Columbus Day
It is a shame that this genocidal explorer is insensitively celebrated for bringing disease, slavery, and other atrocities to the Americas. He must be judged by our current standards, instead of those of his time, which just excuses his criminal behavior. Not only did he misidentify the natives as "Indians", he also infected the land with:
- written language
- Western cultural contamination
- change and technological advancement, including art
- a new evangelistic religion and its ethnocentric morality
- science. reason, and enlightenment
- the Judeo-Christian work ethic
- invasive species (e.g. horses, cats, rats, rice, and rye) that impacted biological diversity
- a flood of illegal immigrants
- introduced war, slavery, and conflict to the mostly peaceful natives
- other disruptive ideas
No comments:
Post a Comment