A short account of the destruction of the Indies

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1. burnt-resistorJan 2026
   A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies is much better in terms of reflecting the human cost from a contemporary of the obliteration of 150 million natives and Africans for the enrichment of Europeans. US Americans eventually got into the act too with slavery, banana wars, taking land and peoples that didn't belong to it, Monroe doctrine, CIA-backed coups, and funding and training right-wing death squads like The School of the Americas.
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2. cantrecallmypwdMar 2025
   A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1551) slightly later leaves out the lionization and describes the atrocities and abuse of natives and imported slaves. It should be required reading as it was driven by greed without morality on multiple continents, eventually consuming c. 150M human beings under all colonial powers.
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3. prisencoOct 2024
   | Actual historical accounts tell something much closer to the the original story we knew as children

   Anyone who thinks this is remotely true should read A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies by Bartolomé de las Casas.

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4. hi-v-rocknrollJul 2024
   A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (Original title: Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias) 1552, Bartolomé de las Casas.

   The genocide by the Spanish of directly and indirectly ~110M indigenous peoples and African slaves in the Americas needs a "Holocaust"-type unique name.

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5. sacnoradhqJun 2023
   As Marxist as I tend to be, I view banning media outright is counterproductive. It lifts that work up an ideological martyr and encourages seeking it. If you disagree with an ideology, then dissect it intellectually and reveal the full history of why it is suboptimal.

   2 books worth reading:

   1. "The People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn

   2. Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias (A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies) 1552 by Bartolomé de las Casas. If you thought the slave trade in the British Colonies was brutal, the Heart of Darkness-like massacre of indigenous peoples by the Spanish was akin to the Cambodian genocide multiplied by 10: ~30 million deaths from imported diseases and brutal mass murder, exclude ~11 million African slaves.

   Few of the specific dirty deeds done in the name of Manifest Destiny and white supremacy are taught in school. Garrison Mob of 1835, Detroit 1863, Washington and Norfolk 1919, Chicago 1919, Garfield Park 1919, Jenkins County GA 1919, Charleston 1919, Texas 1919, Arizona 1919, Tulsa 1921, Washington DC 1925 (KKK march), and on it goes.

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6. sacnoradhqJan 2023
   I can't recall the quote, but "A book worth burning is a book worth reading."

   No one has to support or agree with ideas to delve into them, find their flaws and strengths (reality and people are mixtures of gray), and consider other perspectives. To avoid topics is one path to ignorance and decline.

   - Das Kapital

   - Understanding Socialism

   - The God Delusion

   - Bible

   - Quran

   - Mein Kampf

   - Atlas Shrugged

   - (numerous critiques of objectivism and its political-economic brand: libertarianism)

   - Critique of Pure Reason

   - The Social Contract

   - Industrial Society and Its Future

   - A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies

   - The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

   - Guns, Germs, and Steel

   == And some fiction ===

   - Howl

   - Tropic of Cancer

   - Four Past Midnight (yes, Stephen King)

   - Maus

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