Today, I was Ridiculed. Rant Rant Rant

[true_notes]

Because I absolutely refuse to "celebrate" Columbus Day. It's more than just taking a free day off to me, it's the nonsensical holiday that is Columbus Day that makes me loathe it. The only reason this nation celebrates Columbus Day is because he probaly declared the new territory in the name of God and his persepective country. The fact is, almost half a millenium earlier, Leif Ericson is fabled to have explored all the way into what is present-day Minnesota.

Columbus did bring European culture to America, and in my opinion it just festered into this orgy of self indulgence we have now. America could have did without Columbus, and European culture for that. It's just brought war and idiocy.

So today, I declared Oct. 9th Leif Ericson day in my class and I was scolded for being unpatriotic. What the fuck does Christopher Columbus, a dirtbag sailor filled with STD's and Sypholis to spread to our natives have to do with patriotism??

Fuck this nation is retarded.

[seabeyond]

1. we celebrate columbus day because no other holiday in oct. and

the kids need a day off of school. they looked at the calendar and the only thing on the month of october was halloween and columbus day. i personally feel they should have chsen halloween, but that was the end of month and too close to thanksgiving. and since labor day is beginning of sept, they needed something in beginning of oct...

dontcha see

so.... it really isnt about honoring columbus at all and you can take that day off and enjoy.

[true_notes]

3. Yeah, screw all that jazz

I really don't care about this holiday. I'll just mow my yard and curse at the sky. You don't make money when you don't work ya know.

[seabeyond]

5. but no howlin at the moon

hey ... dont know too many jobs that take off on columbus day.

sorry it isnt a paid day off. (notice i didnt say pay holiday)

[MadMaddie]

2. Are you still in HS?

Good for you for standing up for what you believe is right!

And yes this nation is retarded!!

[true_notes]

4. No, I'm in college about to finish up B.S. in Meteorology

Plus it's a predominant Military class, because I'm in the Navy.

I get under their skin.

[MadMaddie]

9. Right on...Congrats for getting your degree in Meteorology

we need more majoring in the sciences...

Keep getting under their skin because sometimes one person will start to listen to what you are saying....and that's a start....

Keep up the good work!!:hi:

[true_notes]

14. You couldn't be more right....

A lot of people are going for the arts these days. With a Major in a science, you can branch off into pretty much anything you want to. It also is a more well-rounded educated route to take in my opinion.

[alcibiades_mystery]

35. Could have "done" without Columbus

"Syphilis"

Just sayin'...

[noamnety]

6. Didn't you read your American History textbooks in school?

COLUMBUS WAS A GREAT NAGIVATOR, PERHAPS THE BEST THAT EVER LIVED and he committed a little bit of genocide and enslavement and murder and torture. IF YOU WERE A GOOD AMERICAN YOU WOULD CELEBRATE HIS AMAZING NAVIGATION SKILLS.

The notes from his own log are worth giving to whoever ridiculed you: "They... brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned.... They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features.... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane.... They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."

Zinn on Columbus, for anyone who hasn't read it: http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/Columbus_PeoplesHx.html

[msongs]

23. in Jesus name, Amen nt

[niallmac]

7. I can't imagine too many native Americans disagreeing with you.

The only way I can justify the history of Chisopher Columbus and what transpired afer is that
it was as inevitable as simple animality. The stronger dog F***s. Nothing moral, nothing manifest
and nothing to my atheist mind god given.

This country wants to give me a federal holiday for this myth fine by me.

Just don't ask me to talk about what Christopher Columbus day means to
me if you don't want to hear the answer.

As for your idea of declaring October 9th Leif Ericson day..I'm not so sure.

People landed their bones here a loooong time before Leif. Lets celebrate the
native Americans from wherever the hell they came from.
Lets celebrate the many eons they managed to live on this stupendous
continent in harmony without f***ing it up like we have. Quite an admirable feat.

[true_notes]

11. Leif was the first thing off my tongue

Today. Then you brought up the point of the migration of our natives across the Bering Strait, which is far more crucial than sailing. They endured freezing conditions, terrible terrain and a whole new world in the search for food and shelter.

Our natives have been truly undermined.

[niallmac]

24. Leif, Asiatic migration other? The question of who the first

humans to inhabit the Americas is fascinating.
Bering straight is a good theory but some facts do
not jibe with the actual melting of the ice bridge.
This site has a scholarly look at what we know now: http://www.athenapub.com/10Dixon.htm

[ieoeja]

38. Harmony?

"Lets celebrate the many eons they managed to live on this stupendous continent in harmony without f***ing it up like we have."


