Columbus Day Should Be Celebrated

Alpha Male

Mentor
Joined
May 22, 2005
Messages
775
Location
California
<H1 =articleTitle id=articleTitle>Columbus should be celebrated</H1>
<DIV =articleByline id=articleByline>By David A. Sprecace
Guest Commentary, Englewood
<DIV =articleDate id=articleDate>Posted:04/20/2007 01:00:00 AM MDT
<DIV =articleSecondaryDate id=articleDate>Updated:04/20/2007 08:30:00 AM MDT

<DIV =articleer>
<DIV =article id=article>
<DIV =articleViewerGroup id=articleViewerGroup style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px">

var requestedWidth = 0;



if(requestedWidth > 0){
document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').style.width = requestedWidth + "px";
document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').style.margin = "0px 0px 10px 10px";
}




Columbus Day has been a federal holiday since President Franklin D. Roosevelt first proclaimed it such in 1934. One hundred years ago this month, Colorado Sen. Casimo Barela's bill was signed into law, designating Oct. 12 of each year as a public holiday known as Columbus Day. Roosevelt and Barela recognized the significant achievements of Christopher Columbus, and rightly chose, with millions of other Americans, to honor him.


Columbus possessed admirable qualities, of which all Americans can be proud. Even by his detractors, he is seen as a skilled sea captain of the highest order. He challenged the conventional thought that the Earth was flat, seeking to "reach the east by going west," an idea to which the scientists of the day were forcibly opposed. He challenged the Aristotelian philosophy of science that had guided scientists for centuries in favor of the newer philosophy of science that placed observation in a primary role of analysis. He supported the heliocentric concept of the solar system with Galileo, Copernicus and Kepler before it became known by that name. In capitalistic spirit (admirable in the eyes of most Americans), he sought glory, wealth and a title of nobility by opening new trade routes to China and Japan.


Most importantly, though, Columbus discovered the American continental coast and recorded the voyage in a way that enabled others to repeat the feat. The real achievement worthy of holidays, monuments and namesake cities is that he opened a route that could be sailed again by himself and others. It is Columbus' method of discovery and record-keeping that distinguishes him from other explorers who may previously have "discovered" the New World. He opened the door to further discovery by explorers like Magellan, Cooke, Drake and Hudson. His discovery led to the creation of the greatest nation on Earth, the United States of America.


Today, Columbus is a scapegoat for perceived European sins intentionally committed in the Americas by non-Native Americans over the past 500 years. Those who oppose Columbus Day blame Columbus - and only Columbus - for acts of genocide, the continued suffering of indigenous people, the slave trade in the entire Western hemisphere, the United States governmental policy of Manifest Destiny, and the erosion of rights of indigenous peoples throughout the Americas. To blame Columbus for any of these, though, is to exonerate the policies, groups and individuals who practiced slavery and committed heinous crimes against humanity, including the French, English, U.S. and Spanish governments, Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers, the Confederate States of America, the Ku Klux Klan, and the U.S. military officers who massacred Native Americans at places like Sand Creek. Place blame on those who deserve it, not on Christopher Columbus.


Contrary to the expressed opinions of those who oppose Columbus Day, Columbus did not introduce slavery to the Americas. Slave trading was a major part of the economy of the Ute Native American tribes, according to Colorado historian Virginia McConnell Simmons in her book "The Ute Indians of Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico." Captives from battle were sold into slavery in places like Taos for horses and hides. Slavery was a universal institution in the world, lacking opposition until the mid-16th and early 17th centuries. St. Thomas Aquinas considered it a "product of original sin." The Catholic Church and other churches, including the Eastern Church and the Reformation churches, disapproved, but sought only to mitigate its excesses. Slavery already existed in the Americas, especially in Central America, at the time of Columbus' arrival; Cortez provided ample descriptions of what he found in the Mexico City of the Aztecs.


Even where Columbus first landed in what is now known as the "West Indies," tribes practiced slavery and cannibalism. The Arawaks originally came from Venezuela and seized many islands during the 1st century AD, pushing other tribes back to the hinterlands. Some of the Arawak tribes, "discovered" by Columbus, practiced cannibalism. Between 1000 and 1500, the Carib tribes from the Guianas and Venezuela seized some islands from the Arawaks. The Arawaks were by that time a peaceful people, involved in agriculture and pottery, with a relatively elaborate social structure headed by hereditary chieftains. The Carib had a less elaborate social structure, and their society lives centered around warfare, including cannibalism. When they conquered the lesser Antilles, they killed the Arawak men, married their women, and adopted the Arawak language.


