Myths as Historical Sources

1. Summarize this legend in 2 - 3 sentences.

A legendary trickster hero of the Kiowas, Saynday, walks through the once beautiful land to see it totally taken over by the Europeans. He then sees a man riding from the east, and discovers the man is Smallpox, the disease that ravaged Native Americans upon the arrival of the European settlers. Smallpox proceeds to lightly threaten Saynday and his people with death, but Saynday convinces him to attack the Pawnees as there are more of them, then lights a fire around the Kiowa camp to protect his people.  

2. What changes does Saynday notice when he looks at the landscape?

Saynday notices that instead of buffalo on hillsides grazing there are cattle. He sees the once amazingly clear Washita River covered in red mud. He sees a lack of wildlife in the plains as well. Fields of flowers are gone and in their place there lie settlers’ soddies. Essentially he is noticing all of the changes that have occurred since the white man came to his country. He is looking at them with sadness, as demonstrated when he says, “the world I live in is dead.”

3. What is the relationship between Smallpox and white men?

Smallpox claims to be as close to the white men as Saynday is the Kiowa.  This means he is an intrinsic part of the white man and what he brings. Whether he “lurks behind” or “travels ahead”, along with all the changes to the landscape, the white men always bring this death called Smallpox. Essentially to the Kiowa, the white men and Smallpox are the same, and Smallpox and death are the same, therefore the white men bring death.

4. According to this legend, in what ways do the Kiowas see themselves as different from white people?

The white men count everything. They count their cattle, sheep, chickens, children, living, and dead. To the Kiowas this is the same as treating women, children, and men the same as their dead enemies or their livestock. According to Saynday, the Kiowas only count the “enemies they touch.” The Kiowas also left the landscape exactly the same, while the white man altered it for profit. This counting and disregard of nature represent a core difference in their culture. The Kiowas treat living things the same, respecting that they have a life to live. The white men keep count in order to maximize profit from cattle, people they can fit in one area, etc. Generally, this represents the Kiowas being much less wasteful.

5. What do you think was the relationship between the Kiowas and the Pawnees?

The relationship between the Kiowas and the Pawnees was not good. The reason the Kiowas were so poor and there were so few of them was due to the Pawnees. They had warred and the Pawnees had won, gaining wealth, riches, and land. The Kiowas and Pawnees were rivals.

Origins and Evolution of Terrorism

1. Why was the hostage crisis at the Munich Olympics a turning point in terrorism? 

The hostage crisis at the 1972 Olympics in Munich was a turning point in terrorism because it taught terrorists around the world a lesson in getting people’s attention. From this point on, terrorists did not necessarily attack targets that were leaders of the movements they were opposing, but they chose the targets that would get the most attention in the media. This was the motivation for the attacking of the World Trade Center, for example. The World Trade Center was a symbol of American power, and seeing it fall shook Americans to their core.

2. The reading says that state-sponsored terrorism increased after the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran. What did many governments learn from that event?

            State-sponsored terrorism increased after the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran because many governments realized that funding terrorist groups made it easier for a weaker state to attack a larger state. The terrorists benefitted as well. They receive funding, weapons, training, and were easily able to transport weapons between countries. Governments used terrorist groups to advance their political and ideological goals without the state being directly at fault, and terrorists used governments to facilitate the advancing of whatever cause for which they were acting.

3. The past fifteen years have seen a sharp rise in religious terrorism. What motivates these terrorists? 

Some religious terrorists are motivated by the notion that the world is going wrong, and that the only way to fix it is to impress their religion upon the rest of the world. Other religious terrorists believe other methods of social change are bound to fail, whereas terrorism is more immediate and more effective. Religious terrorists such as Osama bin Laden are motivated by the idea that the force they’re fighting against represents evil and Satan, while their movement is supported by the power of good and God. The motivation for the target of a religious terrorist is based upon what they think truly symbolizes the evil of their opposing force.

4. How have these new terrorists changed the way terrorism is carried out? 

As these new terrorist emerged, it seemed they have rejected the notion that all they want to do is get a lot of people watching. These new terrorists want to get millions watching AND kill many people as they’re doing it. They have begun turning to nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons as a means of killing more people. This makes them a much higher priority to law enforcement officials the world over.