From Pine View Farm

Dis Coarse Discourse 2

Historiann tries to understand why Donald Trump chose to refer to Senator Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas” and has difficulty finding a rational rationale. Here’s a snipped; follow the link for the rest (you’ll be glad you did).

Trump seems to think that sneeringly referring to Warren as “Pocahontas” is an insult, when throughout American history, elite white families have been eager to claim direct descent through her son, Thomas, with her English husband John Rolfe. (Americans still love to hope or believe they’re descended from Pocahontas–just Google it sometime.) Even when Anglo-Americans were at war with various Native American nations–that is, for the majority of American history–white people have clamored to associate themselves with the first and most glamorous dynastic marriage in Anglo-American history.

The sad truth is the name-calling bullies don’t have rational rationales. One of the characteristics of unthinking knee-jerk hatred and bigotry is not thinking.

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2 comments

  1. Historiann

    June 28, 2016 at 2:16 pm

    Thanks! (And yes to your point about unthinking crudeness. . . )

     
  2. Frank

    June 28, 2016 at 5:37 pm

    Thanks for dropping in.

    It just occurred to me that the most likely reason that Donald Trump calls Senator Warren “Pocahontas” is that it’s the only Native American woman’s name that he knows.