Guest Post by Pat Buchanan
Are all civilizations and cultures equal, or are some more equal than others?
As the Democratic Party quarrels over reparations for slavery, a new and related issue has arisen, raised by the president of Mexico.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has written Pope Francis I and King Felipe VI to demand their apologies for the Spanish conquest of Mexico that began 500 years ago with the “invasion” of Hernando Cortez.
Arriving on the Gulf Coast in 1519, Cortes marched in two years to what is today’s Mexico City to impose Spanish rule, the Spanish language and culture, and the Catholic faith upon the indigenous peoples.
“One culture, one civilization was imposed upon another,” wrote President Lopez Obrador: “There were massacres and oppression. The so-called conquest was waged with the sword and the cross. They built their churches on top of the temples.”
He demanded that the king and the pope ask for “forgiveness for the abuses inflicted on the indigenous peoples of Mexico.”
Now no one denies that great sins and crimes were committed in that conquest. But are not the Mexican people, 130 million of them, far better off because the Spanish came and overthrew the Aztec Empire?
Did not 300 years of Spanish rule and replacement of Mexico’s pagan cults with the Catholic faith lead to enormous advances for its civilization and human rights?
Or is there never a justification for one nation to invade another, conquer its people, impose its rule, and uproot and replace its culture and civilization? Is “cultural genocide” always a crime against humanity, even if the uprooted culture countenanced human sacrifice?
Did the Aztecs have a right to be left alone by the European world?
If so, whence came that right?
Which leads to another question: Are all civilizations and cultures equal, or are some more equal than others? Are some superior?
Before recent decades, most Americans were taught to believe the West stood above all other civilizations, and America was its supreme manifestation. And much of the world seemed to agree.
As for the assertion that all civilizations and cultures are equal, that is an ideological statement. But where is the historic, scientific or empirical evidence to support that proposition? How many people really believe that?
Spain’s Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said it was “weird to receive now this request for an apology for events that occurred 500 years ago.”
He wondered if Spain should seek an apology from France for the invasion of the Iberian Peninsula and crimes committed by the armies of Napoleon, or if France could demand an apology from Italy for the invasion of Gaul by Julius Caesar?
Unlikely to get an apology from the king, Lopez Obrador may do better with Pope Francis who is into begging for forgiveness for crimes committed in the Spanish-Portuguese conquest and rule of South America.
In Bolivia in 2015, the pope declared:
“I say this to you with regret. Many grave sins were committed against the native people of America in the name of God. … I humbly ask forgiveness, not only for the offense of the church herself, but also for crimes committed against the native people during the so-called conquest of America.”
As The New York Times related in its story on the “chilly response” in Madrid to Mexico’s demand, other Western leaders — not only Barack Obama — are very much into this apology fad.
Justin Trudeau has apologized for Canada’s mistreatment of its indigenous peoples. France’s Emmanuel Macron has apologized for the torture of rebels in Algeria’s war for independence.
The Spanish right, however, is not with the program.
Alberto Rivera, leader of the Ciudadanos, called Lopez Obrador’s demand “an intolerable offense to the Spanish people.”
Rafael Hernando of the Popular Party dismissed it with contempt: “We Spaniards went there (to Mexico) and ended the power of tribes that assassinated their neighbors with cruelty and fury.”
Behind this demand for an apology from Spain and the Church is a view of history familiar to Americans, and rooted in clashing concepts about who we are, and were.
Have the Western peoples who conquered and changed much of the world been, on balance, a blessing to mankind or a curse? Is the history of the West, though replete with the failings of all civilizations, not unique in the greatness of what it produced?
Or are the West’s crimes of imperialism, colonialism, genocide, racism, slavery and maltreatment of minorities of color so sweeping, hateful and shameful they cancel out the good done?
Is the white race, as Susan Sontag wrote, “the cancer of human history”?
As we see the monuments and memorials to the great men of our past desecrated and dragged down, the verdict among a slice of our intellectual and cultural elites is already in. Thumbs down. They agree with the moral shakedown artist of Mexico City.
Query: Can peoples who are ashamed of their nation’s past do great things in its future? Or is a deep-seated national guilt, such as that which afflicts many Germans today, a permanent incapacitating feature of a nation’s existence?
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There’s little that makes me more nauseous than watching a white person essentially apologize to a POC for being “better”. It has never been about whites feeling superior or having “privilege”. It has always been about the inferiority complex that POC carry around with them every day. Every time they use a computer, text on an I Phone or take an elevator to the 50th floor they subconsciously carry that complex.
We are better in about 1,000,000 ways. I don’t feel I have to brag about it. As Babe Ruth once said: “If it’s the truth -it ain’t bragging”.
I’ll take, who are the Jesuits for $500 Alex…
I was in Spain recently. Saw plenty of Latin Americans. Apparently Spanish culture holds an appeal that exceeds that of their own countries.
Visit Los Angeles. I think there must be more Mexicans in the LA area than there are in Mexico City.
” Is “cultural genocide” always a crime against humanity, even if the uprooted culture countenanced human sacrifice?”
You have to have one hell of a deep well of hubris to draw out a nugget like that with a straight face.
