Mexico, Multiculturalism and the Aztecs

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Canada Free Press: Modern Germans have denounced their Nazi past while modern Mexicans proudly profess their Aztec heritage Mexico, Multiculturalism and the Aztecs

By Robert Klein Engler July 27, 2014

 

The 20th century poet Robert Frost wrote that “good fences make good neighbors.” We do not know if Frost meant that to be a comment on the evils of multiculturalism. We do know that in our time of multiculturalism the lack of good fences encourages cultural conflicts that should be noticed. Take as an example, the cultural similarities between the Aztecs of Mexico and the Nazis of Germany.

 

Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the Aztecs built an empire in central Mexico by using oppressive military power. They ruled with cruelty and they practiced human sacrifice, so much human sacrifice that thousands were brutally killed in the course of a few days. The concentration camps in Europe set up by the Nazis were equally brutal.

 

It is estimated that the population of central Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest was about 25 million, with 250,000 sacrificed yearly. The population of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan was about 300,000, with 15,000 sacrificed annually. That’s an average of about 40 people a day, or about 2 an hour. Could the hungry ovens of Auschwitz measure up to that deadly standard?

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Brutality of Aztecs, Mayas Corroborated

 

Scholars had doubted Spaniards' tales of human sacrifice. But new evidence shows that it happened, and that it was purposely painful.

 

January 23, 2005|Mark Stevenson | Associated Press Writer

 

MEXICO CITY — It has long been a matter of contention: Was the Aztec and Mayan practice of human sacrifice as widespread and horrifying as the history books say? Or did the Spanish conquerors overstate it to make the Indians look primitive?

 

In recent years archeologists have uncovered mounting physical evidence that corroborates the Spanish accounts in substance, if not number.

 

Using high-tech forensic tools, archeologists are proving that pre-Hispanic sacrifices often involved children and a broad array of intentionally brutal killing methods. For decades, many researchers believed Spanish accounts from the 16th and 17th centuries were biased to denigrate Indian cultures. Others argued that sacrifices were largely confined to captured warriors. Still others conceded the Aztecs were bloody, but believed the Maya were less so.

 

"We now have the physical evidence to corroborate the written and pictorial record," said archeologist Leonardo Lopez Lujan. "Some 'pro-Indian' currents had always denied this had happened. They said the texts must be lying."

 

articles.latimes.com/2005/jan/23/news/adfg-sacrifice23