The story seems to have originated with Joseph Banks, botanist on Captain James Cook's 1770 voyage. On several occasions while they were off the coast of Australia, he commented that the natives paid virtually no attention to the 106-foot long Endeavour. On April 28, sailing north along the east coast of Australia, he recorded in his diary that fishermen "... seemd to be totaly engag'd in what they were about: the ship passd within a quarter of a mile of them and yet they scarce lifted their eyes from their employment ... "
Banks seemed to be troubled by not being the star attraction: "Not one was once observd to stop and look towards the ship; they pursued their way in all appearance intirely unmovd by the neighbourhood of so remarkable an object as a ship must necessarily be to people who have never seen one."
However, as soon as the explorers approached the shore in longboats, their attempts at landing were resisted. For instance, "... as soon as we aproachd the rocks two of the men came down upon them, each armd with a lance."
There's a more obvious answer for the odd times when Cook's ship didn't spur a reaction from people on the shore. While we can't disprove the extraordinary notion that the ships were indeed invisible, I think the more prosaic solution is that the natives were living on the edge of survival, and that anything that wasn't a threat or didn't contribute to their well-being could be safely ignored.
I think the myth was brought back to the popular consciousness somewhat by the bizarre pseudo-documentary What The Bleep Do We Know?! from 2004.
Oh, What The Bleep Do We Know isn't just stupid-ass pseudoscience. It's also a recruiting video for a cult led by a woman who claims to channel the spirit of a Lemurian warrior from 35,000 years ago!
Oh, What The Bleep Do We Know isn't just stupid-ass pseudoscience. It's also a recruiting video for a cult led by a woman who claims to channel the spirit of a Lemurian warrior from 35,000 years ago!
Hell yeah
0
Raijin QuickfootI'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPAregular
Damn, the Lemurian Warrior spirit I channel is only 15,000 years old.
ok so we have
- story from the wrong continent
- story is a pretty extravagant extrapolation from a dude who had no idea what the people he was watching were actually thinking, stick to botany mr banks
- Europeans had been dodging round bits of australia for about 100 years before Cook (mostly in the west so I'm not saying northern hemisphere boats were old hat to those guys or anything, just I dunno if you can absolutely claim to be some amazing novelty)
- there's some passed-down stories that many first contact groups thought white people were weird ghosts, and in a lot of tribes there's pretty strict cultural taboos about interacting with the dead so if you HAVE to reach for an explanation that isn't just "your boats aren't as cool as you think they are" (which to my mind is the most likely option), then we've got others to pick from that aren't "these people are TOO PRIMITIVE TO COMPREHEND OUR FLOATY TECHNOLOGY"
on top of that the "living on the edge of survival" thing is also probably racist bullshit, most of the locals were doing pretty well for themselves before white people turned up and started shooting them.
astrobstrdSo full of mercy...Registered Userregular
People would try to talk to me about that What the Bleep Do We Know when I worked at Blockbuster and it made me so furious. I am an absolute science idiot and that was such obvious hokum even to me.
This is making me think of how fucking good the Coming to America scenes in season 1 of American Gods were... Except for the Native American one.
A lot of dumbshit native nonsense makes it to air, and I honestly chalk it up to how few natives there are in writers rooms
All it takes is one person to be like, "Hey, no." But natives mostly get hired on shows that have native characters, and most shows don't have native characters, so...
I may have told this anecdote before, apologies if I have. A Writer's Guild rep came to my show's offices last week, to update writers on upcoming contract negotiations. They mentioned that there are 6,000 working writers in the guild (lumping in both feature and television writers). I jotted down every native writer who worked this year. Including me, there were 10. Out of 6,000. That's 0.016%.
And this is the best year for native writers literally ever. First time we've broken double digits.
+9
JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
Looking back, it's kind of terrifying how popular What the Bleep Do We Know was. Like, that's a particularly dangerous brand of deep-down crazy, but I think people were more freaked out about Donnie Darko than this nonsense cult film that everyone in my cohort seems to have watched all at the same time.
This is making me think of how fucking good the Coming to America scenes in season 1 of American Gods were... Except for the Native American one.
