Deductive Reasoning - Article Review Essay Example

The quest for full recognition of fundamental human rights relating culture for Native Americans remains an emotive issue even today. One such manifestation is seen in the work of Michele Rene Weston. In her article, "Ampo Camp and the American Indian Movement: Native Resistance in the U.S. Pacific Northwest," the author details the toils of Native Americans in seeking justice for the apparent disrespect of the culture of Indian tribes by the federal government. Throughout the article, Weston employs the deductive literary device to propagate the idea that native tribes must bear arms not because it helps them fight for their economic rights as indigenous communities but also a manifestation of the cultural norms.

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Right from the onset, Weston clarifies to the audience the reason for the political struggle among Native Americans as epitomized by the activities of the American Indian Movement (AIM). To the Native Americans, the federal government has continued to perpetuate the oppression these indigenous communities have endured since European settlement began in North America more than five hundred years ago. When people are oppressed in the form of limitation of their fundamental rights, they have all the liberty to initiate a struggle (peaceful or otherwise) against the oppressor to reclaim their dignity a people (Weston 253). These revelations are critical to the understanding of the primary message of the article as it creates an inductive process of reasoning. First, it begins with the premise that when a government oppresses its people through economic exploitation, then such people have the right to resist the oppression. It then follows that the US government has been oppressing Indian tribes by denying them their economic rights. Therefore, Native American groups have the right to bear arms and resist against the oppression. Since most rational people in society disapprove of any form of oppression, such structure of ideas helps the author to create a logical appeal to the audience on the need for Native Americans' political cause to be supported by those who value human dignity.

Disrespect of the cultural practices of Indians another idea upon which the author builds her deductive reasoning. The right to cultural identity and cultural preservation is a constitutional right guaranteed to all Americans. Indian tribes are Americans. They, therefore, are guaranteed the right to cultural identity and cultural protection. Notably, carrying of arms is the way of life of the indigenous communities practiced since generations of yore. Weston observes that "We have always been armed".........." we owned guns before Columbus arrived"(253, 260). Given that gun ownership is a cultural practice, any attempt by the federal government to limit arms ownership among the Indians a violation of the constitutional rights of Indian tribes. Consequently, the author asserts that staying armed does not need any federal approval whatsoever as it is meant to sustain Indian culture and doing so amidst the extensive surveillance of federal agencies is a clear a manifestation of cultural determination and defense of cultural identity. Provision of the above facts and observations builds a convincing argument on the need for the protection of the cultural rights of the native communities.

Logical Fallacies

Hasty Generalization

The author posts that all other Americans have engaged in the exploitation and violation of the rights of native communities. Weston asserts, that "Our 'resources', women, and children just get stolen faster and easier by settlers, governments, and later corporations"(260). This view blames all peoples apart from Native Americans as participants of the oppression the Indian tribes are experiencing. That is, this assertion puts a blanket condemnation on all Americans, for participation in the violation of the rights of the Indian tribes. This is not true because African Americans have also endured similar exploitative experiences for centuries by a similar system. Even a significant part of Americans of European descent may not necessarily be in support of the violations done on Indian tribes. To a non-native audience, such description may fail to convince them regarding the need for increased advocacy for the rights of Native Americans. However, such generalization does not erase the fact that rights of Indians continue to be violated as evidence abounds on pollution of traditionally Indian land, cases of violence on Indians, and limitation of Indian cultural practices.

Begging the Question

Exploitation of Native American women has increased significantly due to the rise in settlement of non-natives on native land (Weston 260). Weston's claim that the sexual issues affecting Native America women as are as a result of settlements of corporations and non-native peoples is fallacious. Some may view the author's post that the exploitation of natural resources belonging to the Indian tribes as a source of crimes such as rape and trafficking to be contestable. Stating that the presence of oil investments has destroyed the moral fabric of women fails to acknowledge that these women often make decisions individually and, therefore, the blame for the cases of sexual exploitation should be attributed to the oil and mineral extraction companies. It begs the question whether that the settlement is the only source of sexual exploitation to Native American women.

As a conclusion, if Weston intended to advocate for the respect of the rights of Indian tribes and their sovereignty by the federal government, she succeeds in doing so based on the argument presented in the article. Although there are instances where the author generalizes the actions and behaviors of people and also tends to blame sexual exploitation only on the settlement, the message in the article is not diluted by such exaggeration. Thus, she convincingly highlights issues of cultural and economic violations which can cause the impact on an objective audience on the need for more efforts to bring redress to the Indian tribes after centuries of oppression perpetuated by the federal government and formerly by colonial governments of England and Spain.