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A comment on Is an Aboriginal tale of an ancient volcano the oldest story ever told?.

Re:Is an Aboriginal tale of an ancient volcano the oldest st... by Gatsky on Tuesday February 18, 2020 @02:15AM (#22354110)
There is a sad history in Australia of treating the indigenous population as nothing more than a bunch of savages. This had its origins as a kind of reality distortion to justify taking their land and in some cases, exterminating them entirely as happened in Tasmania. There is still this perverse incentive today, since acknowledging that there was a full blown civilisation with a very long history present before English colonisation means we are a morally bankrupt nation, and also invites discussion of reparations.
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Re:Is an Aboriginal tale of an ancient volcano the oldest st... by blompa on Tuesday February 18, 2020 @02:49AM (#22354236)
Although the rest of what you say is true, it's actually a myth[0] that all Tasmanian Aboriginals were killed off (something that Tasmanian Aboriginals find frustrating in itself).

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal_Tasmanians

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Re:Is an Aboriginal tale of an ancient volcano the oldest st... by stubish on Tuesday February 18, 2020 @08:39AM (#22355938)
It wasn't always a myth. The legal definitions have changed over time and place, and scientific and social definitions varied.

https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Depart...

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Re:Is an Aboriginal tale of an ancient volcano the oldest st... by blompa on Tuesday February 18, 2020 @07:59PM (#22362095)
Interesting, thank you for the link.
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Re:Is an Aboriginal tale of an ancient volcano the oldest st... by geeostation on Tuesday February 18, 2020 @03:09AM (#22354312)
Rural Australian whites were shooting Aboriginals like Animals few decades ago :(

back on topic, we are still discovering new things about the aboriginal civilisation https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-19/fire-reveals-further-...

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Re:Is an Aboriginal tale of an ancient volcano the oldest st... by fit2rule on Wednesday February 19, 2020 @07:35AM (#22364912)
The Australian government was still forcefully sterilising FNP girls into the 70's. See also, Stolen Generation.
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Re:Is an Aboriginal tale of an ancient volcano the oldest st... by retsibsi on Tuesday February 18, 2020 @03:21AM (#22354360)
> shooting Aboriginals like Animals few decades ago

Is this really true? I know there's a terrible history of massacres and unpunished murders, but was that sort of thing really going on so recently?

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Re:Is an Aboriginal tale of an ancient volcano the oldest st... by Perenti on Tuesday February 18, 2020 @03:26AM (#22354385)
Yes. The government paid a bounty in the Northern Territory for myall (wild aboriginal people) scalps until well into the 20th century.
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Re:Is an Aboriginal tale of an ancient volcano the oldest st... by retsibsi on Tuesday February 18, 2020 @03:35AM (#22354427)
I interpreted 'few decades ago' to mean, roughly, within 30-40 years or so. Second half of the 20th century at the very least. (I'm not being pedantic for the fun of it, let alone because I want to downplay the atrocities that have been committed. I want to know if I'm ignorant of some important recent history; if not, I guess I want to point out that our recent history isn't quite as bad as the parent comment seemed to indicate.)
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Re:Is an Aboriginal tale of an ancient volcano the oldest st... by fizzbucket on Tuesday February 18, 2020 @04:11AM (#22354566)
Sorry, what's your source for this?
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Re:Is an Aboriginal tale of an ancient volcano the oldest st... by 9nGQluzmnq3M on Tuesday February 18, 2020 @03:27AM (#22354395)
Trying to phrase this delicately: is there such a thing as a non-full-blown civilization in your view? Or is an uncontacted tribe in the jungle equally "civilized" as the ancient Romans or Chinese?
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Re:Is an Aboriginal tale of an ancient volcano the oldest st... by ptah on Tuesday February 18, 2020 @06:34AM (#22355182)
from the perspective of sustainability the uncontacted tribe is more civilized than the ancient Romans or chinese
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Re:Is an Aboriginal tale of an ancient volcano the oldest st... by harperlee on Tuesday February 18, 2020 @08:42AM (#22355965)
Insightful, but that is unidimensional and clearly not sufficient to define civilization. What other perspectives we should consider? Do you think we need to leave out some that might come quick to mind, such as "complexity", "specialization", etc.?

I heard in highschool that scale is the big issue with civilization. Anarchy, for example, can work up until people start not knowing themselves (I heard 200 then; I'd argue that this corresponds or is near of Dunbar's number 150 [1]. I don't think this was known by my teacher then, as this was first proposed in 1990 according to wikipedia).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar's_number

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Re:Is an Aboriginal tale of an ancient volcano the oldest st... by bwilli123 on Tuesday February 18, 2020 @09:15AM (#22356172)
Daisy Bates (early 1900's) lived alongside Aborigines all her life. Learned their languages and customs. No modern gloss is placed on what she saw. http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks04/0400661h.html
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