Ignorance as Addiction
How to admit that Eurocentrism is detrimental to our society
Comparison between Leanne Simpson’s two poems, “ishpadinaa” and “Road Salt” allows one to see two different forms of addiction which target two separate groups that live in North America: Indigenous population and non-Indigenous population — more specifically, White settlers. In “Road Salt”, the symptoms of addiction are quite obvious, as it draws upon a scene where a deer is addicted to the taste of road salt on the highway. The deer’s uncontrollable gravitation towards the harmful salt represents numerous societal problems within Indigenous communities, which the settler-nation state government is mainly responsible for. On the other hand, in “ishpadinaa”, the settlers’ dependence on consumerist goods to maintain their social class and superiority within their capitalist community is another type of addiction. The main contrast between the deer (represents the Indigenous peoples) and the settlers, however, is that while the deer is painfully aware of the dangers that come with the consumption of salt, the settlers are ignorant of the problems that arise from overconsumption, that is induced and marketed via capitalist ideals. Thus, this paper aims to explain how no population group, Indigenous or non-Indigenous, is immune to these different forms of addiction that result from extractivism, capitalism, and our impulse for excessive consumption, which are linked together to uphold our post-colonial universe.
Simpson focuses on the deer’s awareness of its perilous situation, where it is entrapped in a neverending consumption of road salt: “Licking the road is its own humiliation / Just like hostages first trap themselves.” The deer’s self-awareness that blurs the distinction between human and animal serves to personify the deer. Therefore, the deer can be seen as a representation of Indigenous people who suffer from drug and alcohol problems in reserves. The question that arises here is: who is responsible for such addiction to run amok in Indigenous societies? In Jo-Ann Episkenew’s essay, “Myth, Policy, and Health,” such “addiction [used] as a form of self-medicating to temporarily ease the despair of personal and political powerlessness… is a result of living with colonial policies and historical trauma” (208). The deer’s consciousness of its ‘own humiliation’ and sense of ‘powerlessness’ to its detrimental condition depicts how Indigenous communities in North America are acutely aware of the problems they face from “intergenerational post-traumatic stress disorder, which is the direct result of multiple generations of colonial policies” (Episkenew 209). Thus, a parallel can be drawn between the deer and Indigenous people, since both parties suffer from consuming addicting substances (road salt, alcohol, drugs), which are products of capitalism — an ideology that fuels settler-nation state’s control over its environment.
Road salt on highways benefits capitalist society, as it helps to speed up the traffic of trucks and automobiles that carry consumerist materials, even during a snowy winter. Alcohol and drug addiction on reserves ultimately work on behalf of the very government which runs this capitalist nation, as they serve to justify the “master narrative… myth of the new Canadian nation-state, which valorizes the settlers but which sometimes misrepresents and more often excludes Indigenous peoples” (Episkenew 202). This ‘master narrative,’ which can be defined as Eurocentrism, blames the problems that arise in Indigenous reserves solely on the Indigenous community, while completely disregarding the injurious effects of colonialism and racism that propel Indigenous people to depend on instant, physical pleasures to forget the pain of reality. Moreover, such an over-simplification of Indigenous identity as a drug/alcohol addict under the Eurocentric gaze is extremely dangerous, since it “rationalizes the settlers’ seizure and occupation of Indigenous lands” (Episkenew 205).
Dependence on chemicals triggers a loss of agency and continues the loop of self-destruction, but “Road Salt” also indicates hope among such dire circumstances. The deer’s self-awareness of its own addiction is a hopeful implication since building awareness of a problem is the first step in solving this problem. Furthermore, the deer is with Aandeg, the crow, so it is not alone when facing its addiction. For Indigenous communities, their fight against trauma, inflicted by colonialism, is a communal struggle. Community members watch over each other, similar to how “Aandeg can love without trust… [while it] sits and surveys” (Simpson). Overcoming addiction together as a community may seem like an ideal solution to a complex situation. However, such idealism can also be perceived in relation to a core value within Indigenous communities, where bond and kinship are crucial in practising “[i]nclusiveness [which is] a Cree value… [where] [l]ocating oneself honours the personal among the collective” (Kovach 98). Aandeg watches over the deer out of love, without expecting any compensation, and its inability to ‘lie’ further proves how legitimate and honest this bond is between the deer and Aandeg. “Dawn gets eaten by morning, one lick turns into three / Aandeg sits and surveys, I know she can’t lie to me” (Simpson). Aandeg provides a sense of security for the deer every day, as ‘dawn gets eaten by morning,’ while the chorus repeats itself, which proves Aandeg’s consistent and tenacious loyalty to the deer. Despite being a victim of addiction, the deer is not isolated or excluded, and there is intimacy and comfort in knowing that the deer has Aandeg as a constant companion.
