George Wallace said:
Not comparable to the meme prior or the meme itself? Please explain citing historical examples.
I take it that prior to the "White Man" coming to the Americas: there was no crime, murder and rape; no smoking of tobacco; no use of hallucinogens; etc. ? These were all imported by the "White Man"? That is absurd. Just as absurd as the "White Man" suing all the Ingenuous Peoples for the health problems caused by that demon "tobacco".
You're quite right. Mine was meant as a juxtaposition to your cartoon that insinuates that just because slavery, short life spans, and human sacrifices were a feature strictly of pre-columbus North America. Even though you offset this by stating, "same context as those who talk about the crusades" which I take to mean that people often look into the past and see a reality that simply didn't exist (like the longing of folks for the confederacy and tenacity to maintain the symbols of a long defeated movement).
Prior to Columbus coming to America there was indeed low life expectancy, crime, murder, rape, war, and slavery in the America's, these are all well defined. I suggest that the arrival of the Europeans changed the way in which Native American history progressed from pre-columbus to post-columbus and the result is that one cannot simply state that what was once A would be still true since it was true then. Academic studies, notably the book "Gun, Germs, and Steel" lay out well how the lack of domesticated livestock and crop types in the Americas and Africa help to explain why the Europeans and Asians were likely more advanced than african and native American societies- the latter two needed to keep a hunter/gatherer lifestyle to survive (though the Iroquois and some other tribes had started to grow domestic crops they were the minority). Interestingly, since we're discussing history, first hand accounts such as Allan Greer's "The Jesuit Relations: Natives and Missionaries in 17th Century North America" and "The Voyages of Jacques Cartier" often portray the natives of being far superior physically to their European counterparts. In Greers text, missionaries are often said to be being carried by the natives due to their poor diets and lack of physical strength. Both show the natives had a certain disdain for their European counterparts due to their lack of strength, poor hygiene, and overall poor living habits.
So, if the historical evidence shows that pre-contact natives were physically stronger (as a clear generalization) than Europeans and were starting to develop subsistence agriculture one could just as easily summise that had Europeans not arrived native society would have progressed at the same rate as Europe as one can summise that the natives were clearly savages who needed saving.
So, in sum, as with most memes, the one provided is overly simplistic and doesn't portray an argument that can be substantiated.