Cartographers,school children and Federal employees all say YES! :) True,it was known that the world was round since the time of the ancient Greeks And maybe the residents of San Salvador would have preferred to remain undiscovered,all things considered.....therte is a case to be made for Columbus...or we can change the names of all tthe towns bearing his name
I read your link, and think this except sums it up best:
Roy Crazy Horse, chairman of the New Jersey Commission on American Indian Affairs and chief of the Powhatan Renape Nation, based at the Rankokus Indian Reservation in Westhampton Township, put it this way: ''Why celebrate a man who started looking for India and landed in the Caribbean, who never put down his foot in the United States, who brought slavery to this continent?''
Here's something on the subject you might find interesting, too:
Hi Savvy! Really I think this is an internet chestnut and blaming genocide that is still going on today on CC is not only judging a 15th century man by 21st century standards but appointing a convenient scapegoat for the many countries that plundered ,colonized and ravaged wherever they could do so. Would we be fighting in the Mid East if they had no oil? While I have no particular investment in Columbus,or the holiday I wonder how 'enlightened" the 27th century civilizations will judge our conduct...food for thought
I don't know what an "internet chestnut" means. I'm not blaming anything that's going on today on CC, I am saying that this country's history of genocide and enslavement began with him, and I don't believe we should have a federal holiday that celebrates him. I don't see what fighting in the ME has to do with this. If you don't have any particular investment, I'm curious as to why you're posting. Here I thought you'd be pleased that I'm participating in group activities! Is that only if we happen to agree?? Food for thought.
And I'm just participating in group activities....evidently it is bad not to be in total goosestep with the Op,at least on this question!! If you read the link you would know why CC or at least his discovery of a hitherto unknown world was noteable and worth celebrating. CHESTNUT: something (as a musical piece or a saying) repeated to the point of staleness -from the World Wide Web
I think you're right about listening to too much political talk radio! : )
I appreciate your participation. Here's to agreeing to disagree! I do hope that CC's religion isn't swaying your viewpoint, though. Food for thought. : )
I try to call em as I see em! I mean Joseph Stalin was an altar boy wayyyy before he became a Mass Murderer!!!! :P That being said and noted,I read just today that slavery did out quickly in the Spanish colonies,at the direction of the Pope...several of whom I wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley!!!
It did not begin with him. Many Native American tribes held slaves before the settlers arrived. They would raid other tribes and bring slaves back with them. Some were used for labor and some were used as sacrifices.
I was referring to Columbus saying that American Indians would make good servants. I know that slavery wasn't invented by the Europeans bringing African slaves to their newly stolen land (aka - America).
And I was thinking about what you said a bit more. I guess the big difference between what the native tribes did amongst themselves and what the Europeans did, is that the natives weren't wiping out an entire race of people. I think we can all agree that what the Europeans did to the American Indians was genocide, and that is different than fighting among clans and tribes.
It should be cancelled and decidedly eliminated. Columbus was a businessman who thru slavery and violence decimated a whole race of people for NO reason other than money. Those who think he had anything to do with bringing the concept of a round earth to life, would probably be the same ones whom, back them would have probably thought the earth was flat. And on the discovery part, that's just plain silly.
I like the idea of a day honoring American Indians. I agree that honoring the man who got the ball rolling on our history of slavery and genocide is just wrong.
We don't honor him for slavery or genocide. We honor him for his bold expeditions and pioneering achievements. Don't be so closed minded. I know this is what the progressives are trying to get into public school now............tear down every good part of American history. Don't let that happen. Look at it for what it is.............and remember, historical context is everything. Based on what I've read about Columbus he wasn't an evil soul. Many things that we look at as bad today weren't so in the 15th and 16th Centuries Europe. Columbus even wrote in his journals that the Indians seemed to be loving and hospitable.
Yes, and he wrote that they were generous and handsome. AND THAT THEY WOULD MAKE GOOD SERVANTS. And then, they were told that if they didn't accept "the [Catholic] Church" as "Ruler and Superior of the whole world", they would face persecution, and "We shall take you and your wives and your children, and shall make slaves of them, and as such shall sell and dispose of them as their Highnesses may command; and we shall take away your goods, and shall do all the harm and damage that we can."
I am most certainly for teaching children the TRUTH, rather than the lies that have been taught for centuries. History books portray America's indigenous people as "savages", when, as you said, even Columbus wrote that they were generous people. Lovely, generous people who were brutalized by foreign invaders.
I do believe you've answered my second question, with your additional reply, haven't you? Peace to you and yours.
If we were to think that way, wouldn't we say, then, that the atrocities inflicted upon Christians during the Armenian genocide somehow are not that horrible because we need to look at them thru the context of the times. I do give you that as a business man and visionary he does deserve some credit. But, wouldn't that be like celebrating the achievements of the Ottoman empire, regardless of the genocide against Christians. Don't you think, Thrifty?
bookerdana 