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Maori Legend of Man-Eating Birds is True
jerryatrix writes "Legends of the New Zealand Maori tell of giant man-eating birds. New scientific evidence proves that these birds did exist and were around the same time as humans in New Zealand. From the article, 'Scientists now think the stories handed down by word of mouth and depicted in rock drawings refer to Haast's eagle, a raptor that became extinct just 500 years ago.'"
I think you may have missed the sarcastic subtext of the original post. There's a recurrent myth in the modern world, especially in technologically developed societies, that "natives" or "primitive man" or whatever somehow lived and still live "in tune" with nature or in harmony with it or whatever. They all supposedly respect the land in a way we don't, are inherently wise, spiritual, blah, blah, blah.
You are, of course, correct in pointing out that hunting species to extinction is a very natural thing to do, though it depends on how you define things. The original poster was poking fun at the myths using the terms as propagators of the myth would themselves define them. Arguing what's natural and what's not is a different issue.
More often than not, past and "primitive" societies would have exploited or would exploit nature as thoroughly as we do, anyway, were it not for limitations of populations and technology.
Are any of us native to anywhere except Africa?
past and "primitive" societies would have exploited or would exploit nature as thoroughly as we do, anyway, were it not for limitations of populations and technology.
Dead on. The only reason the buffalo was still around in huge quantities was because native americans didn't have rifles, or horses for that matter.
Native cultures were famous for "slash and burn" agriculture, possibly the most destructive farming method around that leeches all the nitrates out of the soil in just a few years, forcing the farmer to keep moving (and destroying his surrounding jungle). Crop rotation was a European invention.
One mustn't let guilty feelings about the de facto destruction of native cultures by European civilization lead us into believing that somehow these people were much better than us. They were just people. Some were good. Some were bad. Every one of them left an environmental mark on the world around them.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.