This shows the depth of FREEP/NEOCON Racism:

To: el_texicano
In recent times, the Spaniards have opted for isolationism.

Like the Swedes, they sat out WW1 and WW2. They don't want anyone to bother them and don't want to bother anyone else.

Unfortuately, someone is knocking on their door and they are oblivious.

Its just like back in the 700's or 800's when El Tariq crossed over from Africa and took the entire freaking country over.

Cortez must be spinning in his grave, also Isabella and Ferdinand who fought so hard to kick the last of these desert curs oout of their kingdom.
25 posted on 03/15/2004 9:39:13 AM PST by ZULU (God Bless Senator Joe McCarthy!!!)

This piece of work is praising CORTEZ, and the true founders of the Spanish Inquisition, Isabella and Ferdinand???

Of course he then proceeds to say "God Bless Senator Joe McCarthy!!!"

LET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!

I don't imagine there are too many freeper-types who are Neil Young fans.

Fascinating stuff, Tyler... praising Cortez, eh? I'm sickened.

...there's also a REASON Spain sat out WWII. It's called FASCISM. Just whose side do you think Spain would have taken? Hmmm? Mr. Freeper?

So, by praising Cortez, this dope thinks it's OK to travel to strange lands, kill off the native population and rape and pillage? Of course...he's a freeper. :eyes:

...of the popular vote, I am filled with deep fear and an abiding dread.

I plan to be in the Great North by next Spring at the latest. I hope it's not too late.

I plan to be in the Great North by next Spring at the latest.

... Brrr! Pack your snuggies!

I'm just concerned that so many people in the world might think that all Americans think like this FReeper. If Bush is reSelected, to what other conclusion can they come?

certainly not a Cortez apologist. Let me say however, we are judging peoples actions in the 16/17th century (when the hell was it anyhow? :) ) by our modern day, relatively enlightened standards.
We can all agree Cortez was despicable and ruthless. Can we also agree he was operating under the prevelent belief system of his time?

We can all agree Cortez was despicable and ruthless. Can we also agree he was operating under the prevelent belief system of his time?

No. There was a priest named Bartolomeo de las Casas who traveled with Columbus and wrote back to Spain to describe and to protest the atrocities that he saw going on in the "New World." People of conscience did exist at the time. They simply weren't heard by the rich and powerful.

To say that those despicable and ruthless behaviors reflected the beliefs prevalent at the time is, IMO, disingenuous. Throughout history, there have always been those who had the courage to speak truth to power. The shame of it is that there have always been so many bystanders... those who could see what was happening but chose to say nothing for whatever reason.

There have always been a large enough number of bystanders so that, had they spoken out, they could have stopped the atrocities.

Some would have been killed, certainly. But the powers-that-be can't hitch everyone up to a stake. They know that, and they are depending on the bystanders to keep them in power. Sad, enit?

Tell it to Pablo Picasso.

1. Franco was the dictator of Spain. Spain contributed to the Axis powers.

2. Ever wonder why Basque Country and Catalonia are such hotbeds of radicalism? Franco authorized the Luftwaffe to bomb Guernica (Gernika) into rubble and to make repeat forays into the north at their leisure.

3. El Tariq (?) didn't take over the "entire freaking country". They got about half, and that section is now called Andalusia. And the reason they were there for 700 years was because the locals preferred the Caliphate to the Pope.

4. Why should Spain have come in on WWI? They had already bled themselves white over a series of civil wars in the 1800s. They had no treaties with either the Alliance or the Entante.

It's not the fact that Freepers are conservative that bothers me. It's that they are so damned stupid.

--bkl
(Edit: removed obscure Jonathan Richman quote)

And the advancements made (architecture, philosphy, and an open society, especially when compared to church-dominated Europe) during that period in that part of Spain surpassed many other parts of the world.