Update on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation Planned Parenthood.
The Oglala Sioux in South Dakota have voted to ban all abortions on tribal land. There do appear to be plans for a clinic of some sort (not Planned Parenthood, though) ongoing, but the tribe has also said that donations will be returned, so I'm not sure how that works.
This looks to me, from what I have read elsewhere on the 'net, to be partially a cultural issue, and partially fallout from a personality war; it seems that Ms. Fire Thunder, rightly or wrongly, has many vehement detractors within her own tribe. As outspoken, strong women often do. From my own (non-native, outside) perspective, I'm quite sad about this, and wonder if the well-meant fervor of white/liberal/feminist bloggers such as myself triggered a greater backlash than might otherwise have ocurred.
This highlights something that Himself has always maintained about international aid/rights/education/justice organizations, and which I tend to discount more than, perhaps, I ought - it's difficult to lend aid or support or assistance across borders without also bringing the baggage of a cultural agenda that dictates what is "good" or "helpful." On a much larger scale, with a great deal more doyee, stupid involved, the ongoing nature of the Iraqi "reconstruction" should have shown us that.
Well-meant is not always or even mostly well-done, I guess.
Which brings me to another post I've been thinking about, a sort of "yes, but" corollary to the Kung Fu Monkey Memorial Day post about support for the troops. I think I tend to assume that people are good at heart, that they mean well. What I often fail to take into account is that well-meaning people who are good at heart are not in any way, shape, or form exempt from ignorance, bigotry, cruelty, or a variety of nefarious 'isms that lead to negative actions and consequences. It's one of those weird cognitive dissonance things about being human. But there's more to be said about that, and it will have to wait for another time.
This looks to me, from what I have read elsewhere on the 'net, to be partially a cultural issue, and partially fallout from a personality war; it seems that Ms. Fire Thunder, rightly or wrongly, has many vehement detractors within her own tribe. As outspoken, strong women often do. From my own (non-native, outside) perspective, I'm quite sad about this, and wonder if the well-meant fervor of white/liberal/feminist bloggers such as myself triggered a greater backlash than might otherwise have ocurred.
This highlights something that Himself has always maintained about international aid/rights/education/justice organizations, and which I tend to discount more than, perhaps, I ought - it's difficult to lend aid or support or assistance across borders without also bringing the baggage of a cultural agenda that dictates what is "good" or "helpful." On a much larger scale, with a great deal more doyee, stupid involved, the ongoing nature of the Iraqi "reconstruction" should have shown us that.
Well-meant is not always or even mostly well-done, I guess.
Which brings me to another post I've been thinking about, a sort of "yes, but" corollary to the Kung Fu Monkey Memorial Day post about support for the troops. I think I tend to assume that people are good at heart, that they mean well. What I often fail to take into account is that well-meaning people who are good at heart are not in any way, shape, or form exempt from ignorance, bigotry, cruelty, or a variety of nefarious 'isms that lead to negative actions and consequences. It's one of those weird cognitive dissonance things about being human. But there's more to be said about that, and it will have to wait for another time.
posted by The Stute Fish at 12:55
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home