First of all, I want to offer my sincere gratitude to everyone who made a contribution over the last few weeks. You’ll probably never know how much it helped, both financially and for my peace of mind.
As a question, does anybody else hate Columbus Day both because it’s a celebration of an event that had many tragic consequences and because you’re tired as hell of people insisting on ruining every Columbus Day by complaining about those tragic consequences?
At this point, I’d vote to just abolish the holiday completely.
Why does everyone want to kill the only Italian-American holiday?
Tragic Consequences? Why not eliminate Thanksgiving which celebrates an event that also had tragic consequences for Native Americans. Instead of helping the Pilgrims, they should have let them starve.
I’d suggest making St. Francis of Assisi (October 4) the Italian-American holiday. He’s a patron saint of Italy and a much more attractive figure than Columbus.
Here’s your answer, voice: Columbus was an asshole, even by the standards of his own time. Have a read:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day
That’s a helluva read; I did not know all that. Thanks for posting it.
Great idea, Las Casas day. let’s do it!!!
For those who don’t know, Las Casas.
Is there an Irish-American holiday? No. They just get on with drinking green beer in honor of St. Patrick and seem to have gotten over the 1970 demotion of St. Christopher.
How about Indigenous People’s Day? Can we make it that?
I need my long weekend, Booman. I NEED IT.
You can call it “National Pledge of Allegiance Day” or “Merriwether Lewis Day”.
But you can’t take away the fact that today – this day of days – I can catch up on my grading.
One of the Ferguson Leaders at the great March to St. Louis Univ. told the crowd of pdemonstrator and students: “Columbus was the first looter of this land.”
No.
The Native Americans were the first “looters” of this land…if of course you consider human beings to be “looters” of anything. But if you believe that to be true, then pre-humankind there were other “looters.” Animal life, vegetable life, microscopic beings of all kinds, all “looting” the resources of this planet in their own ways. Columbus was just the next part of an evolutionary wave. Is evolution always kind and gentle? Not very damned often, it appears. Ask the dinosaurs. Everybody eventually gets their own little plot of tarpit land. Bet on it.
Are we next?
Could be.
What follows?
Artificial intelligence, perhaps.
We’ll see, soon enough. Bet on that as well. But don’t blame ol’ Cristoforo. He was just doing his bit for evolution. As are we all.
Later…gotta go eat some dead meat so’s I can stay mean enough to remain alive.
AG
Relevant
For all of those that do not already know. This is also Native American day.
Side note for those that have TPGOP pushing for boots on the ground to fight ISIL. Here is an article for you about effects of budget cuts on military and what they are quietly doing.
http://www.militarytimes.com/article/20141009/NEWS01/310090074
“The Army has chosen this course of action because it is woefully underfunded and lacks good options”
I don’t mind folks celebrating Columbus Day–as long as they don’t mind if I move into their house and demand that they give me their stuff.
I would settle for us just being honest in this country that much of our history is very complicated and littered with imperfect people living through many different periods of cultural upheaval; and that we would all be better off and much more informed if we understood how we got where we are today, warts and all. Trying to see history through the lens of today’s perspectives is just not going to succeed in doing anything constructive. History has become nothing more than a political football, used to promote and defend all sorts of partisan ideologies, not to mention destructive extremist viewpoints. Historical occurrences are not factually documented events to study and learn from, they have now become simply opinions. In this country, it can be whatever you wish it to be.
We could reformulate most of our national holidays to better reflect the way we are now. (Christmas, New Year’s, and the 4th of July are too sacrosanct to touch.) It’s not as if most holidays have always been on a Monday (implemented in 1971). VJ Day was junked in 1975.
Lincoln’s birthday remains a holiday in several states, but it was always too close to Washington’s day and not much adopted by the private sector in those states. Officially, there is no “President’s Day;” it’s still Washington’s Birthday. Washington/Lincoln Day would be preferable (and the south can just suck it up).
The three months between Washington’s Birthday and Memorial Day is too long. Move Labor Day to May 1st.
The original intent of Veteran’s day has been completely lost — we don’t care about the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month — and it wasn’t the “war to end all wars” after all. Collapse it into Memorial Day that could be moved to the beginning of September. (The beginning of the traditional end of war fighting seasons.)
Mid-October — MLK Jr. Peace Day – he received the Nobel Peace Prize on 10/14/64 and Jesus Christ wasn’t born anywhere near 12/25.
Native Peoples Thanksgiving Days (a national four day weekend holiday) would be nice — and acknowledge that we’re already eating a traditional feast of native, western hemisphere foods. (Wouldn’t hurt to jettison the Pilgrims either.)
My daughter is quite vocal about how upset she is about “Columbus Day” as she considers it a holiday for a genocidal conquest. She has been known to rant and rave about it every year to which all I can say is “I agree with you dear.”
Is she moving back to Europe/Africa/Asia ?
She is half-Japanese so she could.
However, I don’t think that’s a nice thing to say about her, a person you do not know and did not make the comment. I don’t care if you want to criticize or say mean things about me, but it crosses a line when you talk about my daughter. She’s one of the better kids coming up these days.
She suffers from ADHD and anxiety disorders, and yes they are legit diagnoses. Until diagnosed she was failing school and having panic attacks on a regular basis. Of course her Dad being disabled her entire life, and a mother who had pancreatic cancer only added to her stress.
Despite that she still managed to take every AP class offered and took college level Calculus in high school, while also playing volleyball for her school.
