Why doesn't a genocidal maniac deserve to be cancelled?
He discovered America, launching the modern era and changing the course of history. We owe our existence as a nation to him.
1.he died thinking he wasn't in America but Asia
2.because he was very very very wrong about the size of the world
3.because everyone knew the world was round in 1492 and how big it was, they were right, he was not
4.nevermind the whole "he was bad even for his day" which is saying a lot
If he was just wrong and an otherwise nice guy, sure, celebrate him as one of the great accidents of history, still wouldn't deserve a Federal holiday. But the fact that he was amazingly dumb and cruel for his day makes celebrating him very wrong. And it's not like someone else wouldn't have tried to go west eventually, and probably sooner than later.
#1 and #4 are just plain wrong.
Columbus writes in the journal of his third voyage (1498) that America was "a mighty continent" "hitherto unknown."
The atrocities of Columbus are largely mythical and more correctly ascribed to Nicolas de Ovando, who was the Spanish governor of Hispaniola from 1501 to 1509. A lot of the bad stuff attributed to Columbus is Black Legend revisionism pushed by later English and Dutch colonists.
Why are US conservatives so obsessed with defending Columbus? What is the connection, other than both being racist?
In the interest of truth?
I see DT isn't convinced by the CNN article that my friend Torie posted either. The truth is always some where in middle, especially with subjects that are over 500 years old.
Poll