SERIOUSLY, HF… +1,000!!! What about…
“Did the Aztecs have a right to be left alone by the European world?”
Um, YES!!!
“If so, whence came that right?”
From the God who created them!
Who the f#*% does this guy think he is?
A Christian has something precious to offer. Offer being the keyword here; not something to impose upon others.
“The so-called conquest was waged with the sword and the cross.”
Anyone who wages a physical war while holding to the cross has no concept of what that cross accomplished.
By FAR the most outrageous article I’ve yet read by Buchanan. Infuriating even for the tainted picture it inevitably paints of “Christianity” as a whole.
Wait, I can answer my own question… Pat is no Christian. He is catholic however. Discernment… it’s critical.
“Is the white race, as Susan Sontag wrote, “the cancer of human history”?”
Of course not. Religion, which transcends race, is however another story entirely.
I respect your opinion greatly, sir. But IMHO there’s some wrong mixed in with both a good heart and Truth when it comes to the Cross. When I have more time, I’d like to post in more detail.
Appreciate your reply and look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Ahh, GCP, the smug self righteousness of faith permeates your incorrectness. Yeah, whacking those Aztecs, Incas, etc who are sacrificing and murdering their fellow tribes does need to be put down, with a vengeance. Jesus said sell your cloak to buy a sword, right? What were the crusaders fighting against? Worrying about Buchanan’s faith diverts attention from the issues at hand, war and murder. (((Susan Sontags))) and her ilk is the real problem for all of us to struggle against. Jesus said they are of their father Satan.
The survival of western civilization will depend upon its outcome.
My righteousness is not of self. There is none to be found in me.
Romans 3:26 KJB… “To declare, I say, at this time HIS righteousness: that HE might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”
Any righteousness that I may possess (the righteousness of God Himself is imputed unto me and all saved people) is completely and totally of and through Him.
“Jesus said sell your cloak to buy a sword, right?”
He did. But; who did He day it to, when, for what reason, under what circumstance? He also told Peter to holster his weapon at one point. So what to do, what to do…?
Is Isaiah right, or do I listen to Joel?
Isaiah 2:4 KJB… “And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
Joel 3:10 KJB… “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.”
“What were the crusaders fighting against?”
They were fighting over whose religion was better… meaning, each side thought God was on their side. Kill the infidel! He was on neither; and conversely, both at the same time. They were fighting over things they could not understand.
This.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 KJB… “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”
That’s what the survival of western and all civilization depends upon.
Grace and peace to you and yours.
GCP, Isaiah was prophesying and Joel was addressing what needed to be done at that time.
Now we’re getting somewhere.
Excellent. Both were prophets so both were prophesying.
What time is it?
That’s the deal. The Bible is a book of progressive revelation.
Maybe we should all just walk around apologizing to each other. No one is innocent. No culture, not one person is innocent. As long as one is a self aware person, they will commit wrongs against someone.
So too will the culture that you reside within. It is just the way of humans.
Sheesh, people need to get over it and move on. Focusing on the past keeps them from having to come up with solutions for the current problems they face.
“I’d like to take your inner child and whip its little ass.”
Get Over It
-The Eagles
https://youtu.be/cWditrKW43o
Cortes was absolutely right to crush the savage Aztec Empire. In fact, had the King of Spain learned that he had failed to put an immediate stop to their barbaric “religion”, Cortes himself would have been hanged. The truth is that many if not most of the Mexican population welcomed the Spanish and were only too eager to help them demolish the insanely bloodthirsty Aztecs.
No kidding. But for those who disagree, I’d suggest making immediate reparations to the prokaryotes and more advanced eukaryotes who once occupied their real estate parcels. Give up all land as contrition for the evil that Gaia inflicted on those poor “souls”.
But maybe that’s too hyperbolic. Instead, let’s limit our contrition to the past 50000 years and give it up to some sad Indians. It will make everyone feel better. I’m certain there’s some faint blood lineage to a transgressor who raped the Injun horses and rode off on their women.
Then, “Native Americans”, who came to the Americas during the Ice Age, owe an apology to the peoples who were here before them, and whom they slaughtered, and absorbed. That was only 10,000 years ago…
Admit it, that is one cool head-dress.
I apologize to all the fish I’ve caught and released. Knowing that you may have eating disabilities as a result of my hook removal skills, I should have just eaten you. Now can we move forward?
Next up: Antibiotics discriminate against pathogens.
The Left should lead by example, and stop using them.
I literally spit my coffee on this paragraph, although it’s very very sad we even need to broach the topic.
“He wondered if Spain should seek an apology from France for the invasion of the Iberian Peninsula and crimes committed by the armies of Napoleon, or if France could demand an apology from Italy for the invasion of Gaul by Julius Caesar?”
Exactly.
What if instead the Aztecs were superior, had ships, and invaded Europe?
Señor AMLO should stop speaking in Spanish or English
and not wear the types of clothes he has been accustomed.
That’s cultural appropriation.
He ought to apologize and
beg the West for forgiveness.
And, pay reparations, perhaps?
People who dredge up 500 year old offences need to be told to fuck off.
Cool it with the anti-semitic remarks!
The EU has just passed legislation to pay reparations to Afro-Europeans, whatever they are!