This weeks reading have unfortunately been affected by the wonderful paper that we must write..

Zarala's readings seemed to focus on the concept that the natives of the Americas were obviously people born under the laws of nature and the Christian God and as such they should be treated with the respect that commands. It can be noted on page 35 that the phrase "Are they not men? Have they not reasoning mind?..." in reference to the innocent people of Hispaniola.

Again, later on, similar to Las Casas, Zarala seems to envy the life of the natives by saying "they surpass other nations... in that they offer they own sons as a sacrafice for the good of their people." This is in reference to the notion that the people would do action which would harm themselves personally for the good of the overall community as well as a reference to the thought they would God's commands similar to Abraham (i believe) to sacrifice his only son for the Lord.

He further elaborates to say that the Indians were men of reason capable of thought and orderly way of life, the only thing required to save them was the notion of Christianity.

Much is said of the Aristotle way of life and other somewhat boring sections of the dialogue.

An interesting comparison was made on page 41 referencing the words of las Casas explaining that man, even the European man, once was a savage who were uncivilized and had untilled land... this changed throughout time and as such the same should be offered to those people of the Americas. Should a child, once born, be assumed to be able to think and act as an adult would be a general comparison to the thought which was put forth..

I also thought the part regarding the work of Jose de Acosta regarding the three types of peoples of the Americas and Asia on page 43. This was further followed by a wonderful discussion of a similar debate to the nature vs nurture debate that remains today regarding if the barbarian could be tamed and educated.

It was interesting to see that these debates did have some effect eventually and that the enslavement of the peoples of the americas was made illegal and that some attempts were made to free them. While this was done too late in the eyes of many as the damage had already been done, it was nice to see that it was done.

A question arises that why can humans not forsee the problems that come and be pro-active rather than re-active in order to prevent problems. Is it a lack of foresight and is hindsight really 20 20.

It seemed that the lesson learned regarding the natives was not extended to those peoples of Africa who were enslaved and marginalized instead. Well done humanity. Have learned anything since that time? Are we any different... any more civilized or advanced?

Near the end of the reading it was stated that the notion of human rights in the americas really has been influenced by those rights which have been ignored before and that we have become engrained to ensure that it happens "never again"... a phrase which seems to be uttered too often to have any meaning.. perhaps a bit pessimistic.. but maybe it isn't....

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