Teddy Roosevelt: Feeling feverish. Probably just the heat. (May 2, 1909 at 1:37 p.m.)
Teddy Roosevelt: Laying down for just a moment to regain my strength. (May 2, 1909 at 6:12 p.m.)
Teddy Roosevelt: Vomited. (May 2, 1909 at 6:15 p.m.)
[also, click on the image below to see the film of Roosevelt on safari]
Grace Ro _1,999 down 1,000 more to go! Lets do this!
ReplyDeleteReal American men, while hunting, should get the hands dirty and feet wet too, right?
ReplyDeleteReal American men also don't cross streams without help.
ReplyDeleteReal men get dirty, but getting wet, now thats a different story!
ReplyDeleteLet's have a moment of silence for the brave hunters and the animals they killed, who sacrificed their lives for this safari.
ReplyDeleteTeddy Roosevelt: Who's weak now?? - with Kermit Roosevelt, the boys and White Rhinoceros #4 at The Congo
ReplyDeleteInitially we saw an over-confident Great Man denying his imperfect nature. Then in the film clip, the Whites of the safari treated the local porters like pack animals, even mounting the porters to cross a river. The Whites must have had no twinges of shame or guilt, since they went to the effort to document this subjugation. They considered their treatment of the porters only natural. These details of Theodore Roosevelt's 1910 safari offer insights into the natures of both Roosevelt and America.
ReplyDeleteTheodore Roosevelt's memories of his sickly childhood drove him to constantly demonstrate his masculinity and sound character. His diary entry showed he thought a weak immune system was a moral failing. Roosevelt decided he did not need the standard quinine treatment to ward off tropical malaria. He relied on his strength of will and moral fiber to avoid getting sick; when he became ill he refused to consider that his resistance to malaria was not as strong as he thought.
This reliance on both will and denialism is a fundamentally American trait: it was our collective will that conquered the continent, built the Panama Canal, eradicated epidemic diseases, won both World Wars, and put a man on the moon. Our denialism allowed us to always view ourselves as the “good guy,” even at the heights of our imperial expansion and colonialist exploitation.
Theodore Roosevelt and the rest of his contemporaries were products of their time, and their time was deeply racist. Ideas about the comparative qualities of races in terms of intelligence, vigor, and moral character were widely-held and were taught in schools.
This expedition also illustrated the American ideology--still with us today--known variously as Manifest Destiny, Social Darwinism, or American Exceptionalism: If America does not like what other people are doing with their resources, or even if America just thinks it can make “better” use of those resources, then America has the right to take what it wants. Theodore Roosevelt and his party believed they were completely justified to come into British East Africa and bag hundreds of large animals (some endangered,) exempt from the heavy restrictions placed on all other hunters, because it was done to enrich American natural history museums and educate the American public.
Theodore Roosevelt was a great man. He is not on Mount Rushmore by accident. But like the rest of Mount Rushmore's inhabitants, Theodore Roosevelt was a complex, imperfect human being, a man of contradictions and a product of his time. For me, this topic has reinforced the importance of humility. Undoubtedly, many beliefs and practices we take for granted now will seem barbaric, laughable, or hopelessly ignorant and myopic in 100 years.
Ready for another adventurous day in Africa; got my crew, my gun, a group of savages and ready to add more trophies to my wall. These glorious beasts don't know whats coming!!!
ReplyDeleteReal Men don't get carried over ponds when hunting we swim thru them..This makes me wonder if the rhino is actually dead or just posing for the photo.
ReplyDeleteTeddy Roosevelt: The accommodations at camp are better than those of camping in the North Woods, mountains, and plains. Now that I have someone to look after my tent, my possessions, my horses, and everything else, I am ready to set out on my wild safari! - with 200 porters at Kapiti Plains.
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ReplyDeletehttp://i.fra.bz/176l SOO true.
ReplyDeleteAlmanac - $30
ReplyDeleteWinchester Model 1895 lever-action rifle in .405 caliber - $350
First Aid Kit - $40
Four tons of salt for preserving animal hides - $1000
Getting piggy back rides from our native guides to cross Africa's mighty rivers and display our superiority... Priceless.
Hunted that Rhino like I was Ron Swanson.
ReplyDeleteI think that he really overdid it with trying to be macho. He lived in an era when they finally found the real reasons for these epidemics. I am sure that he wouldn't try to hunt rhinos with just a bayonet stuck on a useless musket, would he? Maybe he was afraid of needles or something because of bad memories from his childhoood?
ReplyDeleteSafari is getting pretty crazy. How many can I kill 500 #overunder #poppinshots
ReplyDeleteRoosevelt: in the name of science, mount these endangered animal heads on my wall
ReplyDeleteWOW this is all on his site too: http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trafrica.html He supposed killed or trapped 11,397 animals.
ReplyDeleteAlso, check out this postcard sent by Roosevelt to the US Senate: http://i.imgur.com/Y3fD7.png
WOW this is all on his site too: http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trafrica.html He supposed killed or trapped 11,397 animals.
ReplyDeleteAlso, check out this postcard sent by Roosevelt to the US Senate: http://i.imgur.com/Y3fD7.png