{"id":2271252,"date":"2024-06-19T07:58:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T11:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/our-elites-are-so-deluded-by-moral-relativism-theyre-excusing-mayan-human-sacrifice\/"},"modified":"2024-06-19T08:04:39","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T12:04:39","slug":"our-elites-are-so-deluded-by-moral-relativism-theyre-excusing-mayan-human-sacrifice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/our-elites-are-so-deluded-by-moral-relativism-theyre-excusing-mayan-human-sacrifice\/","title":{"rendered":"Elites Blinded by Moral Relativism Excuse Mayan Human Sacrifice"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Four-elites-are-so-deluded-by-moral-relativism-theyre-excusing-mayan-human-sacrifice%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2271252&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The\u200b main topic\u2063 of this summary is the reaction of corporate media and elite institutions to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pentagon-briefing-for-senators-on-abortion-policy-changes-no-minds\/\" title=\"Senators remain unmoved by Pentagon briefing on abortion policy changes.\">study \u2064published<\/a> in Nature about a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/5-stories-the-legacy-media-have-already-ignored-this-year\/\" title=\"5 Stories The Legacy Media Have Already Ignored This Year\">mass burial site<\/a> of boys \u2063in Chich\u00e9n \u2063Itz\u00e1, Mexico, known for its history of child sacrifice\u200b during the Mayan civilization. Major \u200boutlets like The New York Times, CBS, National Geographic, and Smithsonian Magazine, along with scholarly perspectives, \u2063have used the findings\u200c to argue for a \u200dmore nuanced understanding\u200c of Mayan human sacrifices. The\u200b study shows most victims were male, some\u200c closely\u200c related, possibly reflective \u200dof sacred Mayan \u200ctexts involving twin deities.<\/p>\n<p>The discourse shifts \u2062towards whether <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/crenshaw-america-first-means-choosing-country-over-popularity-in-the-foreign-policy-culture-war\/\" title=\"CRENSHAW: \u2018America First\u2019 Means Choosing Country Over Popularity In The Foreign Policy Culture War\">cultural relativism<\/a> can justify actions like \u200dchild sacrifice,\u2064 given these \u2064sacrifices were culturally significant and not seen in the \u200bsame light as they would be today. Critics, \u200chowever, argue this stance as potentially incoherent or morally ambiguous, insisting that, regardless of historical context, the act of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/we-shouldnt-let-the-blues-clues-episode-be-just-another-passing-cultural-outrage\/\" title=\"We Shouldn\u2019t Let the Blue\u2019s Clues Episode Be Just Another Passing Cultural Outrage\">sacrificing children<\/a> is inherently wrong. This debate juxtaposes\u2064 the \u2062condemnation of similar practices in other ancient\u200c societies with the \u2064efforts \u200dto understand or excuse them\u200d in the context of indigenous American cultures. the summary highlights a discourse\u200b that challenges the interpretation of cultural practices that involve\u2063 human sacrifices, questioning whether they\u2063 can be \u2062justified under any moral framework.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>Corporate media and elite institutions from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/12\/science\/archaeology-maya-genetics.html\">The New York Times<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/dna-reveals-ritual-of-sacrificing-boys-in-ancient-mayan-city-scientists-say\/\">CBS<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/history\/article\/maya-sacrifice-dna-chichen-itza-boys\">National Geographic<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/smart-news\/a-mass-grave-of-maya-boys-may-shed-light-on-human-sacrifice-in-chichen-itza-180984542\/\">Smithsonian Magazine<\/a> are celebrating a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-024-07509-7\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tiktok-intifada-videos-of-violent-mobs-attacking-jews-sweep-the-internet\/\" title=\"\u2018Tiktok intifada\u2019: Videos Of Violent Mobs Attacking Jews Sweep The Internet\">recently published study<\/a><\/a> in the scientific journal <em>Nature<\/em> cataloging the genetic analysis of a subterranean mass burial site in the ceremonial center of Chich\u00e9n Itz\u00e1, Mexico, notorious for human sacrifice during the Mayan civilization. Yet rather than trying to deny or downplay the existence of human sacrifice among indigenous American peoples, our multiculturalist institutions are actually charting a bolder route: recasting this behavior as justified and even civilized. <\/p>\n<p>As incredible as such a rhetorical tack may be, it\u2019s made even more incoherent by the fact that those willing to defend such brutal societies are the same ones who offer knee-jerk condemnations of Western sins as unequivocally evil, regardless of culture or context.