Professor Paddle: Kayakers held, threatened in Guatemala

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   I think the Angelina Jolie comment seemed to have something to do with his disgust at the way things were handled by the guys in charge of the people who took them hostage.  It seems to me from what I've read on this thread and just in general that there's a strong trend towards taking what I think is the easy route, which is idealizing one group and being extremely hard on the other (especially when "the other" is one's own group, since then the assumption is that we're being fair).  In reality the issue (whichever one it is) is usually much more complicated, and yes the ongoing theme throughout history is hapless natives - 'natives' is a factual term, not a patronizing one, in my opinion - crushed under the goals of corporate profits and seeing their cultures going down the tube, along with their ancestral lands - it's heinous.  But at this point in time, after all the effect of western "civilized" culture, TV, and loss of livelihood and everything that goes with it, I would be no more surprised if I got taken out by a machete in a place like that because someone wanted my Ipod than if someone wanted to make a stand for conservation.  That's not pretty to say, but it is realistic, and at least I'm OK saying I would not be too quick to assume I know which one it would be.  They could have used the media attention created by this event to make a public appeal on the conservation side, but instead it turned into a big political shmooze-fest.  Maybe they were afraid of retaliation down the road, or maybe it was for some other reason.  The most important thing I can say is I don't know, which I wish more people on this end would do.  Idealizing people based on their background or heritage is just as patronizing as condemning them for it, in my opinion.