"...lick the tail end of a snot otter..." Brilliant.
I wish I had said those exact words in 1978 when I unsuccessfully tried to inform my third grade teacher that Columbus did not discover America as the text book stated but that my ancestors, the Vikings, had preceded him by a few hundred years. "Discovered" I later realized meant stumbled upon for the first time by foreign explorers for purposes of trade, colonization and/or exploitation, regardless of the indigenous people that already inhabited the area for several millennia. The horrific extent of Columbus's "discovery" (such as you described so effectively) I would also later learn of outside my school curriculum. Seeing as how I grew up in the wealthiest, most powerful country in the world, one would assume I had access to the finest of educations. Unfortunately U. S. public education ranked abysmally in comparison to at least forty other countries back then and to this day still seriously sucks ass. I would like to believe that now the schools are teaching the real story of this murderous licker of Spanish royal buttocks but I don't have a lot of confidence in a country where this SOB still has his own Federal Fucking Holiday. Don't get me wrong, there are things I love about being an American and things I would like to see change, and the idolizing of someone based on the historical inaccuracies or omissions taught in our nation's schools is something that deserves change. While many now do recognize this man's travesties and try to use his "day" to promote awareness of indigenous cultures like the ones he obliterated, I'd like to see the continued evolution of what this day really means in every school curriculum across the country to always remind us of what parts of our history we can learn from and what parts we aim to never repeat. Until there is far more awareness and accuracy, seeing "Columbus Day" stamped on my calendars and knowing this human stain is keeping banks and government offices closed the second Monday in October every year is annoying and quite frankly it's embarrassing. There are plenty of heroes in America's history out there deserving of a holiday. I'm all for days off, ideally for the right reasons. Let's out him already!
Thanks and keep up the great job of showing the hardcore truth in history.
"...lick the tail end of a snot otter..." Brilliant.
I wish I had said those exact words in 1978 when I unsuccessfully tried to inform my third grade teacher that Columbus did not discover America as the text book stated but that my ancestors, the Vikings, had preceded him by a few hundred years. "Discovered" I later realized meant stumbled upon for the first time by foreign explorers for purposes of trade, colonization and/or exploitation, regardless of the indigenous people that already inhabited the area for several millennia. The horrific extent of Columbus's "discovery" (such as you described so effectively) I would also later learn of outside my school curriculum. Seeing as how I grew up in the wealthiest, most powerful country in the world, one would assume I had access to the finest of educations. Unfortunately U. S. public education ranked abysmally in comparison to at least forty other countries back then and to this day still seriously sucks ass. I would like to believe that now the schools are teaching the real story of this murderous licker of Spanish royal buttocks but I don't have a lot of confidence in a country where this SOB still has his own Federal Fucking Holiday. Don't get me wrong, there are things I love about being an American and things I would like to see change, and the idolizing of someone based on the historical inaccuracies or omissions taught in our nation's schools is something that deserves change. While many now do recognize this man's travesties and try to use his "day" to promote awareness of indigenous cultures like the ones he obliterated, I'd like to see the continued evolution of what this day really means in every school curriculum across the country to always remind us of what parts of our history we can learn from and what parts we aim to never repeat. Until there is far more awareness and accuracy, seeing "Columbus Day" stamped on my calendars and knowing this human stain is keeping banks and government offices closed the second Monday in October every year is annoying and quite frankly it's embarrassing. There are plenty of heroes in America's history out there deserving of a holiday. I'm all for days off, ideally for the right reasons. Let's out him already!
Thanks and keep up the great job of showing the hardcore truth in history.