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1428157450\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-cc5af75d642bdb55f49fb3fd30727463 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-cc5af75d642bdb55f49fb3fd30727463\"><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Elites Say We Shouldn\u2019t Judge the Perpetrators of Child Sacrifice<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>According to the new research, all identified buried victims in Chich\u00e9n Itz\u00e1 were male, and several of them were closely related, including two pairs of twins. These findings track with the prominent role of twins \u2014 often representing deities and heroes \u2014 in both Mayan and broader Mesoamerican mythology. Rodrigo Barquera, a lead author of the new paper, called the research \u201ca breakthrough,\u201d as the biological kinship and the similar age of the victims suggest an intentional ritual practice, possibly associated with a sacred Mayan text, the \u201cPopol Vuh,\u201d which describes the sacrifice of a pair of twins after they lost a ballgame.<\/p>\n<p>Barquera acknowledged in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2024\/06\/13\/dna-tests-maya-ruins-mexico\/\">June 14 Washington Post<\/a> interview that it could be a bit arresting to learn the remains at Chich\u00e9n Itz\u00e1 belonged to children killed in a human sacrifice ritual. \u201cBut we have to bear in mind that death is a completely different concept for Mesoamerican cultures,\u201d explained Barquera. \u201cDeath is not seen as a bad thing. Of course, under our perspective, it\u2019s wrong. But back then, and according to their myths and their beliefs, what they were doing was considered correct, so we cannot judge what they did under our modern point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, according to the Post, the findings \u201ccontradict the popular belief that young women and girls made up the majority of those sacrificed at the site.\u201d It unquestioningly cites study co-author and professor of anthropology at Harvard University Christina Warinner, who explained that the findings turn \u201cthat story on its head and reveals the deep connections between ritual sacrifice and the cycles of human death and rebirth described in sacred Maya texts.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Can Cultural Relativism Ever Excuse Child Sacrifice?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>One wonders how these new genetic findings regarding sacrificial victims in Mesoamerica from hundreds of years ago, however interesting, turn our previous understanding of these events \u201con their head.\u201d The Mayans still sacrificed <em>children <\/em>after all. Perhaps whatever sexually lurid portrayals were once told about Mayan human sacrifice were inaccurate. But turning the historical record on its head implies some dramatic shift, as if archaeologists and scientists discovered the Mayans didn\u2019t sacrifice humans after all, and that there is some other less horrifying explanation for mass graves of children.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2d1b82e1e2e74f9f8d5920b2d43dcfbd fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2d1b82e1e2e74f9f8d5920b2d43dcfbd\"><\/div>\n<p>Surely we must scoff at claims by professional academics telling us that the dictates of cultural relativism demand we withhold judgments from those societies that engage in human sacrifice. Barquera, cited by the Post, egregiously misconstrues and deflects when he suggests that modern distaste for Mayan behavior can all be explained away by different, equally valid cultural conceptions of death.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, cultures can expectedly differ in how they understand death, but are we really to believe it is <em>ever <\/em>permissible to kill children, whether it be via some familial revenge killing, a mythic religious ritual, or some other means? Across many cultures, spanning thousands of years, children have been understood as innocent and vulnerable, and thus to be protected rather than exploited and abused. Civilizations that repudiate this basic truth \u2014 not only the <a href=\"https:\/\/opensiuc.lib.siu.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1335&#038;context=uhp_theses\">Mayans<\/a>, but also the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/news\/aztec-human-sacrifice-religion\">Aztecs<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2013\/aug\/04\/why-incas-performed-human-sacrifice\">Incas<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/plainshumanities.unl.edu\/encyclopedia\/doc\/egp.rel.035\">Pawnee<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/npshistory.com\/publications\/jame\/moretti-langholtz\/chap7.htm\">Patawomeck<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.archaeology.org\/news\/3645-150828-cahokia-mound-72\">Cahokia<\/a> \u201cMound Peoples\u201d of present-day Illinois \u2014 engage in an affront to one of the most basic, inherently appreciable tenets of human society.