Excuse me while I vomit

I must rant somewhere...so here it goes
1. I read an article by one of my professors concerning the Native American Genocide during the colonization of America. It makes me nauseous to know (although I already did have some slight understanding) about the horrifying murder that this country is based upon. I just don't understand how we can teach the children here (the US) that the mighty wonderful Christopher Columbus, as well as many others, came and "discovered" America when the man was simpley a murderer. We even celebrate the guy. How about we celebrate Hitler, and call him a great man. I don't think children should primarily be subjected to this information about mass murder, but they should not be told lies!
2. The same professor is now being attacked for "supporting terrorism" and the lovely College Republicans want him fired. This man is extremely intelligent and no way supports terrorism. However, in ONE of his many many MANY works, he wrote a sentence explaining how he understands the reasoning and inevibility of the 9/11 attacks on the US. He now has death threats and a potential of being fired. Fucking freedom of speech is one issue, but you have to be blind not to atleast understand why someone would attack America. Simply stating that is not a support of terrorism, and if this man is fired, the university will have a great loss.

I apologize for my ranting...I just needed to vent. Thanks

 

Don't know if you can come down on Columbus for all that. Poor guy just set out for Asia and got lost.


Also there's a pretty compelling school of thought that the europeans (Portugese) were already aware of the new world, in fact they were already trading with the natives, but were keeping the info to themselves (wouldn't you?).

But yeah (hell yeah), the treatment (treachery, slavery, intentional infection with disease, rape, you name it) of the Native Americans by some of the europeans was pretty abonimable.

 

I'm glad you ranted... your post made me want to puke too!

It's so sad, but that's how the righties are dealing w/ left wingers, who tend to be more educated than the right wingers. It's like Bush appointing personal friends to positions that they have no expeirence in instead of appointing experts, people who have dedicated their lives to studing that field. Sad...

Good luck to your professor! Hopefully he can keep his job...

Peace & Love

 

"Don't know if you can come down on Columbus for all that. Poor guy just set out for Asia and got lost."

Oh no. Columbus was quite a bastard alright. I don't remember the specifics, but Christopher Columbus and his buddies used the natives for slave labor and treated them like dirt.

 

Much love to your teacher..i hope he doesn't get fired

 

would this be a tenured prof. at a college in CO?

if so, then yes, the whole story is a bunch of BS, and it will be a travesty if he gets fired

 

I read somewhere that Christopher Columbus died lonely and with little credit for what he did. Is that true?

 

are you by chance talking about ward churchill? I seriously hope you arent defending THAT man.

In an essay written in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Churchill said the World Trade Center victims were "little Eichmanns," a reference to Adolf Eichmann, who organized Nazi plans to exterminate Europe's Jews. Churchill also spoke of the "gallant sacrifices" of the "combat teams" that struck America.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/02/01/speaker.protest.ap/index.html


This guy is a sick POS.

 

I'd like to see an original source document for 'intentional infection with disease."

 

I agree that it's sad that we still have Columbus Day in this country...but I think it's mostly a relic from a less politically correct era. In this day and age, I doubt Congress would or could pass a law making Columbus Day a national holiday.

I'm not sure that he's really glorified in the history books (at least not modern history books). Most of my American history courses from high school talked about him, but in a neutral, objective way.

Sorry about your professor, that sucks. I hope that other groups on campus (College Democrats? College Libertarians? ACLU?) stand up for his right to free speech.

 

Yes its true, he died pretty much forgotten, in fact ater being governor of the new Spanish colonies for a few years, he was sent back to Spain in chains.

 

Columbus was no exception. The natives were treated worse than horribly wherever the europeans came.

 

What we did to the Indians is not unique, it's common throughout human history. Stronger civilizations conquer, enslave and wipe out weaker ones, dating back to when our earliest ancestors drove the Neanderthals into extinction. At least here we acknowledge what we did, we don't deny it, though we do tend to put a positive spin on it.


What's done is done, I recognize that what we did to the Indians is horrific, but I see no point in feeling outraged about it. Live in the world you live in and try to correct the inequities that are occuring now. You can't change the past but you can change the present.

 

HAIL TO THE KING BABY----i'm lovin the hat

 

Newo...I'm aware that we can't change the past, but we don't need to lie about it. Most children growing up these days are completely blindfolded of the truth. I do not think thats right. What I am more upset about is the issue with my professor, and this is an issue that is in the present. Thank you for your input

And yes, it is Ward Churchill

 

what exactly is it that you are calling lies? I learned that christopher columbus killed "native" populations....

edit: No offense, but your professor said some stupid stuff in an essay he wrote a few years back. He stepped down. Should he be fired? No. People do have every right to criticize what he says though.

 

I didn't and especially to that extent. Its not simply Christopher Columbus though, thats just an example. I'm talking mass genocide almost wiping out an entire race. In all history classes I've taken growing up somehow that was simply breezed over.

 

the overwhelming majority died due to disease, small pox in particular. I hardly call that genocide.

 

Agreed. Columbus was probably responsible for inadvertantly spreading disease among the natives, as well as enslaving a few and bringing them back to Europe as animals. But he wasn't really responsible for the mass genocide of the natives by the Spaniards. That was Pizarro and Cortes, who weren't really important until after Columbus was dead.

I'm not saying he was a good guy...but his mindset was no different than most other Europeans of his day. He had probably never seen a non-white person when he set sail for Asia, and didn't really know how to treat them.

 

Right, much dealing of sex slaves, taken from the natives and sold in Europe. The horrors started pretty much immediately on the "discovery" of America.