A lot of dumbshit native nonsense makes it to air, and I honestly chalk it up to how few natives there are in writers rooms
All it takes is one person to be like, "Hey, no." But natives mostly get hired on shows that have native characters, and most shows don't have native characters, so...
I may have told this anecdote before, apologies if I have. A Writer's Guild rep came to my show's offices last week, to update writers on upcoming contract negotiations. They mentioned that there are 6,000 working writers in the guild (lumping in both feature and television writers). I jotted down every native writer who worked this year. Including me, there were 10. Out of 6,000. That's 0.016%.
And this is the best year for native writers literally ever. First time we've broken double digits.
I often teach a brief course on what is basically "American cultural imperialism", in which we'll discuss what we watch/read and why it is the way it is.
I always make sure we read or watch something native related, not as self congratulatory, aren't I amazing kind of thing, but just because my students are completely divorced from the idea of native representation as a thing.
So I'll ask them to list any TV shows or movies they've watched that featured a native character. We'll get a few, maybe. Then I'll ask them to remove any westerns, or other movies/shows that feature "shaman" type characters, or whatnot (usually we get a few "but what about Twilight and the werewolves!" arguments) and we'll be down to zero.
It's usually an interesting eye opener, because they're obviously aware of, like, the concept of a native American. But they also have a wildly skewed idea of what that theoretical person might be like, especially as an actual, regular human being in a modern setting. Do note the implied quotation marks around 'interesting'.
This is making me think of how fucking good the Coming to America scenes in season 1 of American Gods were... Except for the Native American one.
A lot of dumbshit native nonsense makes it to air, and I honestly chalk it up to how few natives there are in writers rooms
All it takes is one person to be like, "Hey, no." But natives mostly get hired on shows that have native characters, and most shows don't have native characters, so...
I may have told this anecdote before, apologies if I have. A Writer's Guild rep came to my show's offices last week, to update writers on upcoming contract negotiations. They mentioned that there are 6,000 working writers in the guild (lumping in both feature and television writers). I jotted down every native writer who worked this year. Including me, there were 10. Out of 6,000. That's 0.016%.
And this is the best year for native writers literally ever. First time we've broken double digits.
I often teach a brief course on what is basically "American cultural imperialism", in which we'll discuss what we watch/read and why it is the way it is.
I always make sure we read or watch something native related, not as self congratulatory, aren't I amazing kind of thing, but just because my students are completely divorced from the idea of native representation as a thing.
So I'll ask them to list any TV shows or movies they've watched that featured a native character. We'll get a few, maybe. Then I'll ask them to remove any westerns, or other movies/shows that feature "shaman" type characters, or whatnot (usually we get a few "but what about Twilight and the werewolves!" arguments) and we'll be down to zero.
It's usually an interesting eye opener, because they're obviously aware of, like, the concept of a native American. But they also have a wildly skewed idea of what that theoretical person might be like, especially as an actual, regular human being in a modern setting. Do note the implied quotation marks around 'interesting'.
That's a really cool thing to do, man. Thank you, sincerely.
Related, depressing anecdote: Friend of mine took a general at a company I will not name because I would like to continue working. Said friend remarked on how this company didn't have any native content. The exec said, casually and reflexively, "Yeah, we haven't done any westerns yet."
This is making me think of how fucking good the Coming to America scenes in season 1 of American Gods were... Except for the Native American one.
A lot of dumbshit native nonsense makes it to air, and I honestly chalk it up to how few natives there are in writers rooms
All it takes is one person to be like, "Hey, no." But natives mostly get hired on shows that have native characters, and most shows don't have native characters, so...
I may have told this anecdote before, apologies if I have. A Writer's Guild rep came to my show's offices last week, to update writers on upcoming contract negotiations. They mentioned that there are 6,000 working writers in the guild (lumping in both feature and television writers). I jotted down every native writer who worked this year. Including me, there were 10. Out of 6,000. That's 0.016%.
And this is the best year for native writers literally ever. First time we've broken double digits.
I often teach a brief course on what is basically "American cultural imperialism", in which we'll discuss what we watch/read and why it is the way it is.
I always make sure we read or watch something native related, not as self congratulatory, aren't I amazing kind of thing, but just because my students are completely divorced from the idea of native representation as a thing.
