You can say Happy Columbus Day again. Delighted to see that because Columbus is totally misunderstood. Furthermore, much of this Columbus Derangement Syndrome is not really about what the guy did in 1492.
This is another attack on our culture, our traditions and a man who does not deserve it, as Daniel McCarthy wrote:
Battles over Columbus Day aren’t really about Christopher Columbus at all -- they’re about whether America itself should exist.
“Columbus’ journey carried thousands of years of wisdom, philosophy, reason, and culture across the Atlantic into the Americas -- paving the way for the ultimate triumph of Western civilization less than three centuries later on July 4, 1776,” President Donald Trump said in his Columbus Day proclamation.
Yet that’s why the holiday has so many enemies.
Unlike progressive movements of decades past, today’s ideological left doesn’t particularly want to lay claim to America’s heritage.
Even the Communist Party USA once made an effort to brand its radical creed as “20th century Americanism.”
Karl Marx himself saw the spread of bourgeois civilization as inevitable and even necessary for creating the conditions of worldwide class revolution.
That civilization is what opponents of Columbus Day reject.
Columbus extended the horizons of Western civilization, which is what the holiday in his name recognizes.
Extended the horizons indeed.
The Left now wants to take down monuments to Christopher Columbus. I guess that they want to hold Columbus accountable for the original sin of bringing European influence to the New World. Or, more specifically, Columbus bringing the white man to these lands.
The Columbus “haters” forget that the Europeans also brought religious freedom, democracy, the rule of law and a lot more respect for women than they had in the Aztec or Inca Empires. In other words, did the Aztecs read your rights when you were arrested? Or give you legal representation if you couldn’t afford it? Or tolerate anyone who wanted to bring down their monuments?
So I’m glad that we are going to honor Columbus again. He was an explorer, a sailor, and not a source of evil.
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Image: Public Domain