Colors of the Wind. I mean. War.

"Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not altogether powerless."

I love the style of Chief Seattle's speech. There is a beautifully stabbing irony between his words and his real tone and intention. In response to the greetings and pleasantries of the President (who he entitles "the great...white chief"), he says, "This is kind...This indeed appears generous..." As the time-machine listeners, we think, My! what a civil man we have here. 

The real deal is laid down, however, as we read closer and further. Chief Seattle can only "presume" the white chief to be good as well as great; after all, his people "no longer ha[ve] rights" respected by the white man; though, the Chief's people could own the blame of this "somewhat." Clearly, Chief Seattle isn't so pleased as his pastry-sweet compliments may imply.

Then, he launches into this idea of the DEAD. DEAD, DEAD, DEAD, everywhere we turn. But boy, does it help his argument. We've declined so much in numbers, he mourns. But guess what? We respect our ancestors. We want to be able to visit their burial grounds.

And you?

Well, you left England and all your ancestry behind "seemingly without regret." Nice goin' there. Joke's on you, though, because "the dead are not altogether powerless."

How his speech relates to the day! Not only is he addressing the absurd type of imperialism going on within his own country, but he also presents ideas contrary to nationalism and militarism (at least those of the white man).


With NATIONALISM: At this time, America was expanding completely separate to native America. Their "nationalism" didn't include the red man. Chief Seattle's solution is leveling in more ways than one: not only does the same fate await all of America, but all the world--we are all brothers in death.

With MILITARISM: "Revenge is considered gain" the Chief wisely proverbises, but old geezers know the truth--war is anything but the romantic heroics that this generation believes in.

The Gettysburg Address, Greek Style!

History

What most impressed me about Greek civilization is the revere they gave their dead. Courtney did a great job of pointing out about how they celebrated those who died in battle. She mentioned when Thucydides points out about those who died at marathon. I was curious so I did a bit of research and it looks like that is referring to the battle of marathon which seems to be the turning point in the Persian war. They revered them because that is where their country was born, or at least flexed its muscles to show that the ideals that they stood for could withstand one of the greatest armies on earth. Certainly the Greeks had very high respect for that battle the way we revere those who fought in the revolutionary war.

Did Lincoln get his inspiration
from Pericles?

Rhetoric

Now, as my title says, this reminded me so much of the Gettysburg address. The arrangement of both speeches is essentially the same.

• Talk about the founding of your country and ideals.
• Talk about how what you say cannot honor these men anywhere near the sacrifice they have already made. 
• Talk about the cause they were fighting for .
• Encourage all those present to continue on in that cause.

As Macey R pointed out, this speech definitely has some deliberative points in it, and based on the situation I must say that I think it is right to do so. So did Lincoln.

Philosophy

First, I agree with Thomas that this speech shows aspects from each category, and rightly so. (He does a great job of showing why). Specifically though I wanted to comment on how he would fit in with Socrates. Remember, Socrates said “the unexamined life is not worth living.” As an Athenian he is always examining, and he points out that all Athenians should examine the politics, for to do anything else would be an injustice to their system. Alexander shows that the people are not arguing for the sake of arguing, but for progression. What better example can there be of a people examining their lives?

Perfect Weather to talk about Death

HISTORY

              From his speech it was very obvious how important death is to Greek civilization. By analyzing the way people react to death and sorrow we can often discover what they believe about life. For example, the Greeks respect their dead based on how they died; an honorable life was one that was given in military service. Notice that, in mentioning the soldiers who died at Marathon, Pericles reveals that even some military deaths are more honorable than others. What I glean from these facts is that the Greeks were a collectivist society because they saw the community as a whole, not as a collection of individuals. They honored the dead who honored the community by giving of their lives.

RHETORIC

              The order in which Pericles addressed the different groups in his speech stood out to me. First, he talked to the parents, the ones who had sacrificed their lives raising the men who had just died. He reminds them that their sacrifice was not in vain because their sons died honorable deaths and contributed to society. Then he addressed the brothers and sons and the point I made above is emphasized. He doesn’t comfort the living men about the deaths, but rather comforts them that one day they may also be able to die for their country. Lastly, he talks to the widows of the group, the people that in modern times would be addressed and comforted first, and, as touched on by Macey, he mentions them only long enough to say that he isn’t going to talk about them.

PHILOSOPHY

              I don’t know if I can make a definitive statement on which of the three philosophical categories Pericles should be put in, but I definitely can see how he exemplifies the philosophy of a Sophist. At first I was going to sort him as a Socratic because he tries to find the truth of what is happening. However, I realized, with a little help from Hailee, that he was very biased to Athens. Socrates would never have made such blanket statements about Athens being superior.