So I'll ask them to list any TV shows or movies they've watched that featured a native character. We'll get a few, maybe. Then I'll ask them to remove any westerns, or other movies/shows that feature "shaman" type characters, or whatnot (usually we get a few "but what about Twilight and the werewolves!" arguments) and we'll be down to zero.
It's usually an interesting eye opener, because they're obviously aware of, like, the concept of a native American. But they also have a wildly skewed idea of what that theoretical person might be like, especially as an actual, regular human being in a modern setting. Do note the implied quotation marks around 'interesting'.
That's a really cool thing to do, man. Thank you, sincerely.
Related, depressing anecdote: Friend of mine took a general at a company I will not name because I would like to continue working. Said friend remarked on how this company didn't have any native content. The exec said, casually and reflexively, "Yeah, we haven't done any westerns yet."
nervous laughter seguing into the realization he was serious
+7
PiptheFairFrequently not in boats.Registered Userregular
Because @Rorshach Kringle started Buffy I also have started my rewatch.
1. Xander has a wallet chain.
2. I keep thinking Eric Balfour is Skeet Ulrich, but no, those are two different people.
3. Xander wants to fight vampires day one.
4. I knew that was Brian Thompson.
I am in the business of saving lives.
0
PiptheFairFrequently not in boats.Registered Userregular
because it seems like something that would be mega up your alley (also other people should watch it cause it's a great breakdown of natives in media)
Oh yeah, I watched that, like, a year ago? It was a pretty entertaining and enlightening movie.
my favorite part was how in old movies where they would hire a bunch of natives as extras, they were supposed to read their lines in their language, but tended to just shit talk the white people
and since their was no interpreter it would make it to print
+6
Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
@Rorshach Kringle, now that you are a Watcher, who has been your favourite character on Buffy?
@Rorshach Kringle, now that you are a Watcher, who has been your favourite character on Buffy?
This is a good question and inquiring minds want to know.
I have to imagine it would be:
-- Adam (the high school Frankenstein monster of demon & robot parts)
-- Dracula
-- Rack (the magic drug dealer)
-- Willy (the demon's bartender)
-- Lindsey Mcdonald
-- Parker Abrams
-- Kathy Newman
@Rorshach Kringle, now that you are a Watcher, who has been your favourite character on Buffy?
This is a good question and inquiring minds want to know.
I have to imagine it would be:
-- Adam (the high school Frankenstein monster of demon & robot parts)
-- Dracula
-- Rack (the magic drug dealer)
-- Willy (the demon's bartender)
-- Lindsey Mcdonald
-- Parker Abrams
-- Kathy Newman
This is th most bullshit list of Buffy characters I've ever seen.
You've brought shame on you and your ancestors with that answer.
@Rorshach Kringle, now that you are a Watcher, who has been your favourite character on Buffy?
This is a good question and inquiring minds want to know.
I have to imagine it would be:
-- Adam (the high school Frankenstein monster of demon & robot parts)
-- Dracula
-- Rack (the magic drug dealer)
-- Willy (the demon's bartender)
-- Lindsey Mcdonald
-- Parker Abrams
-- Kathy Newman
This is th most bullshit list of Buffy characters I've ever seen.
You've brought shame on you and your ancestors with that answer.
Posts
https://www.northcoastjournal.com/humboldt/myth-of-the-invisible-ships/Content?oid=2129921
I think the myth was brought back to the popular consciousness somewhat by the bizarre pseudo-documentary What The Bleep Do We Know?! from 2004.
It was apparently popularized in the remarkably dumbshit movie "What the Bleep Do We Know," which peddles a bunch of stupidass pseudoscience nonsense
Ethan Suplee suddenly woke up with an urge to claim native heritage.
Hell yeah
https://www.paypal.me/hobnailtaylor
- story from the wrong continent
- story is a pretty extravagant extrapolation from a dude who had no idea what the people he was watching were actually thinking, stick to botany mr banks
- Europeans had been dodging round bits of australia for about 100 years before Cook (mostly in the west so I'm not saying northern hemisphere boats were old hat to those guys or anything, just I dunno if you can absolutely claim to be some amazing novelty)
- there's some passed-down stories that many first contact groups thought white people were weird ghosts, and in a lot of tribes there's pretty strict cultural taboos about interacting with the dead so if you HAVE to reach for an explanation that isn't just "your boats aren't as cool as you think they are" (which to my mind is the most likely option), then we've got others to pick from that aren't "these people are TOO PRIMITIVE TO COMPREHEND OUR FLOATY TECHNOLOGY"
on top of that the "living on the edge of survival" thing is also probably racist bullshit, most of the locals were doing pretty well for themselves before white people turned up and started shooting them.
