Is Columbus Day a celebration of genocide?

[MADem]

15. It's always problematic when one looks at the decisions of one's forebears through the lens of one's

own circumstances. I am pretty sure that a few hundred years from now, we'll be regarded, as a society, as insufferable, intolerant, evil, bad, stupid--you name it--and we'll be mocked roundly by people looking at us through their own lens.

I think people always--now, then, and in the future--will look for some sort of advantage. That's what Colombus was doing. The entire society from which he came separated the world into Christians and heathens, and heathens didn't have "souls" so of COURSE they were "sub-human" and just didn't count. It sounds insufferable, intolerant, evil, bad and stupid--and it is, but Colombus (and his wealthy and royal employers) were looking at their lives through the prism of their societal lens. That crazy shit made sense to them. Of course, once upon a time, people believed that the world was flat and that the sun rotated around the earth.

One of our greatest Presidents used to run around killing "wild animals" because that's what "Manly Men" did. I'm betting if TR spent a half a decade in the present century, he'd probably be less enthused about that "sport."

Where you stand, often as not, depends in many ways on where (and when) you sit.