I'm sure it would help. Like @ChaosEngine says above about French and Italian, knowing one helps with the other.

I know a native Spanish speaker who has no trouble understanding Portuguese without really studying it (as far as I know)... but it's one step too far for me.

Very interesting (to probably nobody except me): this video sounds like it's narrated by a native, but I think it's not. He pronounces Marin County like "MAIR-in", but everyone I've ever met in and around the SF Bay Area says "mah-RIN". Like my mom who was born there. Also: "berk-eh-ley"? It's pronounced "berk-ley"!

/rant

I've always thought your userpic looks like a Husky!

I'm a native born PNWerner and love me some Grohl!

Your video, Native American Bummer | Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

The original title was "Indian Bummer". Changing it to "Native American Bummer" makes no sense as it kinda ruins the joke.

@Drachen_Jager

I think the point that eric was trying to make is this:

There is something intrinsically wrong in having religion be the thing that is commented on AT ALL when it comes to Arabic people.

I did it myself in my description of the vid -- masked by the generic word "culture."

We don't do that native Americans -- sort out where they fall on a religious spectrum. We don't do that to generic white people. But when it comes to Arabs, the first thing we do is sort out in our minds -- moderate? fundamentalist? do we even consider they could be atheist?

It is a fact that this young woman is NOT a fundamentalist of ANY religion, nor is her encouraging father.

What is sad is that we sort by religion first. And I did it myself.

I think @eric3579 is correct -- we need to push back against instantly falling into any stereotypical thinking, and let people be people just in themselves.

We're human, though. We are going to fall into stereotypes. The trick is to not stay there.

Further to the complexity of the problem in Canada is this shooting on a native reserve just an hours drive from me. I don't know if it's kosher to link to another sift vid I just uploaded, but I don't wanna bloat this post either. Short version is that a man on reserve shot two people. His uncle was a former chief on the reserve, and after the shooting his uncle and other leaders held the linked press conference.

In the press conference, they make no mention of the victims until the very end and spend the majority of the time describing how the government needs to send them more money to solve the root causes of the problem. A few years ago Harper was lambasted for demanding that reserves post very basic summaries of how they spend government money or risk having it cut. Dakota Tipi was one of the hold outs and still hasn't posted.

http://videosift.com/video/Shooting-on-Canadian-Reserve-Press-conference-by-leaders

I'm from Manitoba myself and the juxtaposition of the video showing great restraint by the officer with this quote from the article is my main reason for posting:
Leah Gazan, an Indigenous activist and University of Winnipeg professor, said the officer could've used less forceful tactics to restrain Kokopenace

I don't want to downplay the obstacles faced in the US by African Americans, but I feel really strongly that race relations in Canada between Aboriginals and the country is in a MUCH worse place.

In Canada the past and history between aboriginals and Canada still has been ignored more often than it has been met head on. For both good and ill reasons over our history, we've had a two tiered system of laws that treat separately with you based on whether you are native or not. Originally this was oppressive of native communities, but now it's often the other way around:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/judges-must-weigh-cultural-factors-in-native-sentencing-court-rules/article535585/

The greater problem to try and solve is Canada's native reserve system. Native people living on reserves are more often than not growing up in 3rd world conditions. The worst part is, proposing changes to that system is itself 'racist' against aboriginals. Our reserve system is systematically destroying generations of people based upon their race, and nobody seems to be able to fix the thing .

you have people living in artificial environments that use tons of power because they want to, because they like it, not because they REQUIRE it. native americans lived in southwest USA for a thousand years just fine without the need of AC or diverting rivers.

go read up on the absurd agricultural subsidies tied to the colorado river- that isnt a problem created because farmers need to produce food to feed the world, its a problem created because politicians want money making businesses to tax, and because people are willing to spend money to eat what they like instead of what there is, a lot of money is made.

same with trawling- nothing to do with feeding all those people, everything to do with money. trawling has been going on for over a hundred years, well before the world population was even a 3rd of what it is currently- fishermen trawl because they want to be efficient because that makes them more money, not because they are concerned about how they are going to feed undernourished people.

the problem isnt getting people to eat insects. the problem is getting the developed world to stop eating so much, especially so much meat. there is an obesity epidemic around the world, over 3000 tons of food are discarded every day, and you want to tell me the problem is not enough food?

and lets not be disingenuous about nuclear waste, nuclear technology was invented as a weapon, not an energy source. you're telling me that if tomorrow a terrible plague wiped out 90% of the earths population, that nuclear armed states would give up their nuclear weapons? bs.

the video is on point. the environmental crisis is caused by greed, not because there are too many people on the planet. and if you feel so strongly that there are too many people on the planet, I assume you are relieved when your family members die? Unless you are willing to volunteer yourself and your family to die for the greater good, overpopulation is a facile bogey man to mask what you really want to say- lets get rid of all those "other" people so *I* dont have to change my own lifestyle.

Yeah, I only did a bit of research and I don't know how trustworthy the sites are, but that is exactly what people are afraid of; that any you buy are most likely a non-native species, since there are more than 5000 species of the things.

http://www.crueltyfreeproductreviews.com/?p=102

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1989089/sources-for-dragonflies

Nice. I might have to stock my new pond with them to keep mosquitos from developing into a problem. I have mosquito fish and gold fish in there already, but more=better.
Why do you think it's not good to release them? We have dragonflies here, but are you thinking an invasive sub-species might harm the natives?

No. There are MANY ways to stop it. Eating only non-factory farmed, humanely euthanized meats, for instance, makes one non-complicit in the (admittedly terrible) factory farming techniques.
Not all farms are factory farms, and not all use those techniques.
Wrong. Those things you list are valuable things. Slaves, valuable. Food, valuable.
There are humane ways to treat animals. Animals don't all have the need for 'freedom' that human beings do....some do, but those animals were not domesticated.
nutritionfacts.org is a propaganda site created by a vocal vegan who's been ostracized from the scientific community for massive exaggeration and cherry picking data to make his claims. It's not scientific, it has no affiliations with other science organizations, it misuses scientific data to make a pre-conceived point.
Nice, so at least you admit that humans are more healthy (full-body strong) if they eat meat. Thanks 300lbvegan!

EDIT: The best way to get fewer people to eat meat...STOP MAKING SO MANY MORE DAMN PEOPLE! If there was a reasonable population of humans, there would have never have been the 'need' for factory farms or other animal/ecology abuse. My progeny will NEVER eat a smidgen of meat, 100% certain, can you say the same?
Do you realize that, in order to farm enough food for all humans to be vegetarian, you have to create far more farmable land, which in turn removes habitat and kills millions of native animals in ways more painful than execution, right? yes, meat production does too, but the point is that you also kill animals to get your vegis, but you just let those dead animals go to waste.

You can call me an ass all you want, just don't take yourself too important. Your "punches" don't touch me the slightest. With "sad" I didn't mean myself but the fact that so many people are absolutely ignorant to the downsides of modern media.
I never wanted to say that I think there might be any physical dangers for the child coming from the screen, my thoughts were more in the direction LiquidAvatar mentioned.
And please excuse me if I apparently failed to explain what I meant without ambiguity, English isn't my native language.
I just wrote what I think about it and I'm well aware that my view on this matter won't find a majority. That doesn't make me automatically wrong though.
I'm very sorry I apparently upset some of you guys, but hey, that's the internet, right?

Almost all native Australian animals too.