Columbus Day : Othor Games

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 3:04 am

So I got today off because of Columbus Day, very relaxing. But I just have to ask, why is it still a holiday in the USA? Does anyone else think it's a bit messed up to be celebrating such a messed up fellow? :unsure: Not to mention he didn't even discover the American continents.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 12:19 am

I have no Idea why it is a holiday.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 9:20 am

Doesn't matter that he was not the first. Matters that he brought Europe to North America. Even though he didn't really.

He was the first step in bringing Europe to North America. Thats what you Americans are celebrating. I am home cause its Thanksgiving.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 12:42 am

I have no idea. Plus, Christoper Columbus wasn't even his name. Cristobal Colon was his name, not that twisted English nonsense!

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:12 am

Oh, Christopher Columbus. What an Italian butt hole!

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 4:57 am

I have no idea. Plus, Christoper Columbus wasn't even his name. Cristobal Colon was his name, not that twisted English nonsense!

More people should be named after intestines. It would make history lessons much easier to digest.

» Wed Oct 12, 2011 11:50 pm

More people should be named after intestines. It would make history lessons much easier to digest.

How very punny of you.

» Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:38 pm

Meh, it's just another day we can get away with doing nothing. We're lazy.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 12:23 pm

Wish college treated it as a holiday.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:50 am

Wish college treated it as a holiday.

It doesn't? I think the one I went to did, but I'm not sure. I don't pay very close attention to all the little holidays. Sometimes I would go there and nobody would be there. :mellow:

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 1:37 am

Geeze, Europe already has more paid vacation days, can't afford to give away our Federal holidays too!

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 6:04 am

I haven't had Columbus Day off for years. I think the last time I had it off was either 2003 or 2004. That was when I was 9 or 10 years old.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 6:38 am

I vote to rename Columbus day Genocide Day and it should be celebrated by allowing people to conquer others' homes and property in the name of civilization.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:39 am

It doesn't? I think the one I went to did, but I'm not sure. I don't pay very close attention to all the little holidays. Sometimes I would go there and nobody would be there. :mellow:

Not down here in Florida, which is sad considering we're closer than the rest of the country to where he ended up.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 10:23 am

Wish college treated it as a holiday.

Same....here we get Rosh Hashanah off but not Christopher Columbus day.

» Wed Oct 12, 2011 11:31 pm

Start calling yourself Vinlanders, celebrate Leif Erikson day, demand another day off, with mead.

» Wed Oct 12, 2011 8:18 pm

Start calling yourself Vinlanders, celebrate Leif Erikson day, demand another day off, with mead.

At least that'd make a lot more sense than celebrating about some idiot who thought he'd found India.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 4:11 am

Columbus pioneered the West into the New World.

What did Leaf Erikson bring? Nothing permanent. What did Columbus pave the way for? The future. (For better or worse).

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 5:57 am

It's a national holiday that falls on a Monday because the truth is that Mondays, like a large percentage of people's lives, svck.
Because, in the US, you can apply yourself,, yet, ill afford your postsecondary education, have your job shipped overseas, get sick and lose everythiing. Unless you are a criminal, then your right to medical care, housing, and a postsecondary education is considered a human right.
We know Columbus didn't "discover" America, nor do we give a fat rat's ass about which European supposedly "found" it. The North American continent was full of civilizations, so I 'd say their progenitors discovered it first. It's an excuse to take the day off, in some cases, with pay. In a country where for the last few decades, healthcare, vacations, and this concept known as a "merit based pay increase" have become endangered species-- It's the common man's way of handing it to the establishment. Missing a day of work, unpaid, and not getting cited or written up for it.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 12:40 am

Oh, Christopher Columbus. What an Italian butt hole!

Indeed. Nothing more than a lucky idiot.

Contrary to popular belief, the idea that the world was round was neither new nor controversial; but the size of the earth was of some debate. In order to get support for his expedition he paid "Experts" to estimate the planet was much smaller than it was - if the Americas weren't there there was no way he would have made it to india as planned - he and the crew would have starved to death long before.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:36 am

I vote to rename Columbus day Genocide Day and it should be celebrated by allowing people to conquer others' homes and property in the name of civilization.

I'd suggest we make it a string of holidays. Starting with 21st February, 6th August and 13th December.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 4:23 am

So much Columbus hate here! I'm not going to comment further on that. But I'll comment on this:

...Contrary to popular belief, the idea that the world was round was neither new nor controversial; ...

The world being round was very much accepted at that time. On of several pieces of evidence is that as a ship goes over the horizon the ships sails disappear last.

And the size of the world was also known, and correctly calculated by the ancient Greeks (Eratosthenes), by measuring the angles of the sun at different locations of the earth (eg Greece and Egypt) at the same time of year. Those Ancient Greeks were really clever.

But Columbus did not repeat that calculation and used the wrong type of "mile" for the measurement leading him to think the Earth was smaller than it is. Kind of like someone thinking a distance is centimeters instead of inches.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 12:30 pm

Although misguided, Columbus was not a moron. He was the first European to understand the Atlantic's trade winds -- that's why he was the first one to get to the Americas -- he was a navigational innovator.

He wasn't genocidal either -- though his treatment of Native Americans wasn't very good he didn't try to wipe them out.

EDIT: I'm amazed by how many people got off for the holiday

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 7:56 am

Don't know, don't care. I didn't get the day off.

» Thu Oct 13, 2011 12:11 am

Although misguided, Columbus was not a moron. He was the first European to understand the Atlantic's trade winds -- that's why he was the first one to get to the Americas -- he was a navigational innovator.

He wasn't genocidal either -- though his treatment of Native Americans wasn't very good he didn't try to wipe them out.

EDIT: I'm amazed by how many people got off for the holiday

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vito-de-la-cruz/i-dont-have-to-celebrate-_b_1002805.html

...In his journal he wrote, "They ought to make good and skilled servants, for they repeat very quickly whatever we say to them." More ominously, he noted that "I could conquer the whole of them with 50 men and govern them as I pleased." Columbus kidnapped 6 Tainos to take back to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella...

Punishment for failure to come up with the gold and/or cotton was severe. Columbus' men would cut off the hands of the "offender" and leave him or her to bleed to death...

He enslaved them. Why? The answer is not so trite as to say "because they were there", but close. Rather, he refused to convert the Natives because Spanish and Canonical law forbade the enslavement of Christians. Columbus essentially created a loophole, perhaps the first loophole in a long line of broken promises, treaties, and pacts with regard to Native American rights. He would not convert the Natives so that he could have his "good and skilled servants", i.e., slaves to do his bidding and that of the Spanish overlords.

The rest is, as they say, history. Entire cultures wiped out. Millions killed by violence or disease or enslavement...

The treatment of native Americans is a sad history, ripe with exploitation by these so called more "civilized" people. Columbus was the just the first to set precedent of how worthless these peoples lives were to the royal families of Europe. I think its sad we still have a holiday celebrating such a bloodthirsty "hero" and just as appalled at the fact that children are probably in school right now learning about how great this guy supposedly is and why he deserves a holiday (though I'm sure they won't mention any of the above...). So maybe he wasn't "genocidal", the only reason he let them live was because he thought they were more important as slaves. Not a much better fate. This holiday is a pathetic sham, and its ridiculous its still celebrated as a holiday. Hurray for native genocide, hurray for the mistreatment and destruction of entire cultures, all in the pursuit of money.