Petition: Rename America

[John Dule]

The name "America" comes from the name of Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci, who, among other things, participated in and funded slave raids and owned at least five slaves himself. Obviously, in order to wash away the problematic legacy of cishet white males like Vespucci, this continent must be renamed. The word "America" must be removed from all of our monuments, signs, and paper dollars. The seals of the US states must be changed. Every song mentioning "America" must be rewritten. All official documents in the US government must be reprinted and the originals must be burned. This could cost up to two trillion dollars, but even though we're in the middle of a pandemic and that money could be better spent pretty much anywhere else, I think this is a small price to pay for racial healing. What say you?

[Esteemed Jimmy]

No

[John Dule]

No

WHY NOT?!?!

[S019]

The fact that you mock people who want good change shows the type of person you truly are, anyways I'm not participating in your troll game and as a result I won't vote in the poll.

[John Dule]

The fact that you mock people who want good change shows the type of person you truly are, anyways I'm not participating in your troll game and as a result I won't vote in the poll.

What are you, a racist or something? Vote in the poll, bigot.

[S019]

The fact that you mock people who want good change shows the type of person you truly are, anyways I'm not participating in your troll game and as a result I won't vote in the poll.

What are you, a racist or something? Vote in the poll, bigot.

I don't spend my time engaging with trolls who post in bad-faith.

[John Dule]

The fact that you mock people who want good change shows the type of person you truly are, anyways I'm not participating in your troll game and as a result I won't vote in the poll.

What are you, a racist or something? Vote in the poll, bigot.

I don't spend my time engaging with trolls who post in bad-faith.

Help, police! He's expressing an opinion I don't like!

[Mr. Reactionary]

The fact that you mock people who want good change shows the type of person you truly are, anyways I'm not participating in your troll game and as a result I won't vote in the poll.

What are you, a racist or something? Vote in the poll, bigot.

I don't spend my time engaging with trolls who post in bad-faith.

Help, police! He's expressing an opinion I don't like!

If he doesn't support changing a racist slaveholder inspired name he's racist and silent and therefore violent and therefore can be cancelled with impunity.

[Wikipedia delenda est]

I'd support renaming the United States specifically, but not the continents as a whole. Descriptive names like the "United States", "Central African Republic", and "Czech Republic" (good on them for changing it to Czechia) are just terrible. Any real country must have a name that can serve as a microcosm for the whole nation, encapsulating the land and its people in a single word. Since "Columbia" is already taken by the Colombians, and Christopher Columbus was a very problematic man, I propose we go with "Fredonia", as was suggested in the early 19th century.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Voted No, meant Yes.

[Antonio the Sixth]

what original, brilliant and insightful commentary on modern politics

[John Dule]

what original, brilliant and insightful commentary on modern politics

We aim to please here at Honest Johnny Dule's Bespoke Opinion Emporium.

[fhtagn]

The fact that you mock people who want good change shows the type of person you truly are, anyways I'm not participating in your troll game and as a result I won't vote in the poll.

Then don't reply in the thread

[Mr. Reactionary]

The fact that you mock people who want good change shows the type of person you truly are, anyways I'm not participating in your troll game and as a result I won't vote in the poll.

Then don't reply in the thread

It craves attention.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It's not simply enuf to say something is bad enuf to go, you need suggested replacements. For instance, renaming North America as Greater Vinland and South America as Greater Brazil. (Not that I support either suggestion.) Maybe North Oceania and South Oceania?

[Del Tachi]

Yes, we should be Columbia.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

The fact that you mock people who want good change shows the type of person you truly are, anyways I'm not participating in your troll game and as a result I won't vote in the poll.

What are you, a racist or something? Vote in the poll, bigot.

I don't spend my time engaging with trolls who post in bad-faith.

Help, police! He's expressing an opinion I don't like!

Trying to decide when the point was being laid on a little too thick. It was probably here, but you could make an argument that it was the preceding post in the series too.

[John Dule]

Anyway, today I'll be attending a city council meeting on renaming my high school, which was named for a slave owner. I will be using the argument outlined in this thread. I thought I'd test it out on you guys to see if there are any decent retorts to it, and apparently there aren't. Thanks for your help.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Lmao this whole thread.

[Former President tack50]

No (loves slavery and hates brown people)

[Middle-aged Europe]

Voted Yes, Meant No.

[beaver2.0]

Rename it Vespuccia.  Who even names a place after some guy's first name?

[Mr. Reactionary]

https://quillette.com/2020/06/22/toward-a-new-cultural-nationalism/

41% of "very liberal" poll respondents favor renaming America compared to "only" 1/3 of regular liberals.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

During his (very brief) time in Congress, Horace Greeley submitted a bill renaming the country to "Columbia". Good thing it didn't pass

Such a proposal would naturally be a non-starter, but I've always found the country being named "America" as a bit generic and bland, while all other American countries (even big ones like Canada and Brazil) have unique names.

what original, brilliant and insightful commentary on modern politics

John may be trolling, but it's a valid question to ask where the line is. For example, I'm against removing memorials to Wilson at Princeton, because it doesn't take under the consideration all the good things he'd done.

The issue of racism has long been ignored or downplayed by the historians of the past generations, but while finally giving it a proper attention, it can't lead to ignoring other factors, like, let's say, all of Thomas Jefferson's great contributions as America's founding father.

That all being said, I must reiterate there are causes and people not deserving celebration, and I disagree strongly with the people saying removing statues is wrong per se. By this logic, Warsaw should still have Felix Dzerzhinsky statue. The Confederate monuments (monuments that were never really celebrating "ordinary soldiers", but the "lost cause" itself) or Ben Tillman's statue are definitively a part of "history", but not one deserving celebration, rather condemnation.

[beaver2.0]

https://quillette.com/2020/06/22/toward-a-new-cultural-nationalism/

41% of "very liberal" poll respondents favor renaming America compared to "only" 1/3 of regular liberals.

Let me be clear: I will not let this happen.