The US Has More Tribes Than the World Has Countries
Why Hacker News recommends it
Cited again and again in terminology debates as a convincing source that many American Indians prefer the term Indian.
What it is
CGP Grey explains why "Indian" is often preferred over "Native American" in the United States, especially near reservations, and how many tribes exist in the US. He draws on conversations with people who identify as Indian.
Recommended by 4 HN commenters across 4 different months, 2020 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec deanCommie · 2022-01 · on “How the Native American population changed since the last census”
CGP Grey made a very convincing video on the argument that at least in the US, unexpectedly enough, "Indian" is probably the most appropriate term to use for Native Americans for a multitude of reasons: [this video]
Recommends lelandbatey · 2020-07 · on “The Lost Art of Growing Blueberries with Fire”
Many of the first people of what is now known by many as the United States prefer the label of "Indian" over the label "Native Americans". A very excellent (if also very "edutainment") exploration of labels and the label of "Indian", based on conversation with people who identify as "Indians", can be viewed here: [this video]
Recommends currydove · 2022-11 · on “Indian Air Force inducts natively developed light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’”
Tl;Dr: it's tricky. and because it's not that simple. I don't know your background and maybe you're from a first nation or tribe, but there isn't a common agreement between the populations of existing tribes and nations on what is offensive or incorrect. This isn't to say that any term is acceptable, but Indians, however incorrectly labeled by a colonizing group a few hundred years ago, is literally how some choose to identify themselves here in North America. I say this as someone from India and event there, there isn't a common agreement or knowledge to arrive at an "inoffensive" term for folks who live here. Most just use the descriptor left by the British and say "Red Indians" with no ma
Recommends daveslash · 2023-11 · on “Maine's Constitution Has Unprintable Sections”
I'd be a bit reluctant to quickly judge someone's exposure to the various terminology around this topic. CGP Grey has a good video on the terminology as used in the US [0]. From the video: " Talking to people over the last [sigh] 5 years revealed a strong correlation: the closer a person had ever been to a reservation, the more likely they would be to use the word 'indian'. The farther, the more likely they would be to use the word 'Native American'. " and also "At the time of writing [this video/2019], 'Indian' is used by Indians on Indian reservations to describe themselves" [this video]
Cites DuskStar · 2020-01 · on “Demoted and Placed on Probation”
> I find it hard to believe that you actually think this is why every single indigenous person is asking for the acknowledgement. A large part of it is that in the US (which is where this professor is located), the preferred nomenclature is "American Indian" or "Native American". (According to CGP Grey [0], the closer you get to a reservation, the more likely it is that "American Indian" or just "Indian" is the preferred term) Either way, "Indigenous Peoples" seems to be more of a Canadian or Australian thing, and I've never seen it used to refer to people in the states. This would imply that the request isn't actually coming from the tribes in question. And IMO it would be unreasonable to i
Cites DuskStar · 2020-05 · on “Wikimedia enacts new standards to address harassment and promote inclusivity”
> The attitude that your comment reflects crops up a lot in relation to, for example, the Washington Redskins naming controversy. Folks who like the current name are always bringing up a couple of examples of Native Americans who say they “don’t care” about the name, and claiming that it’s really only white liberals who are offended; meanwhile, in my experience, the large majority of Natives actually do care very much, and are upset that a racial slur used for their ethnicity is being used as the name of a sports team. I found this comment rather funny, because if CGP Grey is correct [0] the preferred term by American Indians is "American Indian", NOT "Native American". So you're claiming kn
Cites Macha · 2021-01 · on “Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab”
Not always, for example, Native American on reservations use the term Indian to refer to themselves, but outside this is becoming impolite in favour of Native American (including among some but not all Native Americans)[1][2] See also the "Spastics Society", "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People", modern use of the n-word among black people, the use of "Negro" in "I have a Dream". Plenty of cases where a word in use by the group themselves becomes considered the impolite word. [1]: [this video] [2]: [LINK]
Cites judge2020 · 2021-07 · on “A YouTube chat about chess got flagged for hate speech”
Related: Referring to American Indians as 'Native Americans', which is often seen as over-inclusive by American Indians themselves since it implies you're talking about Natives to the entire North and South America. While not the worst thing, when you are specifically talking about the native tribes the United States pushed out and forcibly moved to reservations, the term 'Indian' is codified in law[0] and is what the group themselves embraced as their identity so that, as a whole, they could bargain with the United States government to obtain compensation for the tragedies endured. [this video] 0: [LINK]