Reply #127: Pizarro wasn't to bad either.

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Several years ago I fell in love with a picture of an ancient child that was found in the mountains of Peru. His petrified little body was discovered much as he was when he was left on that cold mountaintop. Over 500 years ago his innocent life was given as a sacrifice to the Sun God of his people. The picture touched my heart, and I knew that I would one day make a reproduction of him in doll form......

I guess they "kept that child in line".

The Spanish Inquisition, as bad as it was was not the glorification of cannibalistic slaughter. For me the main point is that Western Civilization, by its structure and evolving nature put an end to many of its own barbaric practices. Life in Pre-Columbian America was a brutal struggle for survival with no civil law and order and none in the forecast. With the quantum leap of government for the people we saw a sea change in the attitude toward the rights of mankind. We saw, in a brief 80 years the end of institutionalized slavery, ended with 650,000 lives of the "oppressor race" being spent (Civil War) in the process. That these people, white people, killed each other to free another race is a testament to the power of the ideal of freedom to transcend racial differances.

You can attempt to draw parallels with the shortcoming of Western Civilization today , but you cannot deny that, unlike the Native American scene of few hundred years ago, we have governing systems that strive to create more equality and try to institutionalize human rights and have been successful at it, though with some serious setbacks. Nothing of the kind existed in pre-Columbian America and never would have until they went through the long process Western Civilization had gone through.

I am saddened by the way many Native Americans have been treated by their conquerors. I think things, at least in the later stages, may have been done differantly, but that these people needed conquering, or transforming, or whatever word you want to use is not even a question in my mind. The noble savage myth is just that, a myth.