Hollywood's Indian

9 Pages 2351 Words

Who determines what makes a person civilized? Who decides whose god is the “right” god? Who shapes the guidelines of what an acceptable person is? The answer to this question is no one. There should not be any person that has complete authority over another person’s life, beliefs, and living arrangements. Unfortunately for the Native Americans they were under the control of European settlers, even though they may not have been directly under their control, the Europeans stereotype of Native Americans held them captive. From the very first contact with the Native Americans, the Anglos believed them to be inferior. They though they were barbaric, incompetent, and uncivilized. They felt that the Native Americans form of government, religion, and overall culture was unsophisticated and they felt the need to put there “sophisticated” restrictions on these people. These views that the first settlers had of the Native Americans influenced the way that many people categorized Native Americans throughout history. Even today there are still misconceptions about Native American people and culture.
These misconceptions derived mainly because the Native Americans were not like the Europeans. Of course the Native Americans were different from the Europeans in many ways, from physical appearance to language and culture, but the way that the settlers perceived these differences led to stereotypes and misconceptions that were often times negative and degrading to the Native American heritage. The things set the Native Americans apart from the white man, not only socially, but also physically. The white man saw that the Native Americans were different from them, and they wanted to change them and make them look, act, and live differently. This also led to problems and even more negativity toward Native Americans.
The most basic misconception of Native Americans that the Europeans had was that they were simple-minded barbarians ...