Whack A Mole

Have you played the carnival game, Whack-a-Mole? It is a game where you have a big hammer and you hit the heads of little mice creatures when their heads stick up out of a hole. The game is fast fun and involves smashing heads with a hammer, all good fun. The Whack-a-mole game is an allegory for people in society. You see there are those who will lift their heads out of a hole and then there are those who will take the big hammer and smash them as hard and as many times that they can. People will poke their heads out of hole based on their courageous intentions, and some will do it based on their cluelessness, in other words stupidity.  There are those who will stick their head out of the hole and not be bothered with the hammer hitting them. Some folks don't require the little mouse-creature to poke their little head out of any hole. They just hit anyone at anything and anywhere. Those folks are just messed up to begin with. The Whack-a-mole folk need some kind of stimulus to have them going hammer-time. 

A very good example of real-life-Whack-a-mole is Colin Kaepernick. Colin Kaepernick was the football quarterback who decided to kneel when the US National Anthem was being played. Holy heck was Colin slammed on the head and it seemed, everyone wanted to hold the hammer. The then US President and his slog of a VP picked up the hammer and hit the hapless quarterback. Yes, fun times for the US people. Speaking of the then President Mr. Trump, he is one mouse creature who sticks his head and doesn't know why he keeps getting hit on the head with a hammer. He also could be one of those who is not bothered by the hammer smash. Thing is there are too many indicators where he is known to be bothered even without the hammer hitting him and just a maniac to begin with. No surprise he will go after those who he feels smashed him. He will go baby-goat-killing on just about anyone, whether or not they had a hammer or no hammer on him. He went after one of his biggest arse-lickers in Mitch McConnell and his "Coco-Chow" wife.  Trump is an example of the clueless mouse in the Whack-a-Mole game of life. Dave Chappelle is an example of the mouse creature who is not (on the surface) concerned with the smash of the hammer. He has been putting his head out seemly seeking the hammers on his head. Chappelle has made the Trans-community a staple in his comedy routine. He also used the Jewish Power Entertainment trope in his routine. The Jews are thought to have a strangle hold on the entertainment industry. Chappelle seems to take pleasure in offended people, akin to most comics: Jim Jefferies, Ricky Gervais, Sara Silverman, and the forgotten Andrew Dice Clay. Chappelle must have a hard head because he has and is on the receiving end of the hammer smash in Whack-a-Mole. 

In the Indian community (the Peace-Pipe-Tomahawk-Indian and not the Simpsons' Spicy-Curry-Apu-Indian) there are people who are sticking their heads out of the hole. The main-stream community (whites mostly) won't pick up the hammer on Indians. Indians don't register in their minds and Whites can't be bothered to waste some good hammering on moldy Indians.  The only time White people will pick up the hammer on Indians, it is when the Indians is getting between them and their money; the resource sector protests. When Indians speak out against the destruction of lands for resource extraction, this is when the big white hammer comes down, along with all the resources of the system white people enjoy. In the media Indians are viewed as "Something Else, or Creatures."  So, when there comes to hammer smashing, it is Indian on Indian. We have a few Indians who are going after the "pretend-Indian, aka the pretendian." Jacqueline Keeler is an Indian Woman who is exposing fake Indians-people who say they are Indian but are not. This has caused a few to get out the beaded-handled-hammer to whap her right on the top of her braided head-hair. The issue may be her methods of research or the who is on her list.  Indians, for some strange reason, will protect the pretendian. When Joseph Boyden was exposed, he was quickly adopted into an Indian family, crazy right? I think frauds are going to be found out whether or not a list exists. After-all, for Indians the main thing is connection; who you with? The method of identity is so messed up from colonial interference; the numbering system, the government Indian Final List, metal ID dog tags to Inuit people in the north. Our people are so comfortable with the identification systems of the settler governments. For me that is the problem, colonial identification of who we are. I don't hammer Keeler for her attempts at trying to unearth the moles, the mice creatures. However, I am not a fan of using the settler established ways of measuring Indianness. This is what got us here to begin with, the Indian identity sweepstakes. 

The problem with the Indian sweepstakes is in its attraction. People love the Noble Savage. People want to be linked to a history of survival, of the beautiful brown mystique of barefooted-naked-forest-plainspeople. Some people want to embrace the past of the hippie culture with flowers in their hair and being Indian makes them more hippie than anyone. The Indian is the problem as well. They are so damn sensual. They are also damn generous, welcoming and easy to con. The Indian will welcome the pretendian based on their word alone. I mean why wouldn't we? Who in their right mind would make up a story about being something they are not? That's weird, right? If it was as easy as walking up to a whole group of people, a whole community and say, "Hey, I'm Steve and I'm 250th succession of Bulgaria, through Hermann Friedrich, Canadian Banker in Toronto. The last I heard works for the Royal Bank of Canada, look him up." This is what some individuals are actually doing, walking up to the community and saying, "I'm treaty Indian from Norway House." So, we, as Indians, say, "Well okay, that's good enough for me. Welcome Neechie." The Wack-a-mole is not our first reaction. Not until they start acting good. Then it's Indian Factor. If you don't know the Indian Factor, maybe you should reconsider claiming the Noble Savage identity.