The Professor

Happy Columbus Day! It's a cause for celebration but the dead hand of political correctness has forced its clammy wet blanket over us all. Fear is in; joy is out. 1992 should have a memorable 500th anniversary, but all we got was bitter diatribe.

There are plenty of reasons to appreciate Mr. Columbus; if he hadn't made his voyages:

1-We Europeans would inhabit an over-crowded continent, still speaking French, Spanish, whatever, and still slaughtering one another over possession of some river or another. Our ego-driven rivalries would be completely out of control by now.

2- The 500 or so separate American Indian nations/cultures would still be fighting, killing, and enslaving each other, in efforts to keep sworn ancestoral "enemies" from gaining advantage.

3- All black people would be doomed to live out their lives on the African continent, never knowing the benefits of free-market societies. Slavery was a horrible time, but it's gone now, and it was the Western democracies which abolished it.

4-Women would still be considered property or 2nd-class citizens, like they are today in the Arab world, or used to be among American Indian tribes. Trans-planted Europeans changed that.

5-Yes, I know, Columbus brought smallpox and other dread diseases, and crowded the Indians off their ancestral lands, but because of the vast population shift to the new world, there is today vast, unprecedented wealth in the world. Not all peoples have felt the full benefits yet, but they will.

s2kskibum

Maybe someone a bit nicer, more compassionate for indigenous people, less greedy, less of a masochist, less of an ego maniac, non slave trader, less of a religious freak, less of a profiteer could have "discovered" the Americas.

Do you really believe that because of Columbus the items you outlined would not have happened?

I hope you are not truly a Professor.

Screw Columbus. If you don't believe he was a horrible individual, read his own accounts, and those of the people with him.

Gymniac

^^^I agree.

Professor,

Your view of history is waaaaaaaay too simplified and naive that it doesn't even deserve any counter-argument.

BUT I will ask you this. Have you thought about WHAT IF the naitive people did slit Columbus' throat and barbequed him. And a year later, aided by an alien technologies called UFO and laser, invade Europe and spread anthrax, kill, rape their women and children? I donnno...a possiblity?

ralper

I like when there are differences of opinion. It makes us all think.

Just lets keep it civil.

Thanks.

jrfblueeyes

The Professor
Owner / Member

Thank You, Christopher Columbus!
Happy Columbus Day! It's a cause for celebration but the dead hand of political correctness has forced its clammy wet blanket over us all. Fear is in; joy is out. 1992 should have a memorable 500th anniversary, but all we got was bitter diatribe.

I agree. Human nature. We all aren't that different. It was a time of expansion and conquest. Probably been going on forever before these events were documented. It sure wasn't or isn't a Columbus thing. It's inherent to Hominids. Especially Homo Sapien Sapien. Period.

Gymniac

So by "celerbrating" this event, we are celerbrating our own nasty, aggressive, ugly "nature?"

jrfblueeyes

Party on!

Millions were slaughtered/sacrificed to the Sun God "Huitziliopochtli" in Montezuma's Mexico. "His was an empire united by terror, ruthlessness, exploitation and megalonmanicacal terror." The idea was to appease the sun god so that the sun would rise again. For this to happen, sacrificial victims were needed. The real reason was to have a good excuse to war on neighboring tribes, take their land, women and other possesions...expansionism...Mexican imperialism? When Cortez landed in the Americas, he was greeted by a throng of Aztec priests and slaves carrying fresh food and drink. The first thing they did was throw one of the slaves to the ground, rip out his heart and sprinkle the fare with blood as an offering to the god Quetzalcoatl. They believe that Cortez was the god Quetzalcoatl returning to claim that which was his and ending the Aztec empire. The priests were slain immediately by the disgusted Spanish soldiers. Imagine that after months at sea with no fresh provisions. When Cortez marched into Mexico city, the streets ran with blood from the thousands that had been sacrificed to the sun god. There are accounts of 100,000 being sacrificed the day before Cortez arrived in the city. At the sacrificial altar, Aztec priests adorned the flayed skins of their victims. Imagine the stench and horrified reaction of the Spanish conquistadores.
Needless to say, many were very happy to see the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores. You have to know the whole story and put it in context. "La conquista was a psychological and religious victory as much a military one."
Truth and context aren't politically correct but they really should be included.
Stange days indeed!


Reference: "THE HUMMINGBIRD AND THE HAWK" Conquest and Sovereignty in the Valley of Mexico 1503-1541
L.C. Padden
Harper Torchbooks.

Gymniac

But you failed to see things in "their perspective." If they believed human sacrifice was needed to appease the sun god, SO BE IT. Who are we to judge them with our modern, "civilized" Eurocentric views? BTW, human sacrifice has been performed for a long time in pre-historic Europe as well, so your flowery picture of Conquistadors "liberating" the "savages" doesn't hold water (their ancestors did the same). In the end, it still comes down to who was more greedier, more materialistic, more aggressive, more selfish, and who had guns and cannons first. Nothing to "celerbrate," if you ask me.

PokS2k

I find this to be very distasteful and assuming.

It assumes that cultures can't change over time. If that were the case then how did certain "European" cultures evolve from being barbarians and others would still be acting like the Romans.

I also find it offensive to imply that Native Americans benefited from Europeans taking their land and eventually putting them on reservations.

I can't even comment on the item concerning black people being "doomed".

Personally I think these are disgraceful comments and are self patronizing.

jrfblueeyes

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Gymniac
But you failed to see things in "their perspective."