Academia Semillas: McDonald's Defense

Dick McDonald is a friend and mentor who has helped clarify my understanding of the Social Security dilemma more than anyone.

Unlike his thoughtful examination of other topics, he recently wrote this defense for Academia Semilla del Pueblo, an ethnocentric anti-American pseudo-school that KABC reporter Doug McIntyre has exposed. As much as I respect Dick, I believe his pro-Semilla position is wrong.* I’ve posted his comments and my response here:

(DM) Aguilar clearly stated that his school is a Pre-Cortez, Aztec school. He stated that American educators used to have a saying "kill the Indian to save the man" and he doesn't believe that. He is resolute about retaining the INDIAN strain in the Mexican culture; even if he has to do it in Los Angeles. His obvious goal is to teach Indian pride; he can't screw with math and science. Now (is)teaching Indian pride an un-American activity? O'Reilly jumped to the conclusion that he was teaching American kids not to be Americans. I wonder if Bill has the same attitude toward American Indian schools. You can try to indoctrinate kids; but they will eventually succumb to their American environment.

(Ex-Lib) The problem with Aguilar’s "pre-Cortez Aztec views" is that he promotes the mythology more than its history. The Aztecs were a brutal, imperialist, slaveholding people that conquered hundreds of their neighboring communities – preferring to capture their prisoners alive so that they could sacrifice (torture, mutilate, and kill) to satisfy their pagan gods. They enslaved those who offered useful skills. Cortez and his tiny band could not have conquered the Aztec Nation without the enthusiastic cooperation of neighboring tribes that had grown weary of these depraved pillagers. Aguilar’s cherry-picked curriculum is like a Nazi school that celebrates Hitler’s Volkswagen without mentioning his invasion of Europe or genocide.

Recently I wrote an article about ethnic cleansing in Mexico. Yes there is a concerted effort to cleanse Mexico of those citizens with INDIAN blood. This school wants to be a pre-Spanish Aztec INDIAN school. Those pure-breed Castillians can go fly a rock. Aguilar is not interested. Why return to a country that hates you because of your Indian blood?

And why should Americans allow him to promote his ethnocentric contempt of the country that delivered him from evil? His connection is to the American Indians who rightly claim WE are the immigrants. Is it such a stretch to accept that INDIANS in this entire hemisphere call us all immigrants? Is it terrible for them to try to retain their cultural heritage? This school doesn't appear to be a madrassa. What is the real beef? I'm sure some of you will enlighten me.

America’s Indians included peaceful and imperialistic predators. And because the cradle of civilization was far from American soil, even the Indians are immigrants. Europeans were only the latest immigrants. So if we’re all immigrants, what sets America’s immigrants apart? Can you say Democracy, Bill of Rights, the Constitution; the eradication of diseases like polio, leprosy, or the defeat of Communism and Nazism? What about our willingness to pledge our lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to deliver freedom to people around the world? Yes, the Navaho Tribe made contributions, but their most important was their participation as Americans in the defeat of Imperial Japan. As for the Nahuatl language – it’s used in America by Mexican gangs to promote their criminal enterprises – but maybe you’d rather call the Mexican Mafia Freedom Fighters. Does this help enlighten you?

Multiculturalism in its purest sense isn't going to destroy American culture. It is going to rescue those endangered species we believe are worth saving. It should not, however, include adopting the Islamic nonsense sweeping our culture. Not allowing men or young boys into a basketball game where Islamic women are playing because they might rush the girls in a heat of passion because their bodies are not covered is beyond sick, beyond multiculturalism, beyond reason.

The difference between Islam and the Aztecs is that the Conquistadors (and the thousands of indigenous Mexicas who helped them) snuffed out the Aztecs before their social disease could spread to 1.5 billion people around the planet. And if I’m counting reasons why multiculturalism is less virtuous than America’s melting pot, that single reason is good enough for me.

* Shortly after posting this response and others, Dick recanted his arguments.

See also:

Academia Semilla
Defending Academia Semillas I
Defending Academia Semillas II
Defending Academia Semillas III