Photograph from 1892 of a pile of American bison skulls in Detroit - eviltoast
  • PugJesus@lemmy.worldM
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    3 months ago

    For those unaware, massive herds of buffalo in the US were slaughtered in an attempt to keep Native Americans, many of whom were dependent on hunting the herds as they migrated, in one place where they could be watched and controlled. A very ugly piece of our history.

  • egrets@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Imagine being proud of wholesale slaughter, so much so that you pose with the mountain of skulls.

  • frezik@midwest.social
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    3 months ago

    The term “historyporn” implies I would take some kind of enjoyment from the photo. Not this one.

    • thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      yeah, the intentional extirpation of a species is pretty heinous, but i mean… look at what the Dutch were doing that century. or what was happening at plantations and mines around the world. hell, compared to what’s happening at mines and plantations and factories around the world today.

      makes you realize it’s not really worth comparing evils beyond a certain point. it’ll only serve to make you feel bad and maybe hurt someone’s feelings for no reason.

      • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        This mountain of skulls is a sign of a horrible crime, committed to facilitate an even more horrible crime.

        And yet it wasn’t even in the top 10 of worst things humans did that century

  • jenny_ball@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    this image always terrifies me. humans are fully capable and willing to do this kind of thing, particularly before the age of modern photography and video.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I will say that there were indigenous American tribes that weren’t much better in terms of how they treated bison. Some hunted them pretty sustainably, but the Blackfoot believed that if you didn’t kill the whole herd, the rest of them would learn to be wary of humans. So they drove the whole herd off a cliff. They only harvested a small portion of that herd when they were done, which is why there are just massive piles of bones at the bases of those cliffs.

  • 3ntranced@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    History aside, dude on the bottom is one loose jaw bone away from being buried alive in Buffalo skulls

  • Akasazh@feddit.nl
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    3 months ago

    Again a reason why the name of this community is a bit weird.

    Yes it’s an impressive photo with historical significance.

    However calling it ‘porn’ is a fucking misnomer.

    • PugJesus@lemmy.worldM
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      3 months ago

      I wish I could change the community name. I took over when it was abandoned, and this took the name from the Reddit sub.

    • sag@lemm.eeOP
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      3 months ago

      Agree, But there is not any active History Images community.

      • Akasazh@feddit.nl
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        3 months ago

        Yeah it was no criticism to the post, I have the same thing this with Holocaust related images too.

        Not sure how it should be called,‘historically significant images’ doesn’t have that ring.

        However I want to keep the discussion going about it.