Fiction or truth: 'Mutant Message Down Under'
Jens-Uwe Korff
Having read the book ‘Mutant Message Down Under’ by Marlo Morgan cover to cover, I have several points
which seem doubtable to me when I see them in the context of what I have learned about Aborigines
during a four-month time of travel in Australia.
As the author claims her book to be ‘written after the fact and inspired by actual experience’ I would
like to put the points listed below to discussion. If you know an answer, please reply to me
(jens-uw...@hl.siemens.de) shortly explaining your viewpoint and including any ref-erences.
Thank you very much for your time.
Jens-Uwe Korff
Questions concerning the book ‘Mutant Message Down Under’ by Marlo Morgan, paperback edition, published
by HarperCollins Publishers, first edition 1994, ISBN 1-85538-484-1.
· Were Aborigines cannibals? (p.37)
· Did they eat their own babies? (p.41)
· Is the population declining **by their own free will**? (p.37)
· Do the Wurundjeri begin each day by saying thank you to ‘Oneness’ and do they say the words ‘if it is
in my highest good and the highest good for all life everywhere’? (p.52)
· Is it true that ‘the slightest deviation in the footprint can tell them the most probable
desti-nation of the walker’? (p.54)
· Is it true that ‘Aboriginal trackers have been known to tell from tyre marks the speed, type of
vehicle, date and time, and even the number of passengers’? (p.54)
· Do Aborigines use mental telepathy to communicate most of the time? (p.61)
· Do Aborigines can use mental telepathy because ‘they never tell a lie, not a small fabrica-tion, not
a partial truth, nor any gross unreal statement. No lies at all...’? (p.63)
· Is mental telepathy ‘the way humans were designed to communicate’? (p.63)
· Do Aborigines immediately stop, close their eyes, and stand still, arms hanging limply at the side
when they see or hear flies approaching? (p.65)
· Is it true that Australian fishing hats with cork floaters were patterned after an Aboriginal
equivalent made of hair strands woven together with seeds, small bones, grass and pods? (p.67)
· Is it true that Aborigines see the task of flies in cleaning their ears and nose? (p.68)
· Is it true that the Aborigines are ‘fundamentally vegetarians’? (p.76)
· Is it true that ‘the tribal people do not dream at night unless they call in a dream’? (p.115)
· Do Aborigines believe ‘the reason [white people] dream at night is because in our society we are not
allowed to dream during the day’? (p.115)
· Is it true that Aborigines ‘use the way of their brother animal, the dingo, to receive signals from
the weakest animal’ while hunting? (p.120)
· Is the nasal shape of the Aborigines ‘more adept at dealing with the soaring air temperature than
[na] European [...] nose’? (p.131)
· Are Aborigines known to have altars? (p.142)
· Have there been ‘scouts’ exploring the cities and returning to sacret sites with ‘white’ things like
magazines and small objects like sunglasses? (p.145)
· Is it correct that ‘in keeping with their deep concern for the environment, they use no toxic
chemicals [... and it] is still the choice today’? (p.158)
· Is it true that Aborigines have hidden underground caves where they go ‘formally to com-municate
directly with Oneness’? (p.161)
· Is it correct that ‘[Aborigines] buried their dead wrapped in mummy fashion, in tombs cut into sides
of the mountains [... or] often buried in a shallow sandpit’? (p.162)
· Are Aborigines known to use or having fabricated wind chimes or clay pipes? (p.163)
Hugh Garsden
Jens-Uwe Korff wrote:
>
> Having read the book ‘Mutant Message Down Under’ by Marlo Morgan
The whole thing is complete bollocks.
--
Hugh Garsden
University of NSW
Sydney, Oz
Andrew Raphael
In article <32B96D...@hl.siemens.de>
Jens-Uwe Korff <jens-uw...@hl.siemens.de> writes:
>Having read the book ‘Mutant Message Down Under’ by Marlo Morgan cover
>the context of what I have learned about Aborigines during a four-month
>time of travel in Australia.
