Happy Columbus Day!

[macshorty]

Yeah, introducing European-style mass slavery and genocide to the Americas is totally something worth being proud of... I mean absolutely no disrespect to those of Italian heritage but Columbus should be remembered for more than "discovering" America. Lets keep in mind the Taino and Arawak peoples of the Caribbean who were raped, slaughtered and enslaved by European "explorers".

More recently and more importantly, today is, in many places, a day set aside to honor the indigenous people of the Americas, to more fully understand and discuss the horrible events which transpired at the coming of Cristobal Columbo, the "Christ-Bringer Colonizer", and to consider the effects of imperial expansionism on native peoples the world over, an imperialism which continues even today in "third-world" countries all over the globe.

Columbus was no hero. He was a greedy opportunist who accidentally sailed to the wrong place and brutally subjugated the people he found there who welcomed him with open arms.





Antonio, you do look sharp though.

Conquer or be conquered!!

[Vegan Scot]

Just posting this and I'm done.

Howard Zinn was one of the most highly respected, reputable and incisive historians of the modern world and wrote extensively on a myriad of topics. To boot he is even-handed and objective about matters of history. I'll have to look and see if he's ever written anything about kilts.

Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress

[ohiopiper]

History is full of folks who had to "take a turn in the barrel". Let's not judge things that happened centuries ago with the lens of the twenty-first century. Our progeny I'm sure will look back and cringe at some of the barbaric things we do. What are they? Don't know. We don't consider them barbaric.

Anyhow, I'm all for celebrating the accomplishments of historic people, even if they were flawed. If we chose only the perfect ones, we'd have no Holidays other than Christmas and Easter. Personally, I like more than two holidays a year.

[macwilkin]

Just posting this and I'm done.

Howard Zinn was one of the most highly respected, reputable and incisive historians of the modern world and wrote extensively on a myriad of topics. To boot he is even-handed and objective about matters of history. I'll have to look and see if he's ever written anything about kilts.

Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress

And in the spirit of looking at both sides, I will offer the works of another historian, Colin Calloway, as a rebuttal in kind to the works of Mr. Zinn. Calloway is a noted expert on European-Indian relations and has published a number of titles, including one of my favourites, White People, Highlanders and Indians. However in this post, I would highly recommend reading his New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America to balance Zinn's writings.

Calloway does not villify European or Indian, but simply points out their common humanity, warts and all.

T.

[Antonio]

Ah... so Columbus was a Jewish, who lived in Spain, but became Italian when the county line moved???

LOL! I guess if we're gonna get technical... You're all Italian because the Roman's marched into all of Europe wearing tunics, kicked everyone's naked *** and made them all wear kilts!

[Woodsheal]

Just posting this and I'm done.

Howard Zinn was one of the most highly respected, reputable and incisive historians of the modern world and wrote extensively on a myriad of topics. To boot he is even-handed and objective about matters of history. I'll have to look and see if he's ever written anything about kilts.

Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress

Sure, if you like your history with a leftist-revisionist flavor to it, Zinn's your man...!

[macwilkin]

Yeah, introducing European-style mass slavery and genocide to the Americas is totally something worth being proud of... I mean absolutely no disrespect to those of Italian heritage but Columbus should be remembered for more than "discovering" America. Lets keep in mind the Taino and Arawak peoples of the Caribbean who were raped, slaughtered and enslaved by European "explorers".

More recently and more importantly, today is, in many places, a day set aside to honor the indigenous people of the Americas, to more fully understand and discuss the horrible events which transpired at the coming of Cristobal Columbo, the "Christ-Bringer Colonizer", and to consider the effects of imperial expansionism on native peoples the world over, an imperialism which continues even today in "third-world" countries all over the globe.

Columbus was no hero. He was a greedy opportunist who accidentally sailed to the wrong place and brutally subjugated the people he found there who welcomed him with open arms.





Antonio, you do look sharp though.

Of course, Native Americans never did any of those things, because they were perfect "noble savages"...can we say The Aztecs?

Let's save the Political Correctness, please. Columbus was a human being, and none of us are perfect.

Sorry, mods, but I had to respond to this one. I abhor political correctness.

T.

[Woodsheal]

Of course, Native Americans never did any of those things, because they were perfect "noble savages"...can we say The Aztecs?

Let's save the Political Correctness, please. Columbus was a human being, and none of us are perfect.

Sorry, mods, but I had to respond to this one. I abhor political correctness.

T.

Right on target, Todd!

[McClef]

This thread is in danger of rapidly deteriorating into the rights and wrongs of past centuries.

Please stay on topic.

[EHCAlum]

When I lived in Charlottesville, we never got Columbus Day off. We always got April 13th off.

My UVA brethren should know the importance of that date.