The deer is also aware that this addiction is not merely an individual affair but a much larger, societal issue. Using the deer’s voice, Simpson poignantly narrates that self-harm from the road salt “is how to die in a war, they insist doesn’t exist.” This ‘war’ depicts the post-colonial feud that is still ongoing between the Indigenous people and the government. On the other hand, Simpson’s “Road Salt” can also be understood as a critique of the environmental damage road salts inflict on our ecosystem, since it depicts the inner turmoil of an animal that is addicted to this toxic chemical. When reading “Road Salt” as an environmental critique against Eurocentric ideals of capitalism and extractivism, Simpson’s use of the word, ‘war’ heightens the stakes. Overconsumption of poisonous road salts will likely result in the deer’s death, and a similar fate may be in store for humankind, due to the over-extraction of natural resources that is taking place to meet the demands of consumerism. As a result, Simpson’s “Road Salt” is not only a critique against the government’s ignorance of the harm they inflict on Indigenous communities but it can also be read as a warning, in which the government’s method of running the country may face disastrous environmental consequences — if continued with the consumerist greed that fundamentally fuel the capitalist system of our Eurocentric nation.
Ignorance stems from the absence of curiosity and care for what lies beyond our awareness. With references to Simpson’s “ishpadinaa,” I will further argue how such ignorance, which occurs in settler communities, is another form of addiction and entrapment. The settlers problematize the speaker’s decision to not call 911, and the poem indicates how they eventually call for an emergency: “the loving family is locked in a telephone booth of rising anxiety” (Simpson 10). The speaker’s refusal to call 911 is triggered by a ‘personal motivation,’ since in “Indigenous methodologies… [they ask] for greater commentary on personal motivation” (Kovach 100). By establishing kinship with grandma, the speaker spiritually communicates with grandma’s soul to understand what the deceased truly desires: “do not touch me. do not call 911. and get that fucking look off your face” (Simpson 9). Nonetheless, the settlers’ decision to call 911 is triggered by societal motivation. Their Eurocentric assumption of the situation as a case of emergency is a reaction taught and normalized by the settler-nation state. The physical separation between the speaker and grandma “lying on a picnic bench” from the settler family ‘locked in a telephone booth’ implies severance of communication between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people (Simpson 9). Simpson’s word choice, ‘locked in a telephone booth,’ also refers to the entrapment of ignorance that enforces the mainstream belief of Eurocentrism, which dictates settler narratives. While the speaker understands why the settlers “keep stopping and asking if we want help,” as she discerns the settlers’ motivation of “trying to be nice because the scene doesn’t make sense,” settlers lack this flexibility of perceiving a situation from a different perspective since their way of understanding is ‘locked’ within the realms of Eurocentrism (Simpson 9). As the perpetrators of Canadian society’s dominant narrative, settlers, who uphold Eurocentric ideals, never feel the need to decipher a situation from the minority group’s point of view.
According to Episkenew, such a societal effect where the majority lacks the willingness to learn the values of minority groups, as reflected in “ishpadinaa,” is a result of a “Canadian myth [that] does not acknowledge that the nation was founded on a practice of psychological terrorism and theft” (205). Canada’s liberal self-image is hypocritical towards Indigenous people because it alleviates the guilt that settlers experience when faced with evidence that their prosperity is built on the suffering of others (Episkenew 205–206). When the settlers come face to face with the speaker paying her respect to grandma, they only find oddity with the speaker’s behaviour and judge the corpse to be a mere misplacement in a public park. The settlers lack the ability to question the motivation behind their reaction towards the speaker and grandma. Such a reaction indicates that the ‘Canadian myth’ is not a myth but a fact.
