Could You Burn 2 Million Bucks?

Cultural Appropriation Downunder

Jaahda Jinnah
An author called Marlo Morgan wrote a book that has reputedly earned for her over 8 million dollars, called "Mutant Message Downunder". I also believe that the author may still be now on a lucrative lecturing circuit.
The author claims to have come to Australia and, whilst on holiday she fortuitously and fatefully stumbled upon a tribe of Indigenous Australians who had managed to keep themselves completely hidden from all western influences, who called themselves "The Real People". The author claims to have been privileged enough to get an invitation to go walkabout with them so they could teach her 'the true and secret ways' so that she could impart this secret knowledge - in order to save the Earth.

Well - to any student of Anthropology or to an Australian Indigenous person it is almost immediately apparent that her claims and accounts of this supposed tribe and their culture is entirely based within her limited imagination and is outright fiction which she tries to parade as fact. And indeed her book wallops a great insult to all Indigenous Australians. Her book is a simplistic imagining of the plight and needs of Indigenous culture.
Her book was a best-seller. A group of my friends, influential Aboriginals, formed a delegation that visited every tribe in central and remote Australia in order to ensure that completely no-one had encountered Marlo before they attempted to publicly discredit her and seek an apology.

They went over to America, where most of her readers were. One public radio station set up an interview with her where this Aboriginal Delegation confronted her to ask for an apology. - which she steadfastly refused to give.
'Tis a long and involved story - and I'm cutting it very short. Anyways - I have a bit of a reputation as being good at internet research and I managed to track her down and I got hold of her home address and phone number.

I informed Robert Eggington Association (a well known activist on cultural appropriation issues and cultural rights who headed this delegation) that I had tracked her down and was prepared to write, email or phone her to ask that she return at least 2 million dollars or more back to Australia to help alleviate the plight of Aboriginal Australians. Robert heads up an organization called Dumbartung whose prime focus is in protecting Aboriginal intellectual and cultural property.

I asked him what he thought should happen with this money if I managed to secure it.
"Blood money", he said, "we'll have a great big bonfire and burn it on Sacred ground".
Marlo - we're waiting!!

Could you burn 2 million dollars? And whose 2 million would that be?

Published by Jaahda Jinnah

Jaahda Jinnah is a wise old crone who knows much about all sorts of things. Try me !  View profile

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  • ElephantHeart Nine10/19/2008

    Reminds me of Carlos Casteneda's books on the Yaqui Indians of the Sonora dessert. Great reads, though fiction, they may be. But, alas, that whole house of cards came tumbling down.

  • Dave5/6/2008

    Your articles are very interesting! I will keep stopping by! That author is probably like Margaret Mead, selling fiction to the world, disguised as research!

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