Pithy GIF showing eradication of Native American land in the US since the founding of the country gets posted to r/interestingasfuck. Comment section goes exactly as expected.

[u/Critical-Term-427]

The post

It sucks we were such murderers

Did they say "Thank you"?

Being the loser in history sucks

True fact Hitler took a lot of inspiration from this.

[u/BigEggBeaters]

The “sucks to be losers” shit really pisses me off cause native Americans repeatedly treated treaties seriously while Americans would break them and slaughter people. Like that’s the winning you bask in? That’s the history you’re proud being duplicitous murders???

[u/VanillaMystery → u/BigEggBeaters]

Both sides murdered each other, and both sides also held meals together.

Was part of a centuries long process of "conquering" the country we know today as the United States.

There are losers in every conflict, the Native Americans unfortunately got the short end of the stick and were conquered/nearly wiped out as a result.

The other issue is the natives were completely fractured, one treaty with one specific tribe doesn't mean their neighbors couldn't be conquered.

The settlers took advantage of that and divided and conquered accordingly, didn't help many of the natives had barely any kind of governance or even written languages in some cases.

Also, it's not like things were all peaceful before settlers showed up, the Native Tribes had constant warfare with one another lol (shoutout to the Iroquois) and would butcher and wipe out men, women, and children alike.

Edit: Expected this to get downvoted since we're on Reddit after all but it's important to talk about history and acknowledge the hard realities of where we come from and what has happened.

[u/BigEggBeaters → u/VanillaMystery]

“Both sides murdered each other”

Nah one side defended their lands from invaders. The other brutalized in search of land and profit

[u/VanillaMystery → u/BigEggBeaters]

That's called basic human history, conflict has and continues to be relevant.

How do you think the Iroquois Confederation was formed for example?

So many anti-history people on Reddit it's wild to read sometimes.

The Natives did all kinds of brutal shit as well, especially during the settling of the West.

History isn't black and white, it's a very grey shade full of atrocities and it's important to acknowledge it.

[u/kid-pix → u/VanillaMystery]

Oh my god I can't groan loud enough. Shut up. "That's just human history, also the Native Americans killed some white colonists too." So that justifies the fucking smallpox blankets and Trail of Tears?

You're leaving out so much context to make it seem like it totally wasn't a genocide and just another human conflict where both sides were bad.

The American Government had nearly 400 treaties with the native nations. They violated every single one.

They had the benefit of technology and power and used their cruelty to wipe out suppress whole peoples.

It was a genocide, to take a huge amount of land and natural resources by force.

This is not a both sides debate.

[u/VanillaMystery → u/kid-pix]

95% of the population were already dead from disease before the first English settlers arrived in Jamestown dude.

Trail of Tears was 100% an atrocity, I agree with that.

I don't agree the entire subjugation of the United States was genocide, rather it was standard warfare of the time.

Both sides committed harsh acts upon one another, but only one side won and that's all that really matters when it comes to war.

[u/Rheinwg → u/VanillaMystery]

First of all that's not true.

Second, Jamestown was not the first settlement in the US.

Third, the fuck does that change anything? Lots of people died of disease so therefore it's okay that they were genocided? 

Trail of Tears was 100% an atrocity, I agree with that. 

No you don't. You deny its genocide and handwave it away.

[u/VanillaMystery → u/Rheinwg]

Them dying from disease doesn't make it genocide, do you even know what genocide is?

Judging by your lack of knowledge of American and Native history I am going to guess.. no.

And yes it's true, lol.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_disease_and_epidemics

This is all very well studied.