Apparently, the end of a tribe that pulled out still-beating human hearts from living victims as human sacrifice is a real bummer. At least, it is according to the CW's comic book show DC's Stargirl.
In the episode, 'Summer School: Chapter Three,' on Tuesday, August 24, Stargirl Courtney Whitmore (Brec Bassinger) mourns the fact that the Aztec civilization was defeated by that "total jerk" Hernán Cortés. They "didn't stand a chance," she tells her teacher when she and her friend, Yolanda (Yvette Monreal), are called on in history class:
Teacher: Courtney? Yolanda? Care to answer?
Yolanda: Um...
Teacher: I assume you were conferring about the topic at hand. In 1521, why did the Aztec civilization suddenly disappear?
Yolanda: Uh...
Courtney: Well, this conquistador named Cortés, who sounds like a total jerk, conquered the Aztecs, so that was bad enough, right? But at the same time, the Europeans brought over the super plague. So between them both, the Aztecs didn't stand a chance. RIP Aztecs.
Teacher: Correct, Courtney.
RIP Aztecs? The Aztecs were a vicious tribe that engaged in human sacrifice at shocking levels. Aztecs killed thousands in the most brutal ways imaginable for their pagan gods. Cortés did not defeat the Aztecs alone. Surrounding natives joined with him to defeat the cannibals because their sheer brutality terrorized their neighbors. Sadly, the teacher never "corrects" Courtney on this rather important point.
But, hey, Cortés was a European so it is forbidden to have any context, amirite? There is no way that any particular tribe he defeated might have done some bad things worthy of note or that other natives could have joined a European conqueror to defeat a native enemy. That would all be too complicated and real. Just stick with "white man bad" for the Hollywood script.
DC's Stargirl is geared toward adolescent audiences. Since adolescents get much of this same one-sided history in their public (and many private) schools anyway, they probably will not notice the lack of nuance in Courtney's answer. Hollywood entertainment just reinforces the woke narratives pushed by the left-wing media and education complex. For years, that complex has taken its cue from historical revisionists like the communist Howard Zinn. Zinn ignored the horrific practices of certain South American tribes.
After all, such details would force Marxists to come to terms with the complexities of historical struggles. They would need to ditch a black-and-white oppressor/oppressed myth that blanketly condemns all Europeans while treating all non-European cultures as passive victims with no agency. Better to keep students stupid. Students just like Stargirl.
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