It's been an annual tradition that I "do" Christopher Columbus but that seems less necessary this year as people are starting to get it. President Biden has proclaimed this to be Indigenous People's Day as well as Columbus Day, although the federal holiday still officially honors Columbus. I understand that Italian-Americans want a day to observe their heritage, comparable to, say, Saint Patrick's Day. However, Columbus is probably the last person you would actually want to make the named honoree.
In the first place, he wasn't even Italian. Italy did not exist during his lifetime, he spoke Ligurian, and he sailed for Spain. He never set foot in North America and was never even aware of its existence. He died thinking he had found a shorter route to Asia. The first thing he did when he encountered the people of the Caribbean was to enslave them. He was, in short, a lucky fool and an evil psychopath. The European arrival in the Americas was an indescribable catastrophe. The indigenous population of Hispaniola, where Columbus landed in 1492, fell from one million to 15,000 by 1520. Lacking native people to enslave, the Spanish imported Africans. Recognizing this unpleasant reality, some states have proclaimed Italian-American Heritage Day instead of Columbus Day.
If you want to get the straight dope on Columbus, here's Adam Conover.
On another subject, the surgeon general of Florida is a quack.
1 comment:
Yes --Ladapo is an UNBELIEVABLE quack, and should not even be practicing medicine, much less heading up the entire medical department of a state.
Hard not to be cynical about DeSantis seemingly purposely installing a really stupid, mendacious person in a position to make decisions whose skin happens to be brown. Seems to be another instance of racist presidents and governors installing people whose skin is brown so they can seem to be non-racist, when of course, the opposite is true.
At any rate, you can't find a duck who quacks that has anything over that guy. As a matter fact, the ducks are a lot smarter than Ladapo. And as a committed Republican, DeSantis should certainly be committed.
Post a Comment