Another Soul Lost and The World Teeters Closer to the "Homegenic" Abyss

CD in Play: The Arcade Fire, Funeral

No, this is not about Heath Ledger. In fact, this isn’t so much about the passing of a specific person as it is about the end of a language and an era for one of North America’s First Nations. Chief Marie Smith of Cordova, Alaska died at the age of 89 on the 21^st. She was the last, official speaker of the Eyak language and the last full-blooded Eyak person on Earth. Udach' Kuqax*a'a'ch (as Smith was known in her native language – it means “a sound that calls people from afar”) may not have entertained millions of people on screen, on even distinguished herself on the national political stage – but she is significant.

Not everyone agrees with me or appreciates the diversity of languages we have in the world, but I do. Every language lost is another step towards homogeneity on planet Earth. You may never have heard of the Eyak. You may never have call to use Maori, Xipaya, Lacandón, Tagish, Tahltan, Corsican, Manx, Sami, Breton, Magati Ke, Ainu, Laz, Jalaa, Bete or any of the other 3,000 languages in danger of becoming extinct, but I think they deserve our respect or at least our regard.

It is hard to put it into words why I feel the way I do about endangered languages and cultures, except that I have always had a thing for underdogs. As tired as I get of the politically correct cries for support of cultural diversity (mainly I hate the self-righteousness and smug self-satisfaction that is often attached to those cries) it does make me sad to learn just how much we are going loose in terms of culture, history and identity. Think of it this way, homogeneity is like a whole horde of zombies slowing creeping across the world devouring all human life in its path. Bit instead of undeath, homogeneity bring sameness, conformity.

I couldn’t prove this to you right now, but the thought occurs to me that language is the ultimate sign of a culture’s health. The weaker a language the less resistant it is to cultural assimilation. I don’t know about but I don’t want to live on Planet China, Planet Britannia or Planet USA. Think of it like this, if cultures are like coffee shops then I want more choices than Starbucks, Blenz, Seattle’s Best or Tim Horton’s. This is why the death Udach' Kuqax*a'a'ch (aka Marie Smith) is significant for the people outside of the Eyak Nation.