To some people, today is Columbus Day. Those people have a cultish dedication to believing that a rapist, a thief, a slaver, and an oppressor was a hero — I guess nowadays we can believe there will be subset of the citizenry who ignore the facts to invent a cherished symbol. To be fair, here’s a bit from the Friends of Italian-Americans.
Even by today’s impossible utopian standards, Columbus was without a doubt the greatest hero of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. He was a capitalist in the age of Empires, and what he did began the downfall of imperialism. He was a scientist in the age of superstition. He was a civil rights activist in the age of oppression. And he was a pacifist in the age of war-mongering. Thus, Columbus was an icon and a paragon.
For a quick dismissal of their claims, consider that they condemn Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States by citing a PragerU video.
I think this is a better summary of Columbus’s character.
Italian-American Trade Unionists of America Condemn Columbus on Columbus Day The Italian-American Trade Unionists of America (IATUOA) has once again reaffirmed its condemnation of Christopher Columbus on Columbus Day.
“We only mention the son of a bitch’s name once a year and it’s when we announce that he’s a son of a bitch on his name day,” the IATUOA Executive Committee announced from a dark, smoke-filled room in the Italian-American Club of Shamokin, PA.
The IATUOA, founded on the principles of cultural solidarity through bargaining, mutual aid, shared dining experiences, and anti-imperialism, believes Columbus represents the antithesis of these core values. Based on his writing and contemporary accounts, Columbus was a greedy, self-indulgent strunz, a jerk-off that gleefully engaged in the enslavement and genocide of indigenous people for personal gain and fame.
Further, this fucking guy, supposedly Genoese, rarely spoke or wrote in Ligurian or any Italic language. What kind of “Italian” does that?
Italian-Americans deserve recognition and a holiday in the United States, but also deserve a figure worthy of their name. “If you’re gonna name the fuckin’ day Columbus Day, you might as well go-all in and make the fucking holiday Columbus/Mussolini Day to piss on a few more graves,” the IATOUA Executive Committee further scoffed.
I’d quite like to meet this Columbus that the Friends of Italian-Americans are describing. He sounds lovely. I expect he’d hate the real one, though.
Even if true, which it isn’t, that couldn’t have been his intention. He was happily claiming new lands for the Spanish Enpire after all.
I have the strong impression that most people who are considered heroes, actually were rapists, thieves, slavers, oppressors etc. Consider Julius Caesar, for example. How would we call him if he invaded France today?
I would nominate Galileo or da Vinci as better models of Italian identity than Columbus or any of the Caesars.
Interestingly a report came out this week that DNA from his supposed remains indicate he was Jewish. The report is already being criticised for the methods used and the conclusions made.
Walter Solomon@2: Yeah no idea how C. could be seen as the beginning of the downfallmof imperialism.
I mean, his discovery and claiming the new lands for Spain, pretty much started the European empires, didn’t it?
@5: And the fact that they announced the results in a televised press conference rather than a peer-reviewed journal article.
Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada.
I shall “celebrate” with a TV dinner and a bottle of plonk.
Since Columbus never set foot in what was to become the US nor on any part of the North American continent, have a holiday to celebrate the man is ridiculous. Factor in his rather unsavory penchant for slavery, torture, and other assorted behaviors often associated with European conquering “heroes”, we may as well have a holiday for King Leopold of Belgium who had many of the same qualities.
I know what you mean.
My ancestors were the Vikings.
AFAICT, they were just thugs, looters, raiders, slavers, and conquerors who terrorized the countries around them for a few hundred years.
The first raid on Britain was a monastery full of unarmed monks.
How hard was it to loot and destroy that monastery?
They managed to conquer and occupy parts of Ireland and France (Normandy). Well good for them but the native populations probably had a different idea about watching their land and stuff being stolen.
They only look good to us now because they’ve been dead for 1,000 years and are distant from us in time and space. And some of us had ancestors who were on the winning side
Also keep in mind that three days before “Columbus Day”, it’s Leif Eriksson Day.
Side note… Columbus only survived his initial voyage because he was using the wrong size for the Earth.
Let me guess, their entire argument is “Zinn in a COMMUNIST (dramatic sting) so therefore he’s wrong.” Didn’t there “kids” channel produce a cartoon that argued that Columbus enslaving the natives, which was totally cool back then, was a more moral option than killing them?
Rhetorical question! Of course they did! (https://youtu.be/PKJU0K_ebfU?si=FI0gVs39MmhkyYVd)
Of course, what can you say about a YouTube channel whose quisling founder laments that he can’t use the n-word in public anymore.