Columbus Day... A Time to Celebrate...or Not

[masmdu]

Views on why we should or should not celebrate Columbus Day?

I think of the quotes from Columbus' diary wherein he talk about testing the sharpness of his sword by seeing if it would cut off the arms of some unlucky Arawak native they encountered in San Salvador. Nice man.

I think these diary excerpts can be found in Chomsky's 501 Book, or Zinn's People's History (cant remember which)

[DrWeird]

1. What kind of dumbass thinks we should celebrate Columbus?

I guess the kind that only gets their facts from grade school history class.

[ant]

13. the kind who

gets a day off from work?

I won't deny the reality of history, but hell, I'm not going to complain about a holiday, either.

[mdvet]

2. 500 years ago

yeah like the same natives everyone cries over werent hacking each other to bits, human sacrifice and war, the way some people say it you would think they all lived in peace, went to the moon, and discovered the Internet and Columbus destroyed it all.

[THUNDER HANDS]

4. um...maybe they would have made peace

But....you know....they were kinda slaughtered before they could do that.

[masmdu]

5. Actually, the Arawak people were indeed a peaceful people

who lived in peace with each other

[DrWeird]

9. The holocaust was a long time ago too.

But, like you say, the probably killed a bunch of people too. So who cares.

[Deja Q]

3. Shouldn't Columbus get the flying fickle finger of fate award?

:shrug:

I see no reason to celebrate some guy who was cruel and abusive, even if he did find a big chunk of land that was already occupied by people, some of which were cruel and abusive in their own ways...

[Chovexani]

6. I've noticed some interesting spin

I've noticed some interesting spin the last couple of years or so with regards to Columbus Day, at least in the NY area. Columbus himself is getting downplayed and they are spinning the holiday as more of a celebration of Italian-American pride.

I'm pretty young, but I don't ever remember such an emphasis put on the day--it was there to some extent but it was never pushed as heavily. I think as more and more civil rights groups, American Indian groups, etc. began to raise public awareness, they started pushing this angle.

Or not. Just my 2 cents.

--C.

[Chuckup]

7. Columbus was a freeper

that says it all....

[mdvet]

8. lol

i would love to see him on the freeper boards, no bugger would understand him.

[madrchsod]

10. the vikings came here

first and may have reached into the midwest..and they didn`t kill anyone as far as any legend goes...

[mdvet]

12. vikings

well that would be a first, so you honestly believe the vikings never killed anyone, as a descendant of vikings, i gotta laugh.

[pansypoo53219]

15. the pope told them not to intermingle with the savages.

why they all died off in greenland.

[mdvet]

16. the pope

actually the vikings were not catholic, they were mainly still pagan, (Eirik Thorvaldson, who is credited with discovering america was a pagan but interestingly his mother was a christian) worshipped odin etc, hence when they landed on new land they invarably praised odin and named the landfall in his name.

[DuctapeFatwa]

11. We are celebrating Indian Resistance Day!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=526814

[mdvet]

14. ok

ill continue to celebrate columbus day, st paddys day, st andrews day, and ill do so most heartily.