Yeah, the Mexicas -- correct name for those Aztecs who left their home in Aztlan to found an empire -- lived in wonderful harmony with the Mayans and other neighboring tribes they subjegated. There was the Iroquoi (sp?) expansionism in the northeast interrupted by colonizing Europeans who found themselves being wined and dined by the various native factions for support against their neighbors. While the Adobe Indians were apparently wiped out by unknown parties before Europeans established regular commerce with the Americas.

[niallmac]

40. Well yeah but the bloodshed didn't screw up the Salmon runs.

Oh no, we have a better idea. Lets dam all the fricking rivers!

[Mist]

8. It would make more sense to celebrate "Amerigo Vespucci Day" nt

[Elwood P Dowd]

10. We even donated a statue to Reykjavik so the Icelanders could

celebrate Lief Ericson's discovery of America. I can't believe this Columbus story is still In the history books.

[Bombero1956]

12. ask the Tainos

what they think of Columbus.

[Elwood P Dowd]

18. Not much has changed in 500 years

:cry:

[cigsandcoffee]

13. If this is the kind of attitude you're taking from history class.

Then the system is failing and cheating you. Massively.

I don't mean that you should idolize Columbus, or be thrilled there is a day to remember him. But if your final take on America can be summed up with a dismissive "fuck this nation is retarded," then you have been grossly cheated out of any historical perspective or sense of just how lucky you are to live here.

[true_notes]

15. I'm lucky to live here.

But the nation is retarded. Look around.

[cigsandcoffee]

17. It's all things. Anything you might want to pursue.

If you really look around, you'll see that this is our strength and great fortune.

[noamnety]

19. One can feel lucky

as in recognizing the immense privilege they have (and I don't necessarily mean privilege in a 100% positive way), while acknowledging that our country was built on slavery, oppression of indigenous people, and genocide - and continues to support itself, as a nation, by screwing over other nations. "Fuck this nation is retarded" might not have been my first word choice, but the sentiments appear well placed, particularly at a time when we are supposed to be reflecting on the great "discovery" of our already populated nation by white dudes.

[cigsandcoffee]

22. No nation lacks blood or misdeeds. Not a single one.

But very few are built on so strong a moral code, or one so respecting of individual rights. Many, many people of color have found their dreams on these shores, and many more would do just about anything to get here. And what's with disparaging "white dudes? Are you white? Would you feel comfortable disparaging "dudes" of another skin color so generally?

If not, what makes you think it's acceptable to generalize about whites?

Are there horror stories here? Sure. Has America made awful mistakes by design or otherwise? Absolutely. Does that change a damn thing about the idea and underlying principles of this nation that has provided so much for so many in its few short years in existence? Not a bit.

[noamnety]

31. the underlying principle of this nation

Was that all WHITE MALES were created equal. That's not a disparaging comment, it doesn't address their personality or stereotype about them in any way. It's a simple statement of fact. The country was built on the idea the natural order of things was for colored people and women to be treated as property, for the gratification and gain of white dudes, because darker skinned folks and women weren't fully human.

Principle #2 was that it's the natural order of things - our manifest destiny - to invade other countries and "colonize" them (i.e. exploit them) for their own good.

When you say few countries were built on a moral code that was so respecting individual rights, let's remember whose individual rights we're talking about. Not mine; the country wasn't built on my individual rights. Therefore, I feel no obligation to genuflect at the altar of our founding fathers.

If you were in the select group that those dudes decided were worthy of having special rights - which was less than half of all people - then I can understand why you might worship them.

[LostinVA]

34. You're wrong

It's RICH WHITE MALES.

[noamnety]

36. Huge oversight on my part, yes.

No land = no vote, for example, yep.

From our State Department: "The United States is often described as a "capitalist" economy, a term coined by 19th-century German economist and social theorist Karl Marx to describe a system in which <b>a small group of people who control large amounts of money, or capital, make the most important economic decisions.</b> ... Marx and his followers believed that capitalist economies concentrate power in the hands of wealthy business people, who aim mainly to maximize profits ..." http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/oecon/chap2.htm

They go on to say that's not relevant today, but I'm not convinced. In any event, relevant or not at the moment, it was part of our founding principles.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

37. Christopher Columbus was a murderous pirate.

He murdered, raped, and pillaged Americans.

Frankly, I don't think the OP's the one that failed history class.

[ourbluenation]

16. We call it Indiginous People Day.

:)

[tjwash]

20. Some historical perspective on Cristobal Colon...

If you get ridiculed, just remember--knowledge is power. Ask them how much they REALLY know about Cristobal Colon. When they start to stutter, and stammer the usual grade school propaganda that most people in the United States have been spoon fed, let them know the way it really was from a historical perspective.