Your mind couldn't comprehend it so it was just blanked out.
Waitaminute
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
https://www.paypal.me/hobnailtaylor
A lot of dumbshit native nonsense makes it to air, and I honestly chalk it up to how few natives there are in writers rooms
All it takes is one person to be like, "Hey, no." But natives mostly get hired on shows that have native characters, and most shows don't have native characters, so...
I may have told this anecdote before, apologies if I have. A Writer's Guild rep came to my show's offices last week, to update writers on upcoming contract negotiations. They mentioned that there are 6,000 working writers in the guild (lumping in both feature and television writers). I jotted down every native writer who worked this year. Including me, there were 10. Out of 6,000. That's 0.016%.
And this is the best year for native writers literally ever. First time we've broken double digits.
Donnie Darko was huge though.
I often teach a brief course on what is basically "American cultural imperialism", in which we'll discuss what we watch/read and why it is the way it is.
I always make sure we read or watch something native related, not as self congratulatory, aren't I amazing kind of thing, but just because my students are completely divorced from the idea of native representation as a thing.
So I'll ask them to list any TV shows or movies they've watched that featured a native character. We'll get a few, maybe. Then I'll ask them to remove any westerns, or other movies/shows that feature "shaman" type characters, or whatnot (usually we get a few "but what about Twilight and the werewolves!" arguments) and we'll be down to zero.
It's usually an interesting eye opener, because they're obviously aware of, like, the concept of a native American. But they also have a wildly skewed idea of what that theoretical person might be like, especially as an actual, regular human being in a modern setting. Do note the implied quotation marks around 'interesting'.
That's a really cool thing to do, man. Thank you, sincerely.
Related, depressing anecdote: Friend of mine took a general at a company I will not name because I would like to continue working. Said friend remarked on how this company didn't have any native content. The exec said, casually and reflexively, "Yeah, we haven't done any westerns yet."
nervous laughter seguing into the realization he was serious
have you ever watched
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reel_Injun
because it seems like something that would be mega up your alley (also other people should watch it cause it's a great breakdown of natives in media)
Just the endless mileage those three are able to get out of "cars...but Boats!" Tickles me to death.
And I LOVE TG and GT.
Jason Mantzoukas and Maya Rudolph as judges in episodes, Paul Scheer as a CONTESTANT in one. Amazing.
I do not understand how Nailed It doesn't have like a New episode every three hours. Doesn't everyone want to be on this show
If you're fine with ads (I am!), it's free to stream on Tubi.TV right now! https://tubitv.com/movies/54908
Steam
Oh yeah, I watched that, like, a year ago? It was a pretty entertaining and enlightening movie.
1. Xander has a wallet chain.
2. I keep thinking Eric Balfour is Skeet Ulrich, but no, those are two different people.
3. Xander wants to fight vampires day one.
4. I knew that was Brian Thompson.
my favorite part was how in old movies where they would hire a bunch of natives as extras, they were supposed to read their lines in their language, but tended to just shit talk the white people
and since their was no interpreter it would make it to print
This is a good question and inquiring minds want to know.
Right now.
No prep just go.
There are no other numbers.
2. Ethan Rayne
3. Glory
I have to imagine it would be:
-- Adam (the high school Frankenstein monster of demon & robot parts)
-- Dracula
-- Rack (the magic drug dealer)
-- Willy (the demon's bartender)
-- Lindsey Mcdonald
-- Parker Abrams
-- Kathy Newman
This is th most bullshit list of Buffy characters I've ever seen.
You've brought shame on you and your ancestors with that answer.
Don't blame me!
It's @Rorshach Kringle's list!
"What can you tell me about Dracula?"
"Poncy bugger owes me 11 quid, for one thing."