May he be made an example of. Let him receive some reprimand, whatever you choose. Perhaps punishment. Disease. Perhaps you’ll let your honor and glory fall to another of your friends, those who weep in sorrow now. For they do exist. They live. You have no want of friends. They are sighing before you, humble. Choose one of them.
Perhaps he [the bad ruler] will experience what the common folk do: suffering, anguish, lack of food and clothing. And perhaps you will give him the greatest punishments: paralysis, blindness, rotting infection.
Or will he instead soon depart this world? Will you bring about his death? Will he get to know our future home, the place with no exits, no smoke holes? Maybe he will meet the Lord of Death, Mictlanteuctli, mother and father of us all.
Clearly, the Aztecs took the responsibilities of leadership very seriously".
> A gut punch of a paragraph in a 2010 vintage fantasy novel re: plague response:
> They were intelligently planned procedures, quickly and efficiently carried out, by men who knew what they were doing. They'd never worked in the past, and this time was no exception.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/how-smallpox-devastated...
They did not have time for one to appear.
So, what does it have to do with the Aztecs? Nothing, that's the point, and why it's (a rather minor case of) TDS.
Seems like it shouldn't have a place here.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_derangement_syndrome
Good luck challenging the status quo without "confusing" or "frighten" people, or "creating a scandal".
Retract your teeth and claws. Gladden your people. Unite them, humor them, please them. Make your nation happy. Help each find their proper place. That way you’ll be esteemed, renowned. And when our Lord extinguishes you, the old ones will weep and sigh.
Good advice, someone in the oval office should read it :)