Some examples:

Cristobal Colon's first voyage was commissioned to search for precious metals, and landed on Santo Domingo in the New World in 1492. The problem for the indigenous Arawak people, was the Spaniards also brought with them deadly European diseases. He returned to Spain with as many as 25 Arawak whom he had kidnapped.

For Colon's second voyage in 1493, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella furnished him with 17 ships, 1,500 men, cannons, crossbows and guns, and attack dogs. When he did not find gold fields, on Santo Domingo, he sailed to Cicao on Haiti where he treated the Arawaks mercilessly. Columbus' people demanded food, spun cotton, and gold. When the Arawaks refused to cooperate, Columbus punished them. A minor offense resulted in losing one's tongue or nose. At first, the Arawaks acted passively, refusing to plant food for the Europeans. Then they began abandoning their towns near Colon's settlements and started fighting back with sticks and stones which were no match for the Spaniards' guns.

Colon used the Arawaks attempts at resistance as a pretense for war. In March 1495 the Spaniards set out to conquer the natives. His men captured 1,500 Arawak men, women, and children. They were placed in pens guarded by Spaniards and dogs, and then 500 of the more healthy looking native Americans were loaded onto ships -- but 200 died. Since so many had died in captivity, Colon was desperate to find another way to compensate Europeans who had invested in his venture.

Of course the slave trade slowly led to the decline of the Arawaks. When the enslaved natives gradually began to die, the Spanish imported tens of thousands more native Americans from the Bahamas. Then Colon's men landed in Cuba and Puerto Rico where they captured more indigenous natives. Because of the rising death toll, slave trade expanded across the Atlantic Ocean to Africa. Slave trade in Haiti sprung up in 1505 under Colon's son. Fourteen years later, the first slave uprising in the New World occurred. African Blacks and native Americans linked together waged a large scale revolt which lasted until 1530.

Before Colon's arrived in Haiti, the island's population was approximately eight million. When Columbus returned for good to Spain in 1496, he placed his brother, Bartholomew in charge. That year, a census of adults -- all those over 14 years of age -- indicated that only 1.1 million Arawaks populated the island. According to Spanish records, by 1514 the number had dwindled to a mere 28,000. By 1516, statistics showed that 12,000 natives remained. By 1542, only 200 existed, and by 1555 they were extinct.

Anyway, that's why I don't celebrate Columbus day.

[beyurslf]

21. Today was a holiday?

[seriousstan]

25. If you are a college student perhaps you should study more.

I would begin by learning how to spell "syphilis". I would then learn to use the "check spelling" button. Finally, I would learn which way syphilis moved across the Atlantic. The Old World didn't give it to the New World, the New World gave it to the Old World.

On review of your post, I have to agree with your "retarded" assessment.

[Matariki]

26. Hey - it's not Columbus Day - it's Crowleymas!

Aleister Crowley's birthday. So there you go.

[TahitiNut]

27. Just try saying that in the state capital of Ohio.

I said something far more benign and it was like wet-farting in church.

[azndndude]

28. Here on the Navajo Nation we do not celebrate Columbus day

The Navajo Nation council passed a resolution doing away with Columbus Day as an official Tribal holiday and replaced it with Tribal Sovereignty Day

[Dora]

39. That's excellent!

(I miss many things in Arizona. Give my love to the land, please.)

[radfringe]

29. regarding St. Patrick's day

at a old job, years ago....

Let me preface this by saying I'm of German/Italian Descent...

My boss is of Irish descent, it was St. Patrick's day. Things were nutsy at work, so I didn't even notice the date on the calendar.

I get to work and my boss comes up and jokingly tells me he's going to fire me for not wearing green...

Me: well, you didn't wear red or green on St. Guido's day (Italian flag is red, white and green)

boss: St. Guido's day? What's that?

me: Italian national holiday to celebrate St. Guido

boss: What did he do?

me: he drove all the Irish out of Italy...

[michael_1166]

30. What's wrong with being unpatriotic?

Patriotism never made any sense to me.

[Vidar]

32. Silly you for not realizing Columbus was a proud American.

[LostinVA]

33. I call it Genocide Day, and refuse to acknowledge it

Plus, the moron didn't even land on North America...

[musette_sf]

41. um, in my grammar school (PS 185)

Leif Ericson Day was recognized, and we had a Norwegian Day Parade every year in the 'hood.

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/norwegian_american_day_parade/

http://www.nootrope.net/may17/index.html

[proud patriot]

42. In berkeley it's called Indigenous People's day

:hi: