I didn't realize that about Mexican law,

Post #29,720 by Ashton 2/26/02 4:07:24 AM Reply	I didn't realize that about Mexican law, despite several years with a Chicana, trips, etc. Surprising, considering the omnipresence of the Church. Seems that, as an outsider I was unable to grok a certain 'grain of salt' (?) attitude towards the inherent guilt-load preached. Since my friend was born in US, only visited family in DF over the years - maybe she also was unaware of such subtlety. Hmmm - have to revise the state of my ignorance downward, and ask around. Encouraging, though! Even if we Superior Nortes surely have nothing to learn about compassion - from descendents of Mayans (who invented 0 for our comfort and math convenience) and Olmecs and other savages. Damn.. imagine if the Ni\ufffda, Pinta and Santa Maria had all sunk in a squall - no #$%*^ Conquistadores. Maybe all Nortes would now be speaking Scandinavian, taking lots of cold dips in the winter - visiting Southward: for intellectual and spiritual instruction ;-) Oh well, we're supposed to have to keep coming back until we get it Right.. Ashton Monte Alban:The Washington Monument::Bach:Snoop Doggy Dog
Post #29,861 by inthane-chan 2/26/02 3:45:13 PM Reply	Don't knock the movement... ...knock the implementation. From what I understand (and I could be smoking crack here - you'd have to ask my mother, who is something of an authority on All Things Mexican) the Church has been a major social instrument for social, political and economic change all throughout Central and South America, which is why you keep hearing these stories about murdered priests and nuns all over the place - they're awfully inconvenient for the local dictators. Now, if you wonder what it would have been like had the Conquistadores not shown up, well, just imagine a Mexico ruled by a bloodthirsty empire that performed mass ritual sacrifice (supposedly over 10,000 in a day one time - and that's by archeological evidence, not Conquistadore myth...), cannibalism, and wars for the sake of wars. The Aztecs were not what one would call enlightened... In the sense that they were extremely brutal to their fellow humans. "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche
Post #29,876 by Ashton 2/26/02 4:18:52 PM Reply	Wasn't recommending them as a model ;-) nor extrapolating that brand of madness - we won't know what the successor would have been, but can imagine that it would have been a strong reaction-against. Crap shoot then - but a more honest (?) one than - adopting the psych. baggage of the invaders. Am aware of the (recent, modern) role of the Young Turks (priests) and according martyrdom. Not aware if these brave ones - have altered the dogma of the hierarchy though. If they have - I stand corrected: truly a new trick for a very Old Dog. Ashton

Welcome to IWETHEY!