* Search and Destroy *
Yeah they were so altruistic :)
Listen I don’t give a sh.t. really. that they slaughtered the South Americans.
But to present them as saviors is REALLY a stretch.
They went for $$ and killed anyone that didn’t help them find it. And a whole lot of other people too.
Mel Gibson said that his movie “Apocalypto” was mild by comparison to the reality. No one was skinned alive in it, no children murdered, etc.
To the KNISH ping list. Well worth reading.
Pucker factor meter was no doubt pegged for the Spaniards
The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico by Bernal Diaz, a review. From the review:
The Diaz account is the best history book that I have read. It has all the advantage of a first person account and reads like a well written adventure novel.
The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico by Bernal Diaz del Castillo is the only extant first person account of the campaign under the command of Hernando Cortez from 1519 to 1520. The campaign resulted in the discovery and conquest of the Aztec civilization in Mexico.
Cortez himself wrote five long letters to Carlos V in Spain. Parts of them are included in this edition to help explain the narrative. But Cortez' letters were essentially reports of a Conquistador commander seeking favor, and explaining his actions, which were mostly extralegal.
The entire Conquest was a massive verification of the adage that “It is easier to obtain forgiveness than permission.”
Bernal Diaz' account is a first person narrative of the entire campaign, with the amazing detail of a foot soldier who is vitally interested in food, women, weapons, and gold. He includes accounts of two separate expeditions before Cortez.
Bernal Diaz made extensive remarks on the use of firearms in his narrative. The initial numbers were tiny, but contributed significantly to the success of the conquest. Of the initial 400 to 500 men under the command of Cortez, there were 16 with horses, 13 with individual guns, four small cannon, “some brass guns” (more cannon), and 32 crossbowmen. The 13 personal guns were almost certainly arquebuses, the first really practical personal gun, with early matchlocks. Diaz mentions “much powder and ball”.
BFL
Painting by Spanaird who was on-the-scene .
Painting by Aztecs on side of Temple, early 1500s.
p
Now we know where the meat for the original tacos came from. They didn’t have cows, pigs, chickens, goats, sheep or horses. They did have dogs and surplus people.
Regardless of motivation, getting rid of the Aztecs was a good thing. No peace with murder cults.
In hindsight, as human beings we are compelled to resist and dismantle inhuman anti-life cultures and cults. They are not in any way compatible with basic humanitarian concepts and anyone who sustains or participated in said abomination should be rehabilitated if possible, disabled from harming another human if not.
Cortez, though motivates by greed and lust did all of humanity this one favor in crushing the abomination of Aztec human sacrifice.
I say this with difficulty though, as in my own family many have ancestors who were slaughtered by the conquistadors when they brought the inquisition to the Americas.
Say it ain’t so Joe. Cortez the Killer was actually Cortez the Liberator ? I need to get to my safe space quick. Later....