The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #26578 Message #320759
Posted By: InOBU
17-Oct-00 - 09:17 AM
Thread Name: BS: Was Custer a Scumbag?
Subject: RE: BS: Was Custer a Scumbag?
Yes, Custer was a scumbag... Genocide is genocide, wether you feel sorry for your victems- like Eichmann or are "only obeying orders..." as was the excuse for those hanged at Nuerenburg. All the excuses in the world cannot cleanse the record of genocide. I am sick of young Germans telling me that the holocaust was long ago and not meaningful in their lives. When I look at the empty palces at our holiday dinner table, and know those places should be taken by people killed soely for the reason that they were Roma, it does not seem like a long time ago to me. When I see the poverty and hopelessness within many American Native nations, Custer seems like recent history as well... I am equally sick of Americans denying the genocide in our own history. Greasy Grass was a great victory in a war against genocide which was unfortunately eventualy lost.
As far as his tallent as a soldier, he also underestimated his foe... He had his men take a rest in high grass, with no pickets on horse back to see over the grass. As one historian on PBS put it, there had to be a moment, a few minutes into the battle, when Custer said... "Oh shit!" Larry