Its Columbus Day, everyone. Of course, if you live in a leftwing dystopia like Seattle or Minneapolis, you dont have anything called Columbus Day anymore. Nowadays, its called Indigenous Peoples Day. This is the culmination of a long process, originating in our public school systems, where our national history has been reshaped and modified in order to gel with modern politically correct doctrines. White Guilt has led us to a point where now we largely reject our national heritage, apologize for our achievements, and scoff at the men and women who did more to change the world for the better than any of their critics will ever do. This is a trend that I detest. I cant stomach listening to historically illiterate know-it-alls pontificate about how the European settlers came here only to rape and pillage, as if those incidents somehow outweigh what they accomplished. And, if you need to be reminded, heres what they accomplished: an entire civilization. And not just any, but a particular civilization that would soon be among the greatest forces for good that the world has ever seen. A civilization that would invent, pioneer, and innovate; cure diseases; win world wars; defeat global evils; and change the course of human history. So, yes, we should look at that and honor those who started it all. Thats what humble, intelligent, grateful human beings do. Sure, it didnt all go smoothly. Things never do. Our ancestral pioneers were flawed -- especially Columbus -- but everyone is flawed. Maybe, rather than advancing some absurdly simplified narrative where Columbus was a bumbling fool who thought he discovered India and then went on to kill a bunch of peaceful indigenous tribespeople, we might attempt to develop a more nuanced understanding of, and appreciation for, the situation the man was in. First, lets start with this: Columbus set sail across an unknown ocean for an unknown destination. Death was likely, suffering was guaranteed. It took bravery to embark on this journey and immense faith and fortitude to survive it. Can anyone in our country today possibly understand what it must have been like to venture out into the unknown? To go where, as far you know, no man had ever gone? To strive to succeed when death is the price of failure? Can the pampered, coddled, spoiled American brats who laugh at our forefathers possibly comprehend what these men and women had to endure in order to give them the comfortable life which they now so arrogantly take for granted? No. That answer is no, on all counts. Second, when Columbus landed in the Americas, he encountered a land populated by primitive tribes. Yes, some of them were peaceful, but we have taken this image of the peaceful Indian to extreme and ridiculous lengths. Bear in mind, not far from where Columbus landed, a tribe called the Carib were steadily advancing northward. These were a brutal and violent people who regularly feasted on human beings, both ritualistically and recreationally. On the other side of the Caribbean Sea, Columbus would have also been relatively close to Aztec territory. The Aztecs built many beautiful structures and invented some impressive technologies, but they were also murderous and savage. This is a civilization that practiced human sacrifice on a scale that is difficult to comprehend. Most historians estimate that the Aztecs sacrificed around 40 thousand people a year. About 20 percent of all Aztec children were butchered in order to please the Aztec gods. I wonder, what do modern critics think should have happened? Should the tide of human advancement been forever held back so that a culture like the Aztecs could reign over the hemisphere for all eternity? Should Europe have barreled forward into modern times, while North America remained stuck in the year 87 BC? Thats just not how things work, and you know what? Every single human being in this country, no matter what they say, is HAPPY that it didnt work that way. Now, when Columbus returned to the Americas after his second trip, he first ran into the cannibal Caribs and then went north to find that many of them men he left behind had been slaughtered by another tribe. Today, we know that the Spanish instigated that fight and brought their fate upon themselves, but it seems logical that Columbus wouldnt have known that. This began a long and, to put it lightly, troubled history with the natives. A history where native people were, as youve heard a million times, sometimes murdered and enslaved. But if murder and enslavement forever stains the Europeans, then it also forever stains the indigenous people of the Americas, not to mention people everywhere, from every region and every culture, for all time. From my reading of the story of Columbus, he was a great captain but a subpar governor on land. Eventually, Queen Isabella had him relieved from his governorship because he was unable to control the Spanish settlers. That seems to be his greatest sin -- not that he was some kind of ruthless tyrant, but that he couldnt run a colony nearly as well as he ran a ship. If you can imagine living in a colony isolated from the civilized world and surrounded by unknown wilderness inhabited by strange and primitive tribes, maybe you can understand how chaos and brutality might easily arise. That doesnt excuse it, but it does put it into context. Birth is a beautiful thing, but its also bloody, painful, and harsh. You might say that about the birth of modern civilization just as you say it about the birth of human beings. Looking back at Columbus, we see a man who was driven by various motivations. Anyone who says he only wanted gold and slaves is a silly, unserious person who probably hasnt ever read a single book on the subject. Its clear that Columbus wanted first to spread Christianity and second to discover new worlds for the sake of discovering new worlds. He did also want gold, but thats understandable. Gold was the only internationally recognized form of currency at the time, and so finding gold wasnt just some frivolous matter. He needed to finance these journeys somehow. Ultimately, were left with the legacy of a flawed man who often acted with incredible courage and who, in the end, is responsible for one of the greatest achievements in the history of mankind. Perhaps you could have done better, but probably not. You probably wouldnt have even tried. And thats why Columbus gets his own holiday. He earned it. You might complain about him, just as you might complain about all of our civilizations pioneers, but I take note of the fact that you still remain in this country, living off the fat of its land and enjoying the fruits of the labor which you now decry. Pardon me if I have trouble taking those complaints seriously. Happy Columbus Day.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 15:37:17 +0000
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