Priorities

[swan_tower]

Look. I am glad for The Gamers: Hands of Fate. I am glad they met their fundraising goal, and that they also hit the stretch goal that means AEG (the company behind L5R) will be producing a card game based off the one they invented for the film. This is fun and exciting and cool, and I wouldn't have linked to the project before if I didn't want it to succeed.

But.

The Gamers has raised $384,264.

Pe 'Sla: Help Save Lakota Sioux Sacred Land has raised $341,526.

According to the last update, they've managed to get a seat at the negotiation table. That's good, and I'm sure it's due in part to the money they've been able to raise. But I have no idea how much of the land they're going to be able to buy with that money. All of it? I'd be surprised. They wouldn't have set their goal at one million if three hundred grand was enough to do everything they needed.

The Internets are a great place. But they are also a place where people will stump up more money for a movie and a card game than for helping the Sioux Nation regain control of one of their most sacred sites.

I'm not surprised by this, mind you. But I do think it shows some wrong-headed priorities. There's thirty-seven hours left on the Pe 'Sla project; I hope they can bring in more before it's done.

Comments

[misslynx.livejournal.com]

That's a really sad statement about our collective priorities. :-( I'm not really in a position to donate to anything right now, but if I could, it would definitely be the Lakota, not the Gamers.

[elliemurasaki.livejournal.com]

If it's not Christian it's not sacred, and brown people aren't really human, donchaknow.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I donated to both, but more to the Sioux than the movie.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Sadly, far too many people have a hard time understanding how something not built by humans can be profoundly sacred. But this is apparently Wailing Wall/Temple Mount levels of important to the Sioux.

[elliemurasaki.livejournal.com]

I know. I've donated. I'm an atheist, I do not believe in 'sacred', and I still donated to this cause. There are a great many people who ought to be shamed by that.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I think it's possible to believe in "sacred" as a meaningful human thing, even if you don't believe in it as a meaningful metaphysical thing. Though I don't know if you'd say that's an apt description of your own feelings on the matter.

Regardless, thank you for donating.

[tiamat360.livejournal.com]

Agreed - I think if this was a fundraiser to protect a Christian holy site, it would have received a lot more money and attention. (That said, I somehow doubt that the people who contributed to the Gamers movie would be much more likely to contribute to a Christian kickstarter than to the Pe 'Sla one).

From a modern perspective, the idea that a group's sacred site can be sold between outsiders is horrifying, but sadly it makes all too much sense from a historical perspective :(.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly.

[almaeron.livejournal.com]

Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I donated the most I could (not much) and I hope it helps...

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Every bit helps. As does the will to pay attention to something like this and care.