Sherman123
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2012
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We celebrate Columbus Day because of the idea it represents not the man. It's almost cliche at this point to point out that Columbus was a fairly indecent man. There is nothing new in pointing out that he exploited the Indians he captured, was dictatorial to the colonists he ruled, and was generally an all around malcontent. That isn't the point. The point is that Columbus Day is a way of celebrating the arrival of Western civilization in the Americas and the 'completing' of the globe that it signified. Everyone in America knows this holiday as Columbus Day and Columbus Day it should remain.
Edit: Also on a complete side note I'm sick of hearing these sad yearnings for indigenous cultures and tribes gone by. Its not as though the tribes and civilizations encountered by Western settlers, whether Aztecs or the Powhatan's, were all that progressive and kind. In almost all cases their removal was an improvement. What remains a sad, sad mark on history is how the conquered were treated and the unstoppable impact and toll that disease took.
Edit: Also on a complete side note I'm sick of hearing these sad yearnings for indigenous cultures and tribes gone by. Its not as though the tribes and civilizations encountered by Western settlers, whether Aztecs or the Powhatan's, were all that progressive and kind. In almost all cases their removal was an improvement. What remains a sad, sad mark on history is how the conquered were treated and the unstoppable impact and toll that disease took.
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