…about Native Americans, apparently:
It’s like naming our murder weapons after victims of our crimes: Apache, Tomahawk… It’s as if the Luftwaffe were to call its fighter planes “Jew” and “Gypsy.”
Not to mention the US Army, but we knew that already. I can only assume that it’s due to his being steeped in the deeply parochial and insular culture that is Western academia: if he had more extensive life experience then he’d know that the Army honors Native American nations by naming its military helicopter classes after them, and makes it a point to have representatives of said nations participate in solemn rituals involving those helicopters. The next example of same will take place in May of 2011, involving Lakota Light Utility Helicopters; as the link shows, representatives of the Oglala Sioux Nation…
– that’s a Native American nation associated with the Lakota, Chomsky; I only mention this elementary detail since you apparently don’t know anything about the original inhabitants of this continent –
…have been involved as respected participants in the acquisition of the helicopters from the beginning. And why should they not be respected? Their ancestors were brave men and women and renowned warriors, and their descendants have shown – REPEATEDLY – that they have not forgotten how to fight with valor and skill; it is no insult to honor their nations by naming our war machines after them.
(pause)
That made absolutely no sense to you at all, Chomsky? Well, it was your choice to so thoroughly isolate yourself from your country, not mine.
Moe Lane
PS: What? Oh, yes, the rest of the article was equally ignorant.