Chief Joseph: Thunder down the Mountain: Nez Perce in Oregon/Idaho; Christian, tried to accommodate white�Red Napoleon�famous retreat from US Army

I.                    Thesis: we�ve never broken our promise�never fought the whites

II.                  Argument: We�re in a no-win situation, can�t fight, pragmatic, you�ve taken more at every chance�unfairly (deer vs bear symbol�how would a Nez Pearce interpret that�too many bears and no deer�you�re raping the land, the ecosystem and destroying it with your mining and tearing down mountaintops

III.                Stop fighting; can�t win; our people physically, but also dying spiritually (this is what you have done to a people who have done you no wrong)�ultimate sin

IV.                Rhetorical device: repetition of �good words��he�s suggesting that their words are empty, but also that their words are lies

a.       �Treat all men alike. Give them the same laws. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. You might as well expect all rivers to run backward as that any man who was born a free man should be contented penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases. If you tie a horse to a stake, do you expect he will grow fat?� Putting the Declaration of Independence and Constitution into the Nation�s face  Ecological argument�we�ve all got to use the land wisely; rivers that run backward�suggest White culture is unnatural�against the Tao (Nature, life-force) in Chinese

 

How does �koyaanisqatsi� (Hopi Indian�Life out of balance, Nature out of balance) clip respond to Chief Joseph�technology destroying nature, military industrial complex, interstates, confusion, people don�t know where they�re going, just going

Last Modified 7/1/23