a culture of make believe

"In a short time a group of commissioners arrived to begin organization of a new Indian agency in the valley. One of them mentioned the advantage of schools for Joseph's people. Joseph reliped that the Nez Perces did not want the white man's schools.
'Why do you not want schools?' the commissioner asked.
'They will teach us to have churches,' Joseph answered.
'Do you not want churches?'
'No, we do not want churches.'
'Why do you not want churches?'
'They will teach us to quarrel about God,' Joseph said. 'We do not want to learn that. We may quarrel with men sometimes about things on this earth, but we never quarrel about God. We do not want to learn that.'" (p. 302)

from "Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown

Gawking at dead indians as the talismans of America

"Captain Jack was hanged on October 3. On the night following the execution, his body was secretly disinterred, carried off to Yreka, and embalmed. A short time later it appeared in eastern cities as a carnival attraction, admission price ten cents."
(p. 233)

from "Bury my heart at wounded knee" by Dee Brown

Now they were all good Indians.

"Roman Nose was dead; Black Kettle was dead; Tall Bull was dead. Now they were all good Indians. Like the antelope and the buffalo, the ranks of the proud Cheyennes were thinning to extinction."
(p. 169)

from Dee Brown's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee"

Sun Dance Chant

"Look at that young man.
He is feeling good
Because his sweetheart
Is watching him."

(p. 142)

- from "Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown

What is money

I am unsure why I haven't posted this here. I saved it in a notepad back in November 2016.

Here goes:

"There is a lot of talk about the functions of money, but a clear definition is that it is an abstract claim on society and natural resources represented in a unit of account."

- Tim Dimuzio