i can’t see something like this without the train of thought eventually leading to “wow…that fascinating culture might still be around if it weren’t for religion”
The Maya culture was a religious culture, and would not exist if not for religion. You mean “if it weren’t for Christianity”, or alternatively, “if it weren’t for religions that enforce their idea of objective reality on others”. You don’t hate religion, you hate realism.
keep in mind i’ll say the same about any indigenous culture in the western hemisphere that was basically genocided or enslaved because of “ordained by god”
My point wasn’t at all that these cultures haven’t been victim to colonization and genocide, but that they are still around today and not vanished. A common refrain I hear from many indigenous people is that it’s important for people to know they still exist, and I always try to put that information out there.
i don’t disagree, but how much of that culture was lost-- how many cities burned, writings, works of art, histories-- people could have moved to the new world without killing millions of the people who already lived here, and forcing their own culture on all the rest
Absolutely, it’s terrible and that loss is irreplaceable. I don’t want to diminish that truth at all, just to respect the indigenous people that want to emphasize their continued survivance.
I always like to imagine if these guys were given another thousand years or so, what would their world have looked like. Would they develop a sustainable form of government that could manage millions of people? What would the Mayan space program look like? What kind of movies would they make? Stuff like that.
i can’t see something like this without the train of thought eventually leading to “wow…that fascinating culture might still be around if it weren’t for religion”
The Maya culture was a religious culture, and would not exist if not for religion. You mean “if it weren’t for Christianity”, or alternatively, “if it weren’t for religions that enforce their idea of objective reality on others”. You don’t hate religion, you hate realism.
The ancient Maya civilization collapsed, but Maya peoples and cultures still exist!
since we’re using wikipedia, i’ll counter with this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_conquest_of_the_Maya
keep in mind i’ll say the same about any indigenous culture in the western hemisphere that was basically genocided or enslaved because of “ordained by god”
My point wasn’t at all that these cultures haven’t been victim to colonization and genocide, but that they are still around today and not vanished. A common refrain I hear from many indigenous people is that it’s important for people to know they still exist, and I always try to put that information out there.
i don’t disagree, but how much of that culture was lost-- how many cities burned, writings, works of art, histories-- people could have moved to the new world without killing millions of the people who already lived here, and forcing their own culture on all the rest
Absolutely, it’s terrible and that loss is irreplaceable. I don’t want to diminish that truth at all, just to respect the indigenous people that want to emphasize their continued survivance.
I always like to imagine if these guys were given another thousand years or so, what would their world have looked like. Would they develop a sustainable form of government that could manage millions of people? What would the Mayan space program look like? What kind of movies would they make? Stuff like that.