We are confronted with a very convoluted journey toward inner and outer peace. Cultural values are very deeply instilled in most of us and thus it is very difficult to get outside of the culture far enough to seriously challenge its basic premises. Consider the reaction to Peshe's statements about anthropologists. It was hard for many of us to accept the notion that the profession of anthropology was doing the will of the dominant society even to the degree that the most well-intentioned anthropologist was perpetuating this harm. A second example concerns the abortion debate - it seems to ultimately get reduced to individual rights, the right to life of a fetus versus the right of a woman to control her own body.
Power has a way of destroying the fiber of even the most well-intentioned resisters.
Annihilation, erosion, or assimilation of a culture using techniques of overt power, coercion, or persuasion all lead to the same result - cultural genocide. On this we are in agreement and have the basis for discussions that could lead to some understanding. Despite this, no real understanding will be remotely possible until we are able to overcome cultural barriers to find common ground. While I believe that there is sufficient commonality at the gut level among most members of the net, this gut level commonality gets overwhelmed by the deeply inculcated cultural values we all possess. What has surprised me the most is that it doesn't matter whether you are native american, mixed blood, exploited, or exploiter, if you have been instilled with values by whatever means that you do not recognize as culture-bound, you are not likely to challenge them, and will even defend them.