I think they just floundered the canoe

Canoe is a symbol of white privilege

article said: Ah, the Canoe. One of the seven wonders of Canada. To some, a symbol of our connection to the natural world, a representation of our reverence for history, a tool of exploration and discovery. To others, like Misao Dean, Professor of English at the University of Victoria, the canoe can be a symbol of colonialism, imperialism, and marginalization. Dean is the author of the book Inheriting a Canoe Paddle: The Canoe in Discourses of English-Canadian Nationalism. In this interview, Dean asks us to consider the canoe, and what it really represents in Canadian society, and whose symbol it is. To Dean, the story Canadians tell themselves about the canoe is one of European colonialism, while ignoring the role the canoe played in displacing and harming indigenous people. She notes that hobbyist canoers today are a pretty specific group. "Certainly the majority of wilderness canoers are people who have a very privileged place in society. They're frequently highly educated people. They're almost completely white. " - Misao Dean, Professor of English, University of Victoria Dean says that in the wake of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, non-indigenous Canadians should rethink the canoe. And they can do it every time the dip a paddle in the water.

I can't imagine the drivel he'd write about kayaks. probably something about gentrification.. ..

I'm pretty darn sure I was taught in school that birch bark and dugout canoes were originally designed and built by natives. Kayaks and umiaks were built by Inuit....

Not sure how that creates bigotry and imperialism, other than it allowed white devils to explore the country.

But then, we all know they should have apologised for tresspassing and gone back to Europe.

And by the way, the article linked is looked upon as normal up here these days.

Guess what happens after a remarkably long period of peace and prosperity…those with a predisposition to complain are forced to dig deeper and deeper down in search of a cause to the point of absurdity.

Sometimes, a canoe is just a canoe.

That's it, I'm getting a canoe and naming it the U.S.S. Bob Costas

So, Misao Dean is a walking talking canoe then...

The sad thing about the internet is that it gives insanity a wider audience than it deserves.

captdownshift wrote: That's it, I'm getting a canoe and naming it the U.S.S. Bob Costas

Only if you put certain visually correct features at the forend.

as someone who studied anthropology for 10 years, let me tell you he may be on to something. Like how the need to constantly publish can result in overthinking when a boat can represent a million things to a million people.

There's plenty of substance when it comes to pieces of technology moving between groups of people. It was LITERALLY my MA thesis topic. The stuff you use can represent important aspects of your identity and culture. It can also just be a freaking boat. When one group uses the other group's stuff, it doesn't always mean they are trying to be the other group, or overpower the other group, or assimilate, or resist. Maybe it means they want plates and bowls and stuff and the other group has them for sale. Or they want a boat for boating around the river, don't want to spend on a motor boat and maintenance and a trailer. The canoe was literally designed for that kind of environment. Also they are cheap and plentiful. And you can strap them to the top of your car.

But without reading all the stuff that guy actually wrote (and not what is reported on it, as 95% tends to get lost when the journalist themselves have to also publish to keep their jobs) I can't tell if he's really making sense, or working on a promotion. My gut reaction is to follow what one of my professors told me over and over: "Read what the person actually wrote, don't just listen to what other people say that person wrote."

Streetwiseguy wrote: And by the way, the article linked is looked upon as normal up here these days.

But still complete garbage, nonetheless.

We own two canoes, and just gave our son one for his birthday. That's how we float

This is the problem with viral media. No one is actually looking to produce or write a factual article about anything. They want to produce or write the next thing to go viral. The problem being, it doesn't have to be honest or truthful to generate clicks. Outrage and sensationalism generate them much faster.

It's really quite disgusting.

Toyman01 wrote: This is the problem with viral media. No one is actually looking to produce or write a factual article about anything. They want to produce or write the next thing to go viral. The problem being, it doesn't have to be honest or truthful to generate clicks. Outrage and sensationalism generate them much faster. It's really quite disgusting.

exactly. You want to know what the writer of the original content said? Then read that. Don't read a half page blurb some other guy wrote because he needed to fill his quota, and then blame the writer of the original stuff.

of course the original writer might also be full of BS, but learning vicariously is essentially gossip. Useless gossip.

Rufledt wrote: as someone who studied anthropology for 10 years, let me tell you he may be on to something. Like how the need to constantly publish can result in overthinking when a boat can represent a million things to a million people.

Scholarly research and critical analysis are fundamental to our progress as a culture. But for some students, the pressure to produce results that justify their studies drives not just 'overthinking' but total bull**** that makes the academic community look like fools:

'Antarctica as the continent of whiteness'

'The Perilous Whiteness of Pumpkins'

'Gender scholar discovers fit guys get more matches on Grindr than he does'

'...Step by step our fantasy took on a reality of its own'

Streetwiseguy wrote: I'm pretty darn sure I was taught in school that birch bark and dugout canoes were originally designed and built by natives. Kayaks and umiaks were built by Inuit....

THAT MAKES IT CULTURAL APPROPRIATION! BAD! NO! TRIGGER! SAFE SPACE!

I just will never get this PC orthodoxy crap. I fully understand the intention of getting people to stop being shiny happy people to each other. I'm on board with that.

But it sure seems like I am expected to celebrate other cultures - that's "accepting cultural diversity" - as long as I don't use, like, or enjoy any of it - because that's "cultural appropriation". So what am I supposed to do? I have to learn to accept everything everybody else does, but I'm forbidden from integrating the things I approve of into my own behaviour? I'm required by unwritten PC law to remain a middle class American white guy - but forced to accept everything about all other cultures.

Everything not forbidden is compulsory. Welcome to the 21st century.

NOTE: there is nothing specific about me being a middle class white guy. It's just the random circumstances of my birth. The same holds true for any other person thrust into a different culture. Somehow we're supposed to "assimilate" without "appropriating".

That's a little like being told you have to pick something up but you aren't allowed to touch it.

I'm going to culturally appropriate this burrito in front of me, and I don't care what you think about it.

Javelin wrote: I'm going to culturally appropriate this burrito in front of me, and I don't care what you think about it.

Sooo, that would be a "breakfast burrito"... Cultural PC paradox...?

nderwater wrote: 'Gender scholar discovers fit guys get more matches on Grindr than he does'

That one sounds more like an Onion headline.

Zomby Woof wrote:

Streetwiseguy wrote:

We own two canoes, and just gave our son one for his birthday. That's how we float

Giving your son a vehicle embodies white privilege, he could just take the ferry like so many others if he needed to get around on the water. What's wrong with taking the ferry anyway? It gets you where you need to go.

captdownshift wrote:

Zomby Woof wrote:

Streetwiseguy wrote:

We own two canoes, and just gave our son one for his birthday. That's how we float

Giving your son a vehicle embodies white privilege, he could just take the ferry like so many others if he needed to get around on the water. What's wrong with taking the ferry anyway? It gets you where you need to go.

"In my day, we didn't have any new fangled canoes. We had to swim anytime we wanted to travel on water. Sometimes several miles, and it was uphill both ways"

Just to make this thread better, here is a pic from my canoe trip a couple weeks ago

That's just an academic who's always been an academic and can't do anything else.

Note: with only one completed undergrad degree and some postgrad studies, I am the least educated member of my immediate family. Most of my high school compatriots went on to postgrad. Lots of academics being academics.

Maybe Misao Dean needs to compare wilderness canoeists to everyone who explores the Canadian wilderness. Chances are they'll show up as fairly well educated and fairly white, which is also a reflection of the majority of Canadians. The natives are more likely to be in the wilderness to hunt, which is easier with an outboard motor, skidoo and/or four wheeler.

In reply to STM317:

And against both the tide and current!