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What was the "NORM"? Were there far more neighbor eaters, or far more nature lovers?

I was taught in the liberal education system so I am ignorant to all the facts as you all would probably guess. I was taught that Columbus was bad, and that the Indians (oops Native Americans) were butchered, ect. So this discussion would probably help me out too. I'm struggling after 12 years of brainwashing, however, I am a grownup conservative now. Just a little ignorant to the facts, about Indians, Columbus, you all know what I mean.

A couple things I learned about Indians. One - they were pratically stone age. The North American Indians did not have the wheel nor beasts of burden. Two essential items for a civilization to advance, the third being the plow which I do not think they had, either. The other thing they did not have was a written language. Stories and information was passed down from generation to generation from the oldest to the young. When the white man came and introduced certain deseases into the environment - two groups of people were quickly wiped out. The very young and the very old. This proved devastating as now not many existed to tell the stories. A written language would have solved that problem. I passed this information in an English class a couple semesters ago and the instructor stated that what I was saying was almost racist. Not that I was wrong, but only that it should not be said.

Also, liked someone said earlier - depended upon tribe to tribe. Some tribes were into enslaving others, war, and other nasty things only attributed to whites these days. What - the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incans practiced baby and virgin killing in the form of sacrifices. Somehow, that all gets glossed over today. It is like the Indian woman who supposively helped Lewis and Clark on their expedition. I hear it was actually her French husband and she was just along for the ride.

I commend you for being open to other aspects of the Hispanic conquest and colonization of America. One of the most ignored by historians but very revealing facts about the treatment of the Indians by the Spanish Crown, is that as soon as the vaccine against the smallpox was discovered in England by Dr. Edward Jenner at the end of the 18th century, Spain according to American historian Dr. Phillip W. Powell: "an enlightened Spanish government sponsored very early the use of vaccination against smallpox, because the disease was so dangerous to the Indian population." A massive program of vaccination was extended to the Indians in America and the natives of Philippines at the expense of the Spanish Crown.

In fact the official position of the Spanish Crown towards de Indians was to look for their protection and respect for their rights. In fact, When Columbus returned from his second voyage to Spain and offered to the Monarchs a group of Indians as slaves, Queen Isabella, showing great displeasure, ordered their freedom and their return to America admonishing Columbus saying: “Who gave you the authority to make slaves of my subjects?”

We are hearing now of the catastrophic consequences of a bacteriological warfare by using the smallpox virus, even with today’s modern medical advances. The main cause of death of the Indians at the arrival of the Europeans was the smallpox among other diseases for which the Indians did not have natural anti-bodies. On the other hand the Indians introduced syphilis to the Europeans, a disease common in America, but with no known record of its existence in Europe until after the discovery of America.