The Myth of the Noble Savage
We are increasingly asked now, particularly by those of anti-Western or antihuman persuasions, to see the Indian tribes populating the Americas before the arrival of European explorers as Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s fabled Noble Savages. The 18th century philosopher conceived of man as having once lived in an uncorrupted state of nature. In this state, man possessed true virtue but has since been corrupted by our societal and cultural institutions and conventions. Ideologues and historical revisionists attempt to paint Native American culture in this same light. So often, pre-Columbian Native Americans are portrayed as uncorrupted, as living harmoniously with nature and one another, and as possessing a far more nuanced ethical framework than their morally suspect, imperialist European contemporaries. Despite the prevalence of this vision of tribal Indian culture, it is as much of a fallacy as Rousseau’s conception of primitive man.
Indigenous culture was, in reality, barbaric, particularly when it came to the treatment of rival tribes and prisoners.
However, the falsity of this narrative has not diminished its dissemination, prevalence, or promulgation, particularly around Thanksgiving. Earlier this month, the ACLU published an article calling for the “Dismantling [of] harmful rhetoric about Thanksgiving and Native American history.” The article decries the “systematic removal, assimilation, and eradication of Indigenous cultures, languages, and people … by white settlers” and the subsequent loss of many Indigenous “traditions.”
“The forced displacement of Indigenous peoples was (and still is) a deliberate attempt to sever Indigenous people from their traditional ways of living, including food production and ceremony,” the ACLU argues. They write that “many Indigenous-led movements are actively working to restore ancestral food practices. Native American people around the country have been reclaiming traditional foods, decolonizing their diets, and relearning how to use food as medicine to keep cultural food practices alive for generations to come.”
This article, like so many others, portrays the Natives as spiritually enlightened sages, living in harmony with nature and one another, while their European contemporaries are painted as little more than genocidal oppressors and brutes. This propagandized understanding of Thanksgiving and native-White relations is so ahistorical it hardly merits serious refutation. However, the ACLU tells us to, “Educate ourselves and others about Indigenous cultures and histories.” So, let’s attempt to do just that.
Indigenous culture was, in reality, barbaric, particularly when it came to the treatment of rival tribes and prisoners. During raids of other camps, American Indians would often capture men, women, and children for torture. Indians of eastern North American tribes in particular are said to have “evinced great emotional satisfactions from the prolonged tortures often inflicted upon war captives.” Torture could last for multiple days and was often perpetrated by all members of the tribe, including women and children. Men would be burned alive, women would be raped and disfigured, and captive children would frequently be killed. Scalping is one of the most well known and horrific practices common among indigenous tribes. The scalps of both dead and living Indians were highly prized and would frequently be taken as trophies.
Moving southward, the native empires of Mesoamerica were likewise brutal beyond imagining. The Aztecs would often ceremoniously burn their victims alive. Sacrifices also had their hearts cut out, were stoned to death, decapitated, shot full of arrows, crushed, and tossed from the tops of temples. Many victims, including those of burning, were children, as they were considered to be pure. While the conquistadors surely committed many atrocities in their conquest of the region, the atrocities of the Aztecs should not be downplayed or forgotten. Many Mesoamerican tribes even allied with Cortéz to escape the abuses of the Aztecs and Mayans, both of which employed slave labor, warred constantly, and demanded tribute from subjugated peoples, often in the form of human sacrifices.
All of this is not to say that the Native Americans were not sometimes brutally mistreated by the European powers that colonized the continent, nor is it to say that there were not virtues in indigenous cultures. We should seek to recognize the unique beauty of native cultures but should not accept the ahistorical vision of those cultures as uncommonly virtuous and noble. Native tribes committed acts of unthinkable barbarism and cruelty, as did, at times, the White settlers who battled them. Nothing, other than certain ideological agendas, is served by misrepresenting indigenous tribes as paragons of peace, virtue, and social harmony.
READ MORE:
Thanksgiving: Why It Is America’s Foundational Holiday
Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day!
Buffy Sainte-Marie, Imposter Indian, Stripped of Order of Canada Honor
Kyle Reynolds is a masters student at St. John’s College where he studies philosophy and theology. His essays have been published by the Foundation for Economic Education, the Mises Institute, and the Heritage Foundation.
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