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Excusing Human Sacrifice While Condemning Other Evils Is Incoherent<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Though it shouldn\u2019t need to be said, condemning the Mayans and other indigenous American peoples for engaging in human sacrifice should not obviate the historical fact that many other civilizations across many continents have done much the same. Celtic pagans engaged in human sacrifice, including the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wicker_man\">wicker man<\/a>\u201d documented by Romans and Greeks; the Hebrew Bible and other ancient sources describe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2014\/jan\/21\/carthaginians-sacrificed-own-children-study\">North African<\/a> and Near Eastern cultures sacrificing people to gods such as Baal and Moloch. An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstthings.com\/article\/2023\/10\/we-are-repaganizing\">October 2023 article in First Things<\/a> disturbingly notes that archaeologists can easily tell when they\u2019ve encountered a Roman imperial-era brothel because those digging will inevitably find the bones of male infant skeletons, since baby boys were of little utility to such \u201cbusinesses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Killing anyone without just cause is morally reprehensible, but it is a special degree of evil to murder children. Most humans (especially parents) know this, which is why pro-abortion advocates work so hard to argue that life in the womb is in some way not fully human and thus can be justifiably obliterated. Any attempt to claim children are not worthy of society\u2019s special protection, as multiculturalist academics and journalists seem to be attempting to do when it comes to the Mayans, is flatly contemptible.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1e7ee8bf4eb0b9a8a7d0aee8306ce7f6 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1e7ee8bf4eb0b9a8a7d0aee8306ce7f6\"><\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s also patently incoherent. Our legacy elite institutions are overflowing with academics, journalists, and bureaucrats earning their living condemning Western civilization for exploiting other peoples through imperialism, slavery, and other such crimes against human freedom and flourishing. Yet according to multiculturalist reasoning, why should we condemn those who engage in military conquest or slavery? Aren\u2019t such behaviors simply the manifestation of alternative belief systems and social structures, no better or worse than anything else? Who are we to judge societies built on slavery or violent military conquest? Or is it that these behaviors are only bad when Europeans and their descendants engage in them?<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps it\u2019s too much to ask for intellectual coherence from those who, while financially benefiting from Western civilization, seem bent on doing everything in their power to vilify and destroy it from within. Yet shame on us if we show anything but disgust for anyone who claims with a straight face that we should show tolerance and acceptance for civilizations that murdered their own children to honor or appease some deity, no matter how \u201ccomplex\u201d the ritual. For if we cannot condemn such obvious evils, how are we any different?<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-853414f0719caed1c29b3f39183cc46e fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-853414f0719caed1c29b3f39183cc46e\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Major media outlets and elite institutions, including The New York Times, CBS, National Geographic, and Smithsonian Magazine, are highlighting a study in Nature. This research details the genetic analysis of a mass burial site in Chich\u00e9n Itz\u00e1, Mexico, known for its history of human sacrifice during the Mayan era<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":658,"featured_media":2271253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/2048px-001_El_Castillo_o_templo_de_Kukulkan._Chichen_Itza_Mexico._MPLC-e1718647978340.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2271252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/2048px-001_El_Castillo_o_templo_de_Kukulkan._Chichen_Itza_Mexico._MPLC-e1718647978340.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/658"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2271252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2271253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2271252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2271252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2271252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}