Hungry spirit

A word of advice from joint chiefs of stuff <@heyMAKWA>, transcribed against the possible Twitterpocalypse.

hey settlers there's an anishinaabe spirit you regard as a cryptid, you think of it as antlered and very hungry

don't use the name. don't star out the name. don't use the imagery. don't talk about it. nobody can stop you thinking about it, but don't even ask questions about it.

you can sometimes find anishinaabek talking about it or drawing or painting it online. we're not supposed to, traditionally, but there's always someone willing to Go There if it'll upset someone else. we're people.

you can find out a lot if you are critical in how you search, to see who says what, under what circumstances. you can paint a complete mental picture of the nature of it and why we don't talk about it if you strictly avoid settler campfire and cryptid stories.

also i have seen various art created of it, by us, and it is always always reflective of the colonial trauma inflicted on the artist, as they experience it, externalised

to call it a cryptid is a cultural misunderstanding by people fundamentally unwilling to understand it

i'm sitting here trying to figure out a way to talk about not talking about something i am unwilling to and should not describe, like someone attempting to create a shape in the air around an object

there are some things ignorance IS preferable to.

"well why do you all know about it then" because there are modes of thought that need to be ingrained in you, an understanding of your place in the world, social reflexes that need to be understood and internalised, before you can properly understand the horror of their absence.

so pretty please, with a cherry on top, stop using that goddamned word

yes, this IS a sub tweet thread related to a popular settler making a thread about an "Antler Guy" and not deleting it.

if that seemed fun or clever to you it's because you were raised to think of natives as your mascots, and our existence is a theme park for you to play in.

it isn't ill-wishing to tell you there is no amount of stolen sage that can fix that shit, and salt, iron, and hazel will not help you

the curse is coming from inside you and the only safeguard is a set of cultural values you self-evidently do not possess and have no interest in

i am Big Mad about this, cos authors are supposed to check their damn sources, and the only reason for a settler thinking they're an idle expert on this is white supremacy and colonial entitlement.

"ok but you're basically leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for settlers to learn about it by reading anishinaabek accounts" yes, and by urging you to do it with your mouth shut i'm hoping you will absorb just enough ojibwe worldview to understand that we are real and this matters.

this isn't superstition, this is foundational cultural ethics that play out in real and existential ways. there are solid, material reasons for why we treat it like this.

for folks who don't understand how Indigenous ways of knowing are modern: from a sociological perspective, the naming taboo functions as an intensifier on the inhumanity of the act. there is no opportunity to become comfortable with the ideas, so it functions as prophylaxis.

this is not a greater or lesser understanding of community health than talking about spiritual contagion. we still do not have all the answers, but after tens of thousands of years of living here with each other, we have practical solutions for community safety.

it frankly isn't your fuckin business whether we see it as a spirit or a decision, individually or collectively, particularly when you treat it with contempt while letting it run unchecked

"well EYE don't believe in—" ok. i don't care.

"but SUPERSTITION" big talk from someone afraid to look in the mirror after you close your medicine cabinet in case someone appears behind you, clownshoes