Jornal for Loewen; Chapter 3

New England Winter

Author Quote: "As we shall see, however, if the American Indians hadn't already settled New England, Europeans would have had a much tougher job of it," (Loewen 71)

Another New England Winter

Internet Quote: "In sum, U.S. history is no more violent and oppressive than the history of England, Russia, Indonesia, or Burundi - but neither is it exceptionally less violent," ( James Loewen Lies)

Vietnam

Summary: For the first quote what Loewen is saying is that he Americans and the pilgrims owe a lot to the natives of that area. If we thought, and the pilgrims thought, they were having a hard time in dealing with the New England Winter with the help of the Native's food stashes and the cold. All of them probably would have died without that help. For the second quote is saying that other countries can't call America out for being a very violent race without looking at their own history, but we our selves can't say that other countries have been more violent then our selves.

My Ideas: I don't think people really understand how hard it is to survive a New England winter. People in modern day New England have a tough time with it, so the thought of not having today's technology and a good insulated house to survive a harsh winter is terrifying. Yet the Pilgrims did it, though they had help by finding the food stores that the Natives in that area had made to survive the winter. Only they weren't there to use their stores, they were all dead. I agree with Loewen in the fact that the pilgrims would have had a much tougher time surviving their first winter if the Natives hadn't settled north America first. In fact I don't think any of them would have even survived. The second quote i like because it is saying that America cant say that we are this amazing group of people who have always showed kindness and compassion to other people when we have such a violent history of biological warfare and person to person warfare. But other countries can't call us out without being hypocritical as well. Especially countries like Britain, France, China, and many others. Both of these quotes say to Americans that we cannot say we are this perfect country when we needed help to get started and what we have done after getting our foundation started.