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The Making and Breaking of Deities & Demigods
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<blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 7612162" data-attributes="member: 58172"><p>Generally, cultures are flattered when outsiders take an interest in them. But when outsiders start saying stuff that is wrong, and then silencing those cultures when they are trying to clarify something. It comes across as less than flattering.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Probably the main problem with the representation of Native American tribes is how Deities & Demigods mishmashes them together. It is sorta equivalent to saying Chinese, Japanese, and Korean are all the same.</p><p></p><p>The Native tribes are separate nations with separate belief systems. Lots of cognate concepts, but different meanings in different cultures. While they are mainly animistic, they evolve differently. Some tribes are strict animists, in which case the word ‘god’ is wrong. Some are monotheistic animists. Other tribes are polytheistic animists. The mishmash of disparate tribes does little to authentically represent these tribes.</p><p></p><p>Omission of certain parts of the world also distorts presentation. I notice the absence of African animisms, Australian Aborigines, the ‘shaman’ proper of north Asia, Russian folkbeliefs, Tibetan Buddhism. Not that D&D needs an encyclopedia, but a list of reallife belief systems of reallife cultures, does well to be diplomatic. Not all of Africa is Egypt.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Yaarel, post: 7612162, member: 58172"] Generally, cultures are flattered when outsiders take an interest in them. But when outsiders start saying stuff that is wrong, and then silencing those cultures when they are trying to clarify something. It comes across as less than flattering. Probably the main problem with the representation of Native American tribes is how Deities & Demigods mishmashes them together. It is sorta equivalent to saying Chinese, Japanese, and Korean are all the same. The Native tribes are separate nations with separate belief systems. Lots of cognate concepts, but different meanings in different cultures. While they are mainly animistic, they evolve differently. Some tribes are strict animists, in which case the word ‘god’ is wrong. Some are monotheistic animists. Other tribes are polytheistic animists. The mishmash of disparate tribes does little to authentically represent these tribes. Omission of certain parts of the world also distorts presentation. I notice the absence of African animisms, Australian Aborigines, the ‘shaman’ proper of north Asia, Russian folkbeliefs, Tibetan Buddhism. Not that D&D needs an encyclopedia, but a list of reallife belief systems of reallife cultures, does well to be diplomatic. Not all of Africa is Egypt. [/QUOTE]
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