The main power dynamic that creates tension in “ishpadinaa” is defined by its juxtaposition between nature and artificial consumerist goods. Human civilization tends to be a work of imagination, a creation of fictional realities. For example, Canada is a settler-nation state artificially named and created by European settlers. This settler-nation state of Canada blankets over the natural environment that originally inhabited the continent. This act of artificial blanketing over the natural is staged in “ishpadinaa.” Settlers, who believe they lead a normal lifestyle “with jobs and espresso and buggies,” are supporters of the capitalist system that upholds the settler-nation state, since they live according to the consumerist desires generated by the capitalist marketing system (Simpson 9). Like the European-created settler-nation state of Canada, ‘jobs and espresso and buggies’ are also artificial creations that entice consumers to sustain their capitalist social structure. However, conflict strikes when these consumers/settlers prioritize the artificial over the natural. The settlers are only aware of the setting as “dufferin grove park,” instead of expanding their awareness of the place as ‘ishpadinaa,’ simply as a high hill where life and death are but a natural occurrence (Simpson 9). Grandma’s death and the respect that must be given over her dead body are devalued beneath the settlers’ convenience to enjoy a peaceful environment where negative implications in life, such as death, have no place. There is no actual damage being done to the settlers who share the same vicinity as the speaker and grandma, other than the fact that grandma’s dead body may create a certain visual discomfort for the settlers who are used to seeing a scene with only “hotdogs and cake and balloons” (Simpson 10). Since the settlers are so blinded by the motive to alleviate themselves from this slight discomfort by removing grandma’s body with 911, they forget that this park is not a space in which they own.
The settlers cannot relate what is physically happening right in front of them, to the sinister historical impact of colonialism on this scene. Simpson’s poetic line, “fetal skeleton underneath ironed polyester dress pants” serves as imagery that condenses the problematic reality of the settler-nation state (Simpson 10). Grandma’s ‘fetal skeleton underneath [her] ironed polyester dress pants’ is itself a symbol of guilt and confusion that erupt when the skeletons are revealed from its closet. The skeleton signifies the tragic years of colonialist history exposed, infiltrating and interrupting the settlers’ attempts to forget and brush over their past and the cultural genocide that took place. Since the settlers are living in a capitalist utopia filled with consumerist materials that seem to guarantee normalcy and evoke blind optimism, they fail to see the victims (‘fetal skeleton’) that suffer ‘underneath’ this seemingly peaceful and uniform society, who are depicted in the imagery: ‘ironed polyester dress pants.’ The colonial policies that are issued to benefit the settler-nation state preserve and defend this fake utopia. Capitalist goods ultimately serve as addicting drugs that induce ignorance on the settlers. Such ignorance cannot fix “the consequences of the myth of progress, especially the social and environmental consequences… [and] the very ideas that formed the foundation of the myth of White superiority [which ] now threaten the survival of humanity” (Episkenew 205). Blind optimism fueled by European capitalism and their overindulgence of material goods only serve as addicting distractions to immediately relieve the settlers from the guilty realization — that their actions are causing ‘social and environmental damages which ‘threaten the survival of humanity.’
Ignorance is addicting because settlers repeatedly and compulsively refuse to admit their ignorance, in order to justify the dominant narrative. When the dominant narrative (Eurocentrism, capitalism, and colonialism) is ignorant to its flaws and to those who suffer from the damages done by its shortcomings, ignorance being the norm creates serious, insidious consequences. Indigenous societies represented in “Road Salt,” resort to drugs and alcohol to ignore the harsh realities forced upon them by the injustice of the settler-colonial state. On the other hand, the settler population that reap the benefits of this settler-colonial state, shown in “ishpadinaa,” distract themselves with the physical pleasures offered from the consumption of material goods, as a method of forgetting the tragedies they still inflict on Indigenous groups. As painful as it is, both groups, Indigenous people and settlers, especially the settlers, must overcome their guilt and fear by facing their problems instead of ignoring them.