RonRC
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This thread is to redirect this topic away from the COVID-19 thread and give the intentional disease spread issue its own space for discussion.
Please keep in mind that the original source for the claim of purposeful spreading of disease to the Indians using contaminated blankets was an invention in the writings of Dr. Ward Churchill of the University of Colorado. He claimed to have a PhD in history, but he lied. He did not have a PhD in history , but an M.A. in communications. Churchill claimed to be an Indian to get promoted in the Ethnic Studies Dept., but he lied. He was discharged from the university after an intensive Investigation of his writings and paintings. The university committee came to the conclusion that he was a plagiarist and liar. Even some of his paintings were copied directly from another artist.
It seems that he invented the story of the spread of disease using contaminated blankets. Other prominent writers and TV producers referenced Churchill and used the blanket story. Churchill referenced the people who referenced him in his later writings. The story spread and few questioned it until the investigation.
The university president, Hank Brown, who recommended that the board fire Professor Churchill, said he deserved to lose his job because he had "falsified history" and "fabricated history." (Wesson, Marianne; Clinton, Robert; Limón, José; McIntosh, Marjorie; Radelet, Michael (May 9, 2006). Report of the Investigative Committee of the Standing Committee on Research Misconduct at the University of Colorado Boulder concerning Allegations of Academic Misconduct against Professor Ward Churchill) Brown is referring to not just to the discovery of Churchill's plagiarism, but also to his questionable body of academic work—like his claim the U.S. Army embarked on a program of genocide by deliberately infecting Indians with small-pox. Sounds plausible, but, according to an investigation by the Rocky Mountain News, not supported by the available evidence. "In fact, the pages of various books he refers to not only don't buttress his argument," wrote the News, "they contradict it." UCLA professor Russell Thornton, a scholar of Native American history, calls Churchill's writings on the smallpox epidemic "just out-and-out fabrication."
The controversy attracted increased academic scrutiny of Churchill's research, the quality of which had already been seriously questioned by the legal scholar John LaVelle, historian Guenter Lewy , (Lewy, Guenter (November 22, 2004,"Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide?". History News Network), sociologist Thomas Brown, and the historians R.G. Robertson and Russell Thornton, who said that Churchill had misrepresented their work. In 2005, University of Colorado Boulder administrators ordered an investigation into seven allegations of research misconduct, including three allegations of plagiarism, and four allegations of fabrication or falsification regarding the repeated claims that smallpox was intentionally spread to Native Americans by John Smith in 1614 and by the United States Army at Fort Clark in 1837. Ward Churchill - Wikipedia
There is no question that Indian tribes contracted several diseases from the Europeans. While estimates vary, approximately 20-50 million people are believed to have lived in the Americas shortly before Europeans arrived. Around 95% of them were killed by European diseases (Why Native Americans Didn’t Wipe Out Europeans With Diseases. Emily Upton. March 26, 2014. Why Native Americans Didn't Wipe Out Europeans With Diseases) (I need to research this estimate more thoroughly).
But contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t all one sided. It’s believed that one Native American disease did slip on to the European ships and sailed onward to Europe doing some major damage in the process. That disease was syphilis. Syphilis killed millions in Europe after its introduction. (Case Closed? Columbus Introduced Syphilis to Europe. Charles Q. Choi, on December 27, 2011 Scientific American)
Please keep in mind that the original source for the claim of purposeful spreading of disease to the Indians using contaminated blankets was an invention in the writings of Dr. Ward Churchill of the University of Colorado. He claimed to have a PhD in history, but he lied. He did not have a PhD in history , but an M.A. in communications. Churchill claimed to be an Indian to get promoted in the Ethnic Studies Dept., but he lied. He was discharged from the university after an intensive Investigation of his writings and paintings. The university committee came to the conclusion that he was a plagiarist and liar. Even some of his paintings were copied directly from another artist.
It seems that he invented the story of the spread of disease using contaminated blankets. Other prominent writers and TV producers referenced Churchill and used the blanket story. Churchill referenced the people who referenced him in his later writings. The story spread and few questioned it until the investigation.
The university president, Hank Brown, who recommended that the board fire Professor Churchill, said he deserved to lose his job because he had "falsified history" and "fabricated history." (Wesson, Marianne; Clinton, Robert; Limón, José; McIntosh, Marjorie; Radelet, Michael (May 9, 2006). Report of the Investigative Committee of the Standing Committee on Research Misconduct at the University of Colorado Boulder concerning Allegations of Academic Misconduct against Professor Ward Churchill) Brown is referring to not just to the discovery of Churchill's plagiarism, but also to his questionable body of academic work—like his claim the U.S. Army embarked on a program of genocide by deliberately infecting Indians with small-pox. Sounds plausible, but, according to an investigation by the Rocky Mountain News, not supported by the available evidence. "In fact, the pages of various books he refers to not only don't buttress his argument," wrote the News, "they contradict it." UCLA professor Russell Thornton, a scholar of Native American history, calls Churchill's writings on the smallpox epidemic "just out-and-out fabrication."
The controversy attracted increased academic scrutiny of Churchill's research, the quality of which had already been seriously questioned by the legal scholar John LaVelle, historian Guenter Lewy , (Lewy, Guenter (November 22, 2004,"Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide?". History News Network), sociologist Thomas Brown, and the historians R.G. Robertson and Russell Thornton, who said that Churchill had misrepresented their work. In 2005, University of Colorado Boulder administrators ordered an investigation into seven allegations of research misconduct, including three allegations of plagiarism, and four allegations of fabrication or falsification regarding the repeated claims that smallpox was intentionally spread to Native Americans by John Smith in 1614 and by the United States Army at Fort Clark in 1837. Ward Churchill - Wikipedia
There is no question that Indian tribes contracted several diseases from the Europeans. While estimates vary, approximately 20-50 million people are believed to have lived in the Americas shortly before Europeans arrived. Around 95% of them were killed by European diseases (Why Native Americans Didn’t Wipe Out Europeans With Diseases. Emily Upton. March 26, 2014. Why Native Americans Didn't Wipe Out Europeans With Diseases) (I need to research this estimate more thoroughly).
But contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t all one sided. It’s believed that one Native American disease did slip on to the European ships and sailed onward to Europe doing some major damage in the process. That disease was syphilis. Syphilis killed millions in Europe after its introduction. (Case Closed? Columbus Introduced Syphilis to Europe. Charles Q. Choi, on December 27, 2011 Scientific American)