That is all. Party on.

Ayup to quote one much more eloquent than I:

“Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters; They have seen the works of the Lord, And His wonders in the deep.”

Apparently, it's been replaced by Pollyanna View of Native American History Day.

I don't think someone who never set foot on CONUS should have a day named after him. Additionally he only spent 2 or 3 days in a future US territory (i.e. Puerto Rico).

I acknowledge that he enslaved people in the Caribbean and South America plus turned a few women into concubines. That's horrific.

However, we replaced Columbus Day with a day honoring a group of people who for centuries were at war, enslaved women and children, ritually sacrificed women and servants (Pawnee, Natchez, and Cahokia), etc right here in CONUS. All of this was long before Ponce de Leon set foot in Florida.

On Sunday I asked AI Copilot, or Copilot AI, on my new laptop if my local barbershop was going to be open on Columbus Day. In fewer words than I got from AI, it stated that yes my barbershop was going to be open on Columbus Day/ Indigenous Peoples Day. I asked why it added Indigenous Peoples Day to Columbus Day. I was told that in many states it was recognized as that. I then asked why it would address the holiday that way when I don't live in many states. I live in Indiana, and I made it clear in my first question that I lived in Indiana. It then said that that was a fair point and that Indiana celebrates the holiday as Columbus Day. It was sort of a semi apology. I was going to tell it that it was full of shit but I didn't want to hurt it's feeling.

No, nobody seriously believes Columbus "discovered" (i.e., set foot on the shores of) America, nor that he was trying to prove the world is round, nor that when he finally made landfall he thought he'd landed in India. Yes, other explorers were there before him. Yes, he did employ brutal tactics in the territories he governed. (This was acknowledged, not papered over or whitewashed, in my 1965 World Book Encyclopedia.) Yes, this did pave the way for the introduction of Old World diseases like smallpox and measles. What he did was bring attention to and open up the European powers to what they called - and is still called - a New World, which included and eventually became the USA. History would look a lot different if he had never existed.

As has been pointed out, the native Americans weren't exactly living in harmony with nature or each other. How was Cortes able to conquer the Aztecs relatively easily? It wasn't solely because the Spaniards had horses, guns and armor. In fact, they actually had relatively few of them. It was because they had help from the neighboring tribes, who were understandably a little piqued about constantly being raided for human sacrifices.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: egregore,

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
Apparently, it's been replaced by Pollyanna View of Native American History Day.

Indigenous? I prefer to call it Indignant People Day.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
No, nobody seriously believes Columbus "discovered" (i.e., set foot on the shores of) America, nor that he was trying to prove the world is round, nor that when he finally made landfall he thought he'd landed in India. Yes, other explorers were there before him. Yes, he did employ brutal tactics in the territories he governed. (This was acknowledged, not papered over or whitewashed, in my 1965 World Book Encyclopedia.)

Serious people don't believe these things but I think you're overestimating the knowledge and intellectual curiosity of 10s of millions of Americans. I was shocked at all the stupidity I saw on both Pro-Columbus Day side and the anti-CD side yesterday. My post was actually an excerpt of a response to one of my cousin's dullard friends.

As of 2025 there are studies showing 40% of Americans read 0 books the previous year. For most of those people, their knowledge gathering ended in grade school or checking children's grade school homework. To them it's an established fact that Columbus discovered America and America means the USA.

Yesterday reminded me of the Mark Twain quote, "The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read”

Ironically, I just picked up a nice 24 volume (with Index) 1968 World Britannica set at GoodWill last week for $35. Decent shape. This is my 3rd set. (the others are 1972 and 1984)

Would like to find a set from the 50's that is reasonably priced.