white settlers. Not to be forgotten, but only mentioned here were the violence brought against the negro slaves. Nevertheless, back to the stroll down History Lane, here are some of the most notable.
* Battle of Bad Axe, Aug. 2, 1832, near present day Victory, Wisconsin, 150 Sauk and Fox Native Americans killed, mostly women, children, and elderly.
* Bloody Island (Clear Lake) Massacre, Spring, 1850, near Upper Lake, California, 200 Pomo peoples killed, this led to the general slaughter of Native peoples all over Northern California.
* Bear River Massacre, Jan. 29, 1863, near Preston, Idaho, Col. Patrick Connor leads a regiment against the Shoshone people, 200 to 400 men, women, and children die.
* Sand Creek Massacre, Nov. 29, 1864, in Kiowa County, Colorado, militiamen murder 150-200 Cheyenne and Arapaho men, women, and children.
* The Marias massacre (also known as Baker’s massacre), Jan. 23, 1870, Marias River, Montana, Territory, 173 men, women, and children of the Piegans people murdered.
* The most infamous is the Wounded Knee Massacre, Dec. 29, 1890, Wounded Knee, South Dakota, around 300 Miniconjou Sioux and Hunkpapa Sioux men, women, and children slaughtered by the U.S. 7th Calvary, under the command of Brigadier General James W. Forsyth. What is interesting is that most of the 25 KIA (killed in action) and 39 wounded of the 7th Calvary Troopers, were shot by friendly fire, as the Native Americans did not have weapons, they had already surrendered their arms.
While the actual number of Native American casualties is in dispute and it is often pointed out that Native cultures did their own killings, we have to acknowledge that regardless of the actual numbers of causalities, they did occur in horrific numbers. Additionally, while the Native cultures did indeed slaughter the women and children of white settlers, their numbers are far less. In addition, we must point out, from their perspective; the Native cultures were fighting their own war against what they saw as a terrorist threat to their own way of life.
While I will not go into the other atrocities committed by the European settlers, they are numerous, and while most were done in the name of religion, they were motivated by greed for land and wealth. What’s more, to this day, no reparations or significant apology made to the ancestors of these people who were at the receiving end of what is often called the American Holocaust.
In the overall big picture, the annihilation of the indigenous peoples in the Americas with an estimated 20 million dead ranks seventh in the twenty all time evil things people have done to each other, of course World War II ranks first, with about 55 million dead.
Why should we hold the mainstream media to task for their willful twisting of the truth for ratings and profits? What is the effect of our ignoring these horrific events?
First, we continue to marginalize the significance of our Native American cultures and peoples. Our Native cultures continue to live in abject poverty, according to the 2000 Census over a quarter live below the poverty line. (The statistical average for the rest of Americans is about 12% live below the poverty line.)
Secondly, we ignore the fact that our culture is based on violence, and we will continue to see horrific events like VA Tech until we find the will, as a society, to change our paradigms and embrace a culture of inclusion, tolerance, education, and peace.
Finally, we continue to tell our children this simple statement: “that children of privilege matter more than other children do.” We continue the cycle of intolerance, segregation, and xenophobia that has haunted our species for its entire history on this planet.
At the end of the day, the lie about the VA Tech shootings, that it is the “worst in American History,” is nothing more than a disservice to our society, and disrespectful to not only the victims of that shooting, but the victims of ALL atrocities. I leave you with some “food for thought.”
“The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one.”
– Adolph Hitler
“Truth is incontrovertible, ignorance can deride it, panic may resent it, malice may destroy it, but there it is.”
– Winston Churchill
“I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.”
– Thomas Jefferson