Held every office and was the main fundraiser for the Gay Straight Alliance club ay her high school. She also participated in Chess Club, Japanese club, Chemistry club, Math Club and probably a couple I forgot.
Volunteered to help homeless families who need shelter at my UU church.
Canvassed for John Kerry with me in Cincinnati in the worst projects I’ve ever been in (and as a former cab driver I saw a few bad ones) when she was 9 years old, and did phone canvassing as well.
Studying in college to be a Biomedical engineer because she wants to do something good for people with disabilities such as her father and mother. Financing her education after winning scholarships and working her way through school.
Oh and she was the main help for my wife after her pancreatic cancer, when the chemo caused her mom to suffer severe loss of cognitive function due to destruction of neuronal connections between the two hemispheres of her brain. My daughter was the only one who could comfort my wife and calm her down when she became overwhelmed and had bad panic attacks.
Like I said, you can criticize me all you like, call me names, whatever. But don’t you ever say anything about my daughter or anyone’s child for that matter. You don’t know a damn thing about her or her struggles or her numerous good deeds and passions and your comment was uncalled for.
You should know better than to do that.
You should apologize.
She sounds like an advocate. We need more of those.
Y’all from Cincinnati, or just worked there canvassing?
Where did y’all canvas in Cincinnati? Over The Rhine? Avondale? Westside? I’m mostly interested because I lived in Cincinnati for 30 years.
We came from NY because Ohio was a state that mattered and NY was not not thanks to our electoral system. She worked very hard, and I am very proud of her. She is a better person than I am.
Nice. I was an election judge back in ’04. Even the two Republican judges I was working with thought Kerry had it. Probably because he did, but oh well.
Tell her to never give up on voting and trying to make a difference. People like to say that if voting changed anything, it’d be made illegal. Well, look at Republican policy towards voting – it clearly still matters.
I’m well aware that they are legitimate diseases/disorders. She is not the only one with them.
I made the comment because I’m rather fed up with people’s angst over having sullied the pristine North American continent. If one feels that strongly then they should leave and return the continent to the Native Americans. However, if we all did that I rather suspect that Russia, China, or someone else would move in. What happened happened because an expanding high tech (for the time) society encountered a low tech society with land and natural resources. It’s what humans and other predators do. It wasn’t the first time and there is nothing unique to what Columbus did. I for one am glad he had his expedition and it resulted in my being her.
I certainly do apologize for unintended disrespect to your daughter. I listed the three continents because I have no idea what your racial makeup is. Now I know your daughter is half-Asian but I still don’t know the other half. Unless it’s Native American, my comment stands. If anyone, I repeat anyone, that is not Native American thinks that the presence of European/African/Asian peoples here is an affront, they are free to act on their conviction and leave. And on that subject I am old white and male and I’m damn well not going to apologize for any of those three. I’ve had enough of that bullshit.
Almost, Voice, but not quite.
What happened is a germ resistant population ran into a non-resistant population. With very predictable results.
If Jesus Christ himself had been ‘first contact’ the result would have been the same. He also was from a resistant population.
And if Mohammed had been first? He would have put everyone to the sword, unless they converted.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_history_of_the_indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas
People are so stupid on this subject. There was no ‘genocide’. An estimated 300 million went to about 10 million in three hundred years. There was murder, rape, enslavement, and every kind of atrocity that man could commit. But it was disease that killed every one.
Good point, nalbar.
Thanks for your novopology I.e., thanks for nothing, and
in the future I will not respond to you. You’ve shown you’re an asshole. In fact, fuck you.
Nopology
Well fuck you too if you can’t read. I intended no racial slur on your daughter. As I stated for anyone who can read, I didn’t even know your daughter’s racial background and I still only know half of it. That (not if) you were offended because you thought I slurred her race and other personal characteristics, I did apologize for. I apologize that my skill with words is so poor that I gave unintended offense. That’s a real apology.
I did mock her attitude that cries crocodile tears on everyone else but won’t make the hard choice to do anything about except continue to profit from Columbus’ actions. I won’t apologize for that. It has nothing to do with her race, her disabilities, or her kindness to others. It has everything to do with her hypocritical stance.
Take a cold shower and sign up for a remedial reading course.
If I posted that my daughter opposes abortion because it’s against God’s Law (she does) and you replied that she’s an idiot, would you be wrong? Should I demand an apology?
How about a ‘Let’s judge all past events by modern standards day’?
We could celebrate it by getting together for group sessions that discuss past events, and then explain how each of us would have done it different, and then we could all toast to our moral superiority.
Just like so many here do about the ACA!
.
We dumped Columbus Day in favor of Native American Day back in the 1990s. That’s because SD is a progressive outlier.
BooMan, have you added a way to contribute yet that does not involve PayPal?
I checked back several times after asking about that in a thread last week, and if you posted something I missed it.
Would like to contribute, it just has to not be through PayPal.
Just as long as I continue to get the day off.
Columbus day ended for me after i did a reaearch project reading conquistador accounts of early conquest of the carribbean. Once you read about babies on a stick it’s pretty much not something to celebrate.
And yes, some of it involved columbus’s own men.
I don’t “hate” anything… except Ronald Reagan..and anyone that defends him…and all the confederate states…other than that…peace and love.
Yes, and Independence Day, too. Same reason.
WHY was there ever a Columbus day anyway?
You can blame Colorado:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_Day