Two Bit Bitching

By: Mr. Wilson on June 8, 2005
There's a lot of complaining going on about Nebraska's quarter selection. Not surprisingly, few people are actually offering concrete solutions describing what they would have done. Sure, two or three people actually liked the Standing Bear quarter. But why is selecting some dude nobody has ever heard of better than honoring an entire period of history of which most Nebraskans are very proud? Many of the bitchers say that we should portray Nebraska as it exists today rather than dwelling on the past. Fine. You go right ahead and do that. But tell me: how the hell are you going to fit Omaha, Crawford, and Grand Island, farming, industry, and retail, and natural resources and everything else onto a single quarter? Go ahead, tell me. As for Chief Standing Bear, I'm sure he was a great guy, but he couldn't have been too great because he was never brought up in any of my politically correct history classes. If we are going to choose an Indian, shouldn't we at least choose one that somebody has heard of? The whining from Indian groups is rich.
"I think this would have given an opportunity to make amends for the Manifest Destiny tragedies that befell our people," Judi Morgan gaiashkibos, the director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, told the paper. She called Heineman's decision "unconscionable" and an "insult to Nebraska's first citizens."
Well holy crap, Ms. gaiashkibos, you're telling me that a friggin' quarter will cure everything? Damn, let's just make quarters for everybody: for blacks (slavery), Jews (Holocaust), Japanese (internment camps), and any other group we can think of. Then everything will be better! And don't give me that "first citizens" baloney. Nebraska wasn't Nebraska back then. "First residents" is slightly more accurate, but even that is hooey. Your ance stors just booted out whoever was here before them, and so on. It's the way humans work. (And recent archaeological and anthropological evidence suggests it has been working that way for much longer than previously thought, especially in the Americas.)
Mark Peniska, the chairman of the Ponca Tribe, questioned whether Heineman was under pressure not to choose a Native person. "If it was just a political move, that would upset me," he said.
I wonder if Mr. Peniska is saying this for comedic effect, or if he really is an idiot. Heineman under pressure not to choose a Native person? That's hilarious! On the contrary, he was under tremendous pressure to do just the opposite. In fact, I was shocked when Standing Bear wasn't chosen. Once SB made the final two, I thought he was an automatic. If he were going to be left out, he should have been left out much earlier in the process to help ease the PC backlash. I happen to think the final quarter design is quite appropriate. It represents how most people just see Nebraska as a place to drive through, and those who choose to stay are just a bit behind modern times.

Comments

See what your friends and neighbors have to say about this.

Mr. T
June 9, 2005 at 1:30AM

Sheesh! I vehemently disagree with everything you just posted here.

With the exception of this statement:

“most people just see Nebraska as a place to drive through, and those who choose to stay are just a bit behind modern times.”

100% agreement there!

Mr. Wilson
June 9, 2005 at 5:47AM

You disagree with what? That few people are offering viable alternatives? You haven’t provided any. That few Nebraskans are familiar with Standing Bear? Show me proof to the contrary. That Ms. gaiashkibos’s suggestion that a quarter would make amends for “the Manifest Destiny tragedies that befell (her) people” is just plain silly? Let’s hear your argument. That the Ponca were not the first humans to live in Nebraska? There’s no good reason to think that’s not true (nor to be threatened by the notion that it isn’t) as emerging evidence indicates that man arrived thousands to tens of thousands of years earlier than previously thought. That Governor Heineman wasn’t under intense pressure to choose the Standing Bear design? Compare the number of individuals vehemently supporting the SB design versus those vehemently supporting the chosen design and get back to me.

C’mon Mr. T, let’s hear some arguments with meat!

Mr. T
June 10, 2005 at 3:16PM

Oh come on. You can’t rebut a diatribe characterized by logic like: “As for Chief Standing Bear, I

Mr. Wilson
June 10, 2005 at 3:29PM

He was not, to my recollection, the topic of any history lessons in all my years at Nebraska public schools. If being taught about isn’t an indicator of a person’s relative importance in history, I don’t know what is.

I love how you run away from disagreement. It’s one of your most predictable, if mildly annoying, qualities.

Mr. T
June 10, 2005 at 4:04PM

Um, take it easy dude. That statement of yours I quoted is a pretty superficial argument to say the least. Which is what I meant by you can’t really argue against it. Read it again. Just because you personally never heard of the guy before in your history classes isn’t really any indication of anything. There are probably plenty of people you’ve never heard about before in your classes and that doesn’t mean they weren’t worthy of consideration as a historically important figure. That’s not an attack on you or anything. It was the same with me. I learned some things in history classes, but certainly a lot more outside of history classes just doing independent reading in my free time. 

But I do agree I tend to avoid internet arguments that seem pointless to me. When I was your age, even younger, I learned pretty quickly that engaging in tit for tat one-upmanship on the net doesn’t result in anything other than a waste of time. Especially when you have some work to do. No offense there, ok? Gotta run now.

Mr. Wilson
June 10, 2005 at 4:12PM

Yeah, but, see, since we’re the only ones here, we need to fulfill all the roles necessary to sustain a blog comment system: academic, jerk, troll, rambler, jokester, concise guy… If you just play the academic role on me then I have to cover all the other roles on my own. It’s too much for me!

Share your thoughts with the community.

Commenting is no longer permitted on this post.