Homework from Week #20: KQ for Semester 1

Wednesday, February 12th, 2014

Adherence to Traditions and Adapting to Change

Real-life situation:

When they were first conquered, the Native Americans tried to maintain their traditional lifestyles, to adhere to their native cultures and not succumb to foreign influences. However, the constant pressure from European colonists and settlers eventually weakened these peoples' defenses: they lost their territories as people took over their land and transformed them into farmfields; they were prohibited to practice their native religions, usually centered around reverence for nature; they were "europeanized". Whereas people may argue that these changes were practically enforced upon the Native populations, it is difficult to deny that the adoption of firearms and horses, among other influences that greatly affected their lives, was greatly of the Natives' own wills. The Natives saw the benefits of owning a horse, as this animal eased transportation and quickened communication, helped them conquer the fields. The Natives realized the power of guns and other firearms, as these not only were more powerful than traditional weapons such as the hurling of rocks and stones, but also inspired fear in their enemies and rivals. The Natives eventually turned against each other as well, fighting over territories and accesses to trade that had been taken away from them by the colonists. The Natives often weakened themselves, their kin, or the people they were related with (at least by being native of the Americas) by using the tools the Europeans had used to defeat them. Not only that, the use of firearms may have increased the pride and confidence of some Natives, inspiring them to abandon their traditional ways of living in order to adopt a more modern attitude that gave them more power.

1st-order claim:

Some Natives abandoned their traditions from ambition, sometimes to secure their authorities, other times to regain belongings they had lost yet believed were rightfully theirs (and so on). 

Knowledge question:

How does the pressure to change, conform or adapt, affect faith?

(As in: When does one decide to abandon one's faith, culture, traditions, in order to adapt to changing conditions? If this happens, does it mean that one's faith was actually not that strongly held and treasured? Or do different conditions and situations engender different opinions, as some people may say "ambition" while others say "adaption"? Is there a difference, and does this difference make one worse or better than another?)

Note: I did use the Native populations in the Americas in this case, but this was because I just studied them in AP World, and this is fresh in my mind. This case can be applied to many other people. Actually, maybe all of us. Because, realistically, there are people in our world who act out of ambition, hurting their family, friends, sometimes themselves, by not being true to themselves and adopting styles they "were not born with". For example, "The Great Gatsby" by Fitzgerald was concerned with the new rich and the old rich, the rise of the prior while the latter slowly faded and crumbled down.