Happy Columbus Day?
There’s nothing like a holiday named after a guy who was headed in the wrong direction, “discovered” a place (the Vikings got here first) where a bunch of people were already there which resulted in most of them ending up dead or displaced. Why do we celebrate this day again?
October 12th, 2009 at 5:16 am
Ahaha – good point! Well, i guess we just celebrate the day we were discovered and recognized.
October 12th, 2009 at 5:34 am
A) He wasn't headed in the wrong direction, he was looking for something else.
B) Well, for starters, if you had even been born (a debateable point down the alternate historical path), you likely would have been a subsistence farmer, or a low-level, backwater bureaucrat somewhere. Then what would we have done for entertainment in the morning?
So, celebrate your existence, courtesy of Christopher Columbus.
October 12th, 2009 at 6:26 am
Who actually celebrates it anyway?
October 12th, 2009 at 6:54 am
Federal government employees ?
October 12th, 2009 at 7:34 am
Banks.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:21 am
American Indians do not celebrate this day.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:35 am
American Indians are immigrants too, in case you might have forgotten.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Summed UP. I have, for sometime, stated that this day should be renamed as “Rape and Pillage Day”! Quite fitting in this day and time…..
October 12th, 2009 at 10:07 am
The least we could do is award CC a pieces of eight prize…
October 12th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Hey Columbus didn't even discover America, he discovered some islands around/infront of/ to the side of America.
October 12th, 2009 at 10:40 am
So Zappatista, you're for honoring the Aztecs, the Inca and the Maya then?
October 12th, 2009 at 10:43 am
The latest evidence is that American Indians arrived at lease 14,000 years before Columbus. However, we all are immigrants from Africa.
October 12th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Yep, according to Dr. Leakey, we're all African Americans.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:42 am
We celebrate Columbus Day because his voyage was the catalyst that started the colonization of the “New World”. I can't dispute anything you say – but I am very happy the Columbus did what he did. If he hadn't (and no else did as well) – we all wouldn't be here. As for the Indians – I refuse to pretend that I am not happy that things happened they way that they did. If the colonists back in the 1400/1500s had decided that they didn't want to displace the Indians – we wouldn't be here. It was a war of cultures – and the Europeans won.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:49 am
What will we do in these imperfect times unto which we've been born?
October 12th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
In the major cities of this country, where much of the power base lies, or at least OK, let's just say, East Coast cities plus Chicago…it is essentially the “Italian-American holiday” and woe to those political figures who might whisper about cancellation or cutting back, which is to say, if you have seen the “Columbus Day Episode” of the Sopranos, you might say they would be made an offer they can't refuse.
People in Indianapolis by and large don't experience this because the Italian community was always pretty small and lacked political influence.
I'm not saying it's a good idea, that's just a little more background.
October 12th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Banks.
October 12th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
American Indians do not celebrate this day.
October 12th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
American Indians are immigrants too, in case you might have forgotten.
October 12th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Summed UP. I have, for sometime, stated that this day should be renamed as “Rape and Pillage Day”! Quite fitting in this day and time…..
October 12th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
The least we could do is award CC a pieces of eight prize…
October 12th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Hey Columbus didn't even discover America, he discovered some islands around/infront of/ to the side of America.
October 12th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
So Zappatista, you're for honoring the Aztecs, the Inca and the Maya then?
October 12th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
The latest evidence is that American Indians arrived at lease 14,000 years before Columbus. However, we all are immigrants from Africa.
October 12th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Yep, according to Dr. Leakey, we're all African Americans.
October 12th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
We celebrate Columbus Day because his voyage was the catalyst that started the colonization of the “New World”. I can't dispute anything you say – but I am very happy the Columbus did what he did. If he hadn't (and no else did as well) – we all wouldn't be here. As for the Indians – I refuse to pretend that I am not happy that things happened they way that they did. If the colonists back in the 1400/1500s had decided that they didn't want to displace the Indians – we wouldn't be here. It was a war of cultures – and the Europeans won.
October 12th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
What will we do in these imperfect times unto which we've been born?
October 12th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
In the major cities of this country, where much of the power base lies, or at least OK, let's just say, East Coast cities plus Chicago…it is essentially the “Italian-American holiday” and woe to those political figures who might whisper about cancellation or cutting back, which is to say, if you have seen the “Columbus Day Episode” of the Sopranos, you might say they would be made an offer they can't refuse.
People in Indianapolis by and large don't experience this because the Italian community was always pretty small and lacked political influence.
I'm not saying it's a good idea, that's just a little more background.