Everyone seems to be treating Native Americans as if they were one people, with one philosophy, one set of cultural norms, and one way of responding to their environment. Is that really true? How much did a Cherokee farmer have in common with a Dakota nomad, a Pueblo urbanite, or a Snoqualmie hunter/gatherer?

Isn't it also likely that, like people everywhere, Native Americans, even within the same tribes, are different than one another? Some may have a mystical or philosophical mindset, some may be very creative, some may be assholes to everyone around them, some may find it difficult to connect with other people, some may always make a joke to deflect serious situations, some may love animals, etc etc etc. Most discussions I see, including this one, seem to start with the concept "Native Americans are this" or "Native Americans are that". I don't know a lot about it, but it doesn't seem very likely to me that this is the case. I suspect that if I were a Native American I would be offended by those type of assumptions.

I'm also wondering why people who grew up in and live in white society but had a Native American ancestor three or four generations back think they are in some way Native American. Isn't the way you spend your life, the culture that you actually live in, a more important determining factor?