This misperception exists largely because most of the population was wiped out by introduced disease long before European colonization happened in earnest in most areas. (Read 1491 by Charles Mann.)
Read the Egalitarian Continent chapter in Pekka Hamalainen's Indigenous Content. Cahokia is specifically covered including how the communal nature of the civilization shifted over time to something more autocratic and materialistic, and how the shift contributed to the collapse of that society.
Hämäläinen's book is widely thought of as trying to stretch a pretty weak and biased historical narrative, and presents a far from universally accepted view of history. https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/10/05/indigenous-c... https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/20/arts/indigenous-continent...
Deranged: 1) Disordered; especially, disordered in mind; crazy; insane. 2) disturbed or upset, especially mentally 3) insane
It's not "my assumption," that it's a personal attack, it's the english language. An idea can't be disordered in mind, disturbed mentally, or insane. Only a person can be.
Second, go back and reread your comments and omit the derision. It adds nothing at all to your argument, in fact, it's much more compelling without it.
I just don't care enough to argue with you about the meaning of "communal" to try and change your mind. Your language choices clearly signal me that you're not open to changing your mind. Instead it signals that you're more interested in dunking than engaging. The Coddling of the American Mind is not about hacker news or my personal choice to ignore you for being rude. It's about institutions. If you want a more relevant book to this conversation, I'd suggest How To Win Friends and Influence People or The Elements of Rhetoric -- How to Write and Speak Clearly and Persuasively.
The distinction between agriculturalists and nomadic hunters in my estimation is that it was a rapid shift in the majority behavior but there was always some "mix" of nomadic and agricultural starting around 150,000BC
It's just that the shift went from 90% nomadic to 99% agricultural over the span of only 100k years or so