Fiction.
The book is a load of shit from cover to cover. It so offended the
Aboriginal elders of the tribes named in it that the author had to issue
an apology. You may have more experience of Australia than Marlo Morgan.
The Sydney Morning Herald has covered this story. You might find it at
their Web site or in a large library in Germany.
--
Andrew Raphael <rap...@research.canon.com.au>
"Oh! I see, it's your birthday. It's your big day, and I forgot."
Ian Lowery
[Jens-Uwe Korff asked about Marlo Morgan's book, "Mutant Message Down
Under".]
The book is fiction, and seriously misrepresents the aborigines. A
delegation of aborigines went to the USA to demand a public apology
from Ms Morgan.
I think he/she/it was supposed to be here for 4 months. Why would a
group of tribal aborigines divulge tribal secrets to Marlo Morgan, a
person they had allegedly known for a few months, when these matters
had remained secret from other communities for thousands of years?
Ms Morgan has her/his/its own agenda, and is to be roundly condemned
for his/her/its self serving ends.
>Questions concerning the book ‘Mutant Message Down Under’ by
>Marlo Morgan
>· Were Aborigines cannibals? (p.37)
NO!
>· Did they eat their own babies? (p.41)
No, and they didn't eat anybody else's, either.
>· Is the population declining **by their own free will**? (p.37)
The population is *not* currently declining, and was not at the time
the book was written. The previous decimation of the aboriginal
population as a result of introduced diseases, war, murder, and racist
policies of the governing powers since the white invasion, does not
consitute a voluntary reduction in the population.
>· Do the Wurundjeri begin each day by saying thank you to ‘Oneness’
>and do they say the words ‘if it is in my highest good and the highest
>good for all life everywhere’? (p.52)
No, they say "What's for breakfast, Corn Flakes or Goanna"?
I cannot speak for the Wurundjeri or the aboriginals in general, if it
is possible for anybody to do the latter given that there have been
something like 300 aboriginal languages. I shall expound further on Ms
Morgan's concept of the "ethereal Oneness" at a later point.
>· Is it true that ‘the slightest deviation in the footprint can tell
>them the most probable desti-nation of the walker’? (p.54)
I doubt that they could perceive a deviation of 5 nanometres. It is
true that some are most skilled trackers. One white bloke ("Bloke" =
"man") was walking with an aboriginal tracker friend when they came
across two sets of horse tracks, side by side, and going in the same
direction as they were travelling.
He decided that for once his friend was not going to get the better of
him in tracking, and pointed out that one of the horses seemed to need
a new shoe as it was slightly lame in one foot. His aboriginal friend
agreed, and said that the horse was also light in colour, whereas the
other was dark.
The white bloke didn't comment on that one, but, as they walked, kept
looking carefully for hairs which would show the colour of the horses,
without success. When they got to their destination, there were two
horses at the camp, one white, and one black.
At that point the white man admitted that he couldn't work it out, and
asked his friend how he had managed to determine the colour of the
horses. His friend had noticed the small beads of sweat which had
landed in the dust. There were many more of these from one horse than
from the other, indicating that this horse was feeling the heat much
more than the other.
As the 2 horses were only walking, then it was obvious that this horse
was hotter than the other because it was darker in colour.
>· Is it true that ‘Aboriginal trackers have been known to tell from
>tyre marks the speed, type of vehicle, date and time, and even the
>number of passengers’? (p.54)
I doubt it. If they knew the ground, they would probably get a good
idea of the speed, and if they knew the recent weather conditions,
they would probably get a good idea of aproximately when the vehicle
had passed, assuming that it had done so recently. The addition of
passengers to a vehicle makes many little difference to the weight
unless we are talking about bicycles etc.
>· Do Aborigines use mental telepathy to communicate most of the time?