Christopher Columbus is a man worthy of the honors and accolades bestowed upon him. Instead of looking back 500 years and judging a man who lived before the military use of gunpowder by today's mores, those who oppose Columbus Day should celebrate his discovery and be thankful they live in this great country.
<DIV =articleFooter>
<DIV =articles>
< ="http://s7.add.com/js/152/add_widget.js" =text/>
Print Email
< = ="http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/js/article/changeFontSize.js" =text/>
normal.gif
large.gif
largest.gif
Font Resize Return to Top »Get Home Delivery
 

Alpha Male

Mentor
Joined
May 22, 2005
Messages
775
Location
California
The indoctrination begins with education. Our children are no longervenerating this man; they areputting him on trial; calling him a racist; or worse, completely ignoring him.
 
Joined
Oct 24, 2005
Messages
1,248
Location
Illinois
Columbus was a great man and should be honored.
 

DixieDestroyer

Hall of Famer
Joined
Jan 19, 2007
Messages
9,464
Location
Dixieland
Columbus Day should take far more focus & celebration than ("Saint") MLK day! Also, notice how they lump all of the Presidents into 1 "holiday", versus having a Washington Day, Jefferson Day, etc. Whereas, adulterer, heretic & communist MLK gets his own day!Typical cultural Marxist ploy.
 
Joined
Dec 10, 2012
Messages
703
Of all the petty crimes & slanders perpetrated by cultural-Marxists, I find the attack on Columbus' legacy especially disgraceful.

Columbus is arguably the greatest mariner in human history, his awareness of trade winds, his personal courage.. the way he advanced human mobility (probably more than any other individual in history ?) is completely discarded in the cultural Marxist pursuit to selectively attack his morality, while they rarely analyze/contextualize the moral structure of native cultures..
But when you look at a primary source documenting his first voyage (Columbus' log), Columbus praises the hospitality & spirit of the natives he encountered. He ordered his men not to disturb any of the Indians' dwellings, he bartered (not took) for Indian goods.. He sought to bring the Gospel to the New World, and continuously praises God and held optimism for Christianity in the New World.. Which brings me to a personal pet peeve in the cultural battle over Columbus' legacy.. Why isn't the Catholic Church more aggressively defending the man. Their opportunity for global expanse & evangelism was profoundly improved by Columbus. And (imo) sectarian Protestants & Jews wanting to escape oppression in Europe are also forever indebted to Columbus for opening that door.
 

Matra2

Master
Joined
Jul 6, 2011
Messages
2,317
Of all the petty crimes & slanders perpetrated by cultural-Marxists, I find the attack on Columbus' legacy especially disgraceful.

I agree. I remember in 1992 - the 500th anniversary of his discovery of America - leftists treating it as a solemn instead of joyous occasion. Hollywitz celebrated the anniversary with an anti-Columbus movie. It was the same back in 2007 when we should've been celebrating the Jamestown anniversary all we got was disgusting leftist revisionism. The Queen's visit to Virginia in 2007 was kept as low key as possible and her speeches were carefully written to ensure no one was offended.
 
Joined
Dec 10, 2012
Messages
703
I agree. I remember in 1992 - the 500th anniversary of his discovery of America - leftists treating it as a solemn instead of joyous occasion.. with an anti-Columbus movie..

yeah, I remember the pair of Columbus movies from '92.. I thought 1492
was okay. It had some cool scenery & cinematography, but..

I watched a Columbus flick, from the late '40s, on Netflix a while back (Christopher Columbus). Anybody seen it (?) It was slow, but did justice to Columbus the visionary.. Focusing a lot on the story of his securing royal funding & blessing for his first trip.
Of all the noble qualities Columbus embodied.. courage, vision, persistence.. A life that kids could learn from. The self-hating, Cultural-Marxist, beta-male historians have reduced Columbus' legacy to a single, cynical, cherry-picked narrative: He was mean to the Indians..
 
Top