Terms of War: Colonist

Make sure you know the rules of engagement before reading on…

Anecdote from the Colonist:

“They… have brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawk’s bells. They willingly traded everything they owned…. They do not bear arms and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane…. They would make fine servants….With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”

— Christopher Columbus quoted in A People’s History

Etymology of “Colony”

“Colony” comes from the Latin colonia meaning “settlement,” from the root colere meaning “cultivate.” A colonist settles a given place and acquires the resources there, regardless of whether or not other people live there. This includes thinking of land itself as a thing to be owned rather than tended.

Three famous people who adhered to Colonialism

  1. Alexander the Great
  2. Christopher Columbus
  3. Richard Yates (1852 Illinois congressman who coined the term “Manifest Destiny”)

List of terms: Who? Where? When? Why? How?

  • Who colonizes? Anyone who finds a resource and values that resource above human life.
  • Where colonizes? Anywhere that has a resource they want, including human souls.
  • When colonizes? As soon as they find the means.
  • Why colonize? Because it’s efficient, profitable, and affects their immediate family in no harmful way for the foreseeable future. That’s the key: colonists colonize because their wants are more important that the needs of others.
  • How colonize? By any means necessary including nuclear war, tracking, slaying entire herds of buffalo from the windows of passing trains, enslaving modern africans to mine diamonds, sex trade, etc.

Three positive tendencies of Colonists

  1. They know how to crunch numbers and balance a budget, therefore they are quite frugal.
  2. They have contributed much to international travel
  3. Without them, we may never have achieved the globalization of the world and thinks like the global cities of New York, London, and Tokyo

Three negative tendencies of Colonists

  1. Human souls are dehumanized into resources or obstacles in the way of resources and progress
  2. They have no foresight for the worldwide implications of things like deep-see drilling, exporting trash, and dirty water
  3. They destroy what few unspoiled bits of nature we have left

Fantastic example

Zombies (the post-colonial monster) or Magneto.

Further Reading:

Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire (on Amazon)

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  1. Terms of War: The Rules of Our Upcoming Engagement | Lance Schaubert

    […] Colonist […]

Quick note from Lance about this post: when you choose to comment (or share this post with your friends) you help other readers just like you.

How?

Well, see, your comments & sharing whisper a few things to those who come after you:

The first is that this site is a safe place to speak up & stay curious. That it’s civil. That discussion is encouraged. That there’s no such thing as a stupid question (being a student of Socrates, I really and truly believe this). That talking to one another and growing together is more important than anything we could possibly publish. That the point is growing in virtue and growing together and growing wise. That discovery is invention, deference is originality, that we all can rise together. The only folks I’m going to take comments down from are obvious jerks who argue in bad faith, don’t stay curious, or actively make personal attacks. And, frankly, I’d rather we talk here than on some social media farm — I will never show ads and the only thing I’m selling anywhere on the site or my mailing list is just the stuff I make.

You’re also helping folks realize that anything you & they build together is far more important than anything you come to me to read. I take the things I write about seriously, but I don’t take myself seriously: I play the fool, I hate cults of personality, and I also don’t really like being the center of attention (believe it or not). I would much rather folks connect because of an introduction I’ve made or because they commented with one another back and forth and then build something beautiful together. My favorite contributions have been lifelong business and love partnerships from two people who have forgotten I introduced them. Some of my closest friends NOW I literally met on another blog’s comment section fifteen years ago. I would love for that to happen here — let two of you meet and let me fade into the background.

Last, you help me revise. I’m wrong. Often. I’m not embarrassed to admit it or worried about being cancelled or publicly shamed. I make a fool out of myself (that’s sort of the point). So as I get feedback, I can say, “I was wrong about that” and set a model for curious, consistent learning, and growing in wisdom. I’m blind to what I don’t know and as grows the island of my knowledge so grows the shoreline of my ignorance. It’s the recovery of innocence on the far end of experience: a child is in a permanent state of wonder. So are the wise: they aren’t afraid of saying, “I don’t know. That’s new: please teach me.” That’s my goal, comments help. And I read all reviews: my skin’s tough, but that’s not license to be needlessly cruel. We teach one another our habits and there’s a way to civilly demolish an idea without demolishing another person: just because I personally can take the world’s meanest 1-star review doesn’t mean we should teach one another how to be crueler on the internet.

For three magical reasons — your brave curiosity, your community, & my ignorance:

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