>(p.61)
No, they throw message sticks with pictures on them, which is why they
never developed language. My parody demonstrates that I have nothing
but contempt for Marlo Morgan and the damage that person has done is
propogating myths she has invented. She seems to have some sort of
"mystical" agenda, and has used fiction masquerading as fact as part
of her agenda.
---[snip]---
>· Is mental telepathy ‘the way humans were designed to communicate’? (p.63)
You had better ask "god" that question!
>· Do Aborigines immediately stop, close their eyes, and stand still, arms
>hanging limply at the side when they see or hear flies approaching? (p.65)
I cannot believe the stupidity of that woman in constructing this
piece of crap.
In one word, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
>· Is it true that Australian fishing hats with cork floaters were patterned
>after an Aboriginal equivalent made of hair strands woven together with
>seeds, small bones, grass and pods? (p.67)
Marlo Morgan met the flies in the bush in Australia. If she had done
any research at all, then she may have found out that most of these
flies are not indigenous, and result from the introduction of large
herbivores from Europe.
Marsupials (all of which are soft footed), do not have dung which
attract flies. The flies which are a problem in the outback of this
country are intorduced species. Flies appear to have only become a
problem after the white invasion, and so I suspect that the type of
headgear which you have described is a European invention, but I would
definitely get a second opinion on that one.
>· Is it true that Aborigines see the task of flies in cleaning their
>ears and nose? (p.68)
Of for God sake, where is that crass idiot of a woman at, and what is
she trying to prove?
She is a condescending and dangerous bitch more interested in forcing
the universe into her view of the way that it should be, than in
attempting to convey the truth.
No wonder the aboriginals were incensed at her gross misrepresentation
of them.
>· Is it true that the Aborigines are ‘fundamentally vegetarians’? (p.76)
No, that is another fabrication.
>· Is it true that ‘the tribal people do not dream at night unless they call
>in a dream’? (p.115)
There is no such thing as "The" tribal people. There are many tribes.
I have heard no definitive statement about whether or not aborigines
dream at night. The statement sounds like more of Morgan's fantasy
world, which I might add, has brought her a good income in the form of
her book.
>· Do Aborigines believe ‘the reason [white people] dream at night is
>because in our society we are not allowed to dream during the day’? (p.115)
That statement seems to be part of Morgan's agenda.
>· Is it true that Aborigines ‘use the way of their brother animal, the
>dingo, to receive signals from the weakest animal’ while hunting? (p.120)
No, they listen on radio receivers to the communications from the
weakest members.
The relationship between aborigines and dingoes was one of distance
and mutual respect. Different tribes saw the dingo in different ways.
Some may have seen the dingo as a "brother". The rest of the paragraph
is a load of rubbish.
>· Is the nasal shape of the Aborigines ‘more adept at dealing with the
>soaring air temperature than [na] European [...] nose’? (p.131)
That is actually an interesting question. Anything I had to say on
that matter would be pure hypothesis. There are many factors to take
into account., eg., the amount of subcutaneous fat (insulation), etc.
A further dimension may be that of resistance to sunburn. Aborigines
have flatter noses than Europeans, the latter being an ideal target
for sunburn.
>· Are Aborigines known to have altars? (p.142)
As far as I know, they did not construct altars, did not have altars,
and performed no sacrifices and offerings.
>· Have there been ‘scouts’ exploring the cities and returning to sacret
>sites with ‘white’ things like magazines and small objects like sunglasses? (p.145)
Who the hell does this idiot woman think that she is? Is she trying to
portray the aboriginals as quaint, primitive people giving magical
significance to the products of industrial society?
She is the primitive, an industrial nomad divorced from her roots in
family, society, and nature. She comes from a society with the concept
of competition as part of its ideological foundation in the social
construction of individual and social reality. She comes from a
society which confuses "dominion" over all things, with "domination"
of the environment.
