Movie Boycott -Stereotyping Native People

[Craig Berry]

Hey Flowery Warrior,

On Sat, 22 Jan 2000 Yaoxochitl at aol.com wrote:

>      Obviously your views are based on easy slogans, sentimental evasions,
> and quick certainties.

This may be obvious, yet it is not true.  I have devoted years and
considerable effort to understanding mesoamerican culture, which I find
extremely admirable, rich, beautiful, compelling, and complex.  Like every
civilization (or set of civilizations) in every time, the Nahua had much
to be proud of, much else to be ashamed of.  They were people, as we are
people, neither angels nor demons.

> Any scholar, who knows the distorted details of history, will assert
> that human sacrifice could have been a creation in the fertile little
> minds of the Spaniards, especially when these soldiers, whose
> ethnocentric standards and practices distorted the truth, along with the
> unthinkable atrocities committed on our people, needed a justification
> for their exploitative nature.

This is a controversial subject, but I am convinced that their is
sufficient evidence to conclude that human sacrifice was pervasive in
Nahua society.  I suggest we agree to disagree on this one, as
historically this argument tends to generate more heat than light.

> Let's not forget that the only eyewitness accounts of the conquest of
> Mexico come from 4 spainiards, one of them anonymous, Cortez, who wrote
> letters to the king of Spain, another spaniard, whose name escapes me,
> and Bernal Diaz del Castillo, who wrote his memoirs 35 years after the
> conquest, and Im sure fostered a grossley distorted tale of what my
> ancestors were like.

Add to these the testimony of Sahagun and Duran's informants, of course,
and archaeological evidence.  I do agree that the primary sources are
distorted, but not sufficiently to deny that human sacrifice took place.

> I suggest you do some research, both external and internal analysis on
> this before u shoot your mouth off like that.

We can disagree without resorting to ad hominem attacks, I hope.

> You have much to learn Craig.

Of course, as do we all.

> I suggest you dissect your own ancestral history first before u make
> absurd presumptions based on the biased, ethnocentric, one sided views
> coming from a group of people that raped, enslaved, and murdered in the
> name of Chrisitianity.

I have.  My ancestors did much that was beautiful, much that was terrible,
like yours, like everyone's.

--
   |   Craig Berry - cberry at cinenet.net
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