No, my problem lies in your assumption that the descendants of people who did those things 500 years ago are still savages. And yet we, whose ancestors killed far greater numbers of people, are completely removed from that, because we just tortured and murdered entire villages before burning them, but we didn’t eat any of the victims, instead leaving them to rot.
And despite the theories of Bernal Díaz, William H. Prescott, Marvin Harris and Michael Harner, there is no great consensus of major, systematic cannibalism, though there is considerable evidence of some cannibalism.
The conquistador Bernal Díaz has one of the few firsthand accounts, though deeply colored because just about every time he and his expeditions met Indians, they tried to take Indians as slaves and ended up fighting them. It was written by him 50 years after the events, to rebut another book written on the subject by someone who hadn’t been there.
Prescott’s assumption of cannibalism was mostly guesswork he made in the 19th Century, and though popular as a lurid theory is not very authoritative.
Marvin Harris was a Marxist-Malthusian, which pretty much kills his credibility right there. Describing the Aztecs in Marxist terms sort of falls flat.
Harner, now head of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, is seen as the UC Berkeley equivalent of UCLA’s Carlos Castaneda; of the firm belief that a good narrative is far more important than inconclusive facts.
The bottom line here is that you need to reevaluate your prejudices. Mexicans are not heathen cannibals offering to gobble up Anglo babies after cutting out their hearts on stone pyramids. La Raza is pretty much a laughable organization that exists solely for the purpose of getting money from liberals in exchange for condemning America and getting Mexican Americans to vote for Democrats.
For the most part, Mexicans who become US citizens tend to integrate faster than most immigrants, work hard and have an entrepreneurial spirit, and the wealthier they become the more Republican they become.
“No, my problem lies in your assumption that the descendants of people who did those things 500 years ago are still savages. And yet we, whose ancestors killed far greater numbers of people, are completely removed from that, because we just tortured and murdered entire villages before burning them, but we didn’t eat any of the victims, instead leaving them to rot.”
1. You used assumption in your line, “”No, my problem lies in your assumption that the descendants of people who did those things 500 years ago are still savages.”
Do Americans behead people, do Americans stuff people in barrels and burn them alive, do Americans hack people to death with machetes, do Americans kill police in wholesale quantities, do we routinely kill whole families, ad nauseam?
Mexicans do. They do it every day, as we debate this non issue. This acceptance of savagery by Mexicans is cultural. Culture is determinative, one must accept that.
Observation is not prejudice. Words do have meanings, and for a reason.
Regarding cannibalism, Dr. Kessler did say that the sharp stones on the back edge of the pyramids were not to prevent people from sitting down. They were used to hang pieces of the sacrificed victim’s butchered bodies on. The soil samples held far too much iron to explain as anything other than the result of lots of blood finding its way into the soil from the bodies.
Archeology of cannibals is not for either the squeamish or those wanting to deny/revise Meso-American history.
As for your hypothesis that I fear “heathen cannibals offering to gobble up Anglo babies after cutting out their hearts on stone pyramids” - WOOF, WOOF!. Your straw dog argument is a dog of a debate attempt.
;-)
La Raza is not a joke, as those who have to deal with their hate filled members can attest. The sheer racist hatred of the La Raza crowd has been well documented and photographed. That was a real ‘woofer” of an argument, and you can do better as some of your other posts attest.
“For the most part, Mexicans who become US citizens tend to integrate faster than most immigrants, work hard and have an entrepreneurial spirit, and the wealthier they become the more Republican they become.”
With the reservation that the above only describes Mexicans who come to America to become Americans, not Mexican-Americans, that is to accept and integrate into their beliefs and behavior the American way of life, I do agree with you.
Accepting the “American Way” is a good thing, vastly better than the “Messican Way”.
That culture thingie, again.
;-)