I could go on for a long time about these issues, but suffice to say,
it is Marlo Morgan who is a culturally bereft primitive.
Note that her genetic code is more primitive than that of the
aborignes, ie., the aboriginal genetic code is more modern than that
fo the Europeans.
>· Is it correct that ‘in keeping with their deep concern for the
>environment, they use no toxic chemicals [... and it] is still the
>choice today’? (p.158)
Their "deep concern" for the environment has only arisen in the last
200 years when they have been displaced from their position of tending
and managing the environment with fire.
>· Is it true that Aborigines have hidden underground caves where they
>go ‘formally to com-municate directly with Oneness’? (p.161)
More of her mythology.
As for this communicating with this great hairy "Oneness" bit, if it
is one, it is one, not two, and if there are not two, how can there be
communication? In other words, she has a dualistic notion of the
universe, and that of course comes from her Western upbringing.
>· Is it correct that ‘[Aborigines] buried their dead wrapped in
>mummy fashion, in tombs cut into sides of the mountains [... or]
>often buried in a shallow sandpit’? (p.162)
I really don't know about that one. I know that some burials were in
bark coffins placed in trees.
>· Are Aborigines known to use or having fabricated wind chimes
> or clay pipes? (p.163)
Once again I don't know about the details.
Ms Marlo Morgan seems to be a closet white supremacist with some sort
of New Age agenda, who sees the culminating point of biological
evolution as having afternoon tea with Shirley McClain and a bunch of
interestellar misfits on a spaceship somewhere out there.
If people don't like my calling her that, then I shall simply call her
a condescending and destructive liar with her own agenda.
The idea that she could have obtained intimate knowledge, which can
only be gained by direct experience, of a knowledge system different
to her own, in 4 months, and that she of all people should be
initiated into such a system, when very few white people have, is
palpably absurd.
This ethereal "oneness" trip of hers, and ideas of "highest good", are
luvvy duvvy sentimental, constructs which she has mapped onto another
culture in order to fulfill her own agenda which seems to be that of
yet another form of crackpot, New Age mysticism.
Ms Marlo Morgan is a proven liar who has been forced to apologise for
her misrepresentation of aboriginals. There is so much mythology, and
so many lies, that it is best to shred the book, recycle the paper,
remove any traces of it from your mind, and start reading credible
sources.
Try the Australian Broadcasting Corporations "Indigenous" page at:
http://www.abc.net.au/surf/explore/categ/indig.htm
That is a good jumping off point. Note thier comments about the
Coombsweb server at the Australian National University. It is an
excellent site if you are prepared to do the work checking it out
properly.
Also, check out the Australiana section of the top class site, "Beyond
the Black Stump" http://werple.net.au/~lions/index.html
The Australiana section is in the expanded index about half way down
the page. The link will take you to a set of frames, use the index in
the lower left frame to take you to "Aboriginal".
Ian
Simon J. Elliott
Ian
Over here in the USA, some ppl have asked me about Morgans "book". I even
have one friend who bought it. ARGH! Can you please mail your postings on
this so that I can show my friends what most Australians think(ie its not
just me!) Esp the bit about the Aboriginal delegation coming over to
demand an apology.
thanks
SE
Jens-Uwe Korff
Maybe I can help. Look at
http://bioc09.uthscsa.edu/natnet/archive/nl/9601/0178.html
I just repeat the header here:
"HOLLYWOOD action star Steven Seagal has brokered an apology to eight
Aboriginal elders from Marlo Morgan, the American author who claimed
first-hand experience of a group of unknown Aborigines she called the
wild ones.
The New Age author of a best-selling book, Mutant Message From Down Under,
claimed she was initiated by the tribe during a four-month walkabout in
the central desert.
In an emotional hour-long telephone call to Morgan in New York from
Seagal's Hollywood studio on Monday, Morgan admitted for the first time to
the eight elders that her work was fiction and a fabrication."
Cheers,
Jens-Uwe.