pattyp (if you are still there)"As for LD... Did you miss my...

pattyp (if you are still there)

"As for LD... Did you miss my post about the Cultural significance of LD...? Martu believe people/monsters live beneath the lake... The whole lake. If a mining company digs it up and proves this to be incorrect... What does that mean for a 10,000yr old religion...?"

This is a very good point & is probably the lever that those not in power (but wish to be) will try to use to change there situation.

It is hard to believe that the Martu actually "believe" the monster story.
I'm sure it is a story that has been past down for eons, but I'm of the opinion that Martu adults know that it is just a story whose purpose at some point in time was to warn their people from the dangers of the lake ... which may simply be that drinking the brine below the salt surface would make them sick.

When we consider that western cultures use similar "boogymen" in fables, legends, stories, to re-inforce warning messages (particularly to children) it is not so difficult to understand the supposed LD monsters.

The point being that a culture is not necessarily destroyed by the giving up of dogmatic belief in fanciful stories & recognising them for what they are ... personifications of natural dangers.

The question is have the majority of Martu reached the point of being able to distinguish reality from fable or will those that seek power be able to be manipulate them into believing that drawing brine from a salt lake is somehow an attack on their culture.