Happy Columbus Day!

Who doesn't love Columbus Day? A day off work and school to celebrate the fact that Columbus landed in South America (which he thought was India, that idiot), claimed it for his glorious country (as though thousands of people didn't already live there), make peace with the natives (natives to him meant animals- kill them or drive them off your land) and established this great civilization we call America (let's ignore the fact that the explorer America is named after doesn't even get recognition.)

(We take a day off work because an idiot lost his way and was responsible for thousands of deaths.) Hooray for America (and it's hypocricy in its history.)

Forgive and forget times have changed. Just be happy that we get a day off work in this 9ine to 5ive monday thru friday half hour lunch and fifteen minute ciggy break country. Remember that as much respect as i have for MLKJr Day to a cone hat thats the biggest travesty of the year. But were still out for another chance to get wasted with enough time to recover from a hang.

I disagree, Fin. Why have a holiday that's so demeaning? Why not celebrate the day women gained the right to vote or the day the first school was built? Our holidays should support landmarks in history. But I suppose calling it Columbus Day reflects American politics well: if we want a piece of land, we'll take it, kill the natives, and exploit their resources.

And for chrissake, Columbus did not discover America. Why not call it the Amerigo Vespucci day for the Italian explorer whom the continent was named after?

You're not understanding that its only demeaning to you some people think that what Columbus did was totally right and would've been right there with the soldiers slaying the natives (they're called texans) . i agree with you that it's dumb and should be substituted and he should definitely be taught as much less of a great person . But the meaning behind it is to rejoice in the beginning seeds of our country. America, as a country, has done dozens of things i don't agree with but it's also done hundreds i do.

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But the meaning behind it is to rejoice in the beginning seeds of our country.

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Rejoice in the beginning seeds? Of what, colonialism? That'w what Columbus represents. If we wanted to rejoice our beginning, we would rejoice the day Asians crossed the Berring Strait thousands of years ago and migrated to different parts of Canada, North and South America.

Oh, that's right. It's a celebration of WHITE EUROPEAN beginnings, not beginnings. But even then, Columbus was not the first guy to come nor was his colony in America successful.

By rejoice in the beginning seeds i'm not talking about any specific person or group or even time. Just the seeds that grew into the flowers of freedom and oppurtunity and other ideas that this country represents ( at least thats how i think of it )

gotta say i dont love columbus day due to the fact that i dont get a holiday cos im not a yank. other than that, what columbus did, while a) dumb and b) rather harsh on the natives, was pretty much what everyone had bin doing for the last few thousand years. think how many countries have had empires, admitedly killing the locals was a bit far, but the oppressed them as well. and the same thing as a merica happened in australia. not sure the aussies have a holiday due to it, but its not like the americans are alone in their ability to overrun people. adding to that none of the overruning was actually done by americans, they were all still europeans at the time.

columbus was a murdering, enslaving idiot! i hate that a day is named for him