I’m Italian - and I was supremely ticked off when the outrage mob was threatening the local Columbus Statue.
On Deddit, I encountered someone who listed “better Italians” that should have statues. When I said “Italians will pick whoever they like to represent them” his response was “As long as it doesn’t offend my people.”
I laid into him. I told him “Your people were practicing human sacrifice and cannibalism when my people arrived. In fact, the word cannibal is derived from one of two things: it is a corruption of the word “Carib” - the name given to the people of the Caribbean, or it was the name of a particularly savage tribe, the Canib - who frequently raided towns, villages, and Columbus’ camps - and ate the people the captured.
So, the idea that your ancestors were dignified, noble people living in tranquility is BS. They perpetrated far worse on their own people than Columbus ever did.”
Cortez could not have taken Mexico without the help of the people the Aztecs had been enslaving and killing for human sacrifices. It says something that as horrific as the Spaniards were, it was worse before they came. For years people said the Spaniards were just making up stories to make the natives look bad, but in more recent years we have archaeological evidence that it was all true.
500 men and a huge army of natives who wanted to get rid of the Aztecs. Even today most parts of Mexico hate Mexico City. Kind of like Koreans hating Japanese. Those cultural resentments run deep. Just like some parts of the USA are better than others, some parts of Mexico are better. Living there gave me a very different perspective. Cortez also encouraged intermarriage on a way other conquistadors did not. For this reason very few Mexicans are pure anything. Some of my extended Mexican family have the same coloring I do, fair with green eyes. The history is very complex. Mexico even belonged to France for a bit with wonderful culinary consequences. If you look at where covid is hitting hard in Mexico, those are the bad parts LOL.
My state finally released the data on Kung Flu infections by zip code. ALL the worst areas are areas with high hispanic populations, and they're not just a little worse than everywhere else, they're WAY worse. This seems to be true nationwide (SoCal, AZ, NM, TX, FL).
Many Indians have bought into the noble savage/Avatar beautiful blue people myth -- because 1) they don't know their own history (this is a very sad state of affairs -- shows how much history can be twisted as well); 2) it makes them feel good about themselves.
Everybody wants to not be "the baddies".
I'm of mostly Italian extraction (the part that isn't has a sizeable contribution from a couple of tribes, heh, go figure!) -- I rather prefer Columbus, problematic as he is: I suppose some noble sounding mythical entity might sound better, but I prefer a "warts and all" person instead. Besides, Columbus Day tends to often fall on my birthday. It always made me feel very American.
I’m Italian - and I was supremely ticked off when the outrage mob was threatening the local Columbus Statue.
On Deddit, I encountered someone who listed “better Italians” that should have statues. When I said “Italians will pick whoever they like to represent them” his response was “As long as it doesn’t offend my people.”
I laid into him. I told him “Your people were practicing human sacrifice and cannibalism when my people arrived. In fact, the word cannibal is derived from one of two things: it is a corruption of the word “Carib” - the name given to the people of the Caribbean, or it was the name of a particularly savage tribe, the Canib - who frequently raided towns, villages, and Columbus’ camps - and ate the people the captured.
So, the idea that your ancestors were dignified, noble people living in tranquility is BS. They perpetrated far worse on their own people than Columbus ever did.”
Cortez could not have taken Mexico without the help of the people the Aztecs had been enslaving and killing for human sacrifices. It says something that as horrific as the Spaniards were, it was worse before they came. For years people said the Spaniards were just making up stories to make the natives look bad, but in more recent years we have archaeological evidence that it was all true.
There is a cryptonomicon reference in here somewhere. Good book if you can stomach the math.
I have been meaning to read it, hubby is Math PhD and has read it of course. It is floating around the house
And Cortez took it with 500 men.
500 men and a huge army of natives who wanted to get rid of the Aztecs. Even today most parts of Mexico hate Mexico City. Kind of like Koreans hating Japanese. Those cultural resentments run deep. Just like some parts of the USA are better than others, some parts of Mexico are better. Living there gave me a very different perspective. Cortez also encouraged intermarriage on a way other conquistadors did not. For this reason very few Mexicans are pure anything. Some of my extended Mexican family have the same coloring I do, fair with green eyes. The history is very complex. Mexico even belonged to France for a bit with wonderful culinary consequences. If you look at where covid is hitting hard in Mexico, those are the bad parts LOL.
My state finally released the data on Kung Flu infections by zip code. ALL the worst areas are areas with high hispanic populations, and they're not just a little worse than everywhere else, they're WAY worse. This seems to be true nationwide (SoCal, AZ, NM, TX, FL).
Any ideas why?
Many Indians have bought into the noble savage/Avatar beautiful blue people myth -- because 1) they don't know their own history (this is a very sad state of affairs -- shows how much history can be twisted as well); 2) it makes them feel good about themselves.
Everybody wants to not be "the baddies".
I'm of mostly Italian extraction (the part that isn't has a sizeable contribution from a couple of tribes, heh, go figure!) -- I rather prefer Columbus, problematic as he is: I suppose some noble sounding mythical entity might sound better, but I prefer a "warts and all" person instead. Besides, Columbus Day tends to often fall on my birthday. It always made me feel very American.