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Of all things, good sense is the most fairly distributed: everyone thinks he is so well supplied with it that even those who are the hardest to satisfy in every other respect never desire more of it than they already have.

-Rene Descartes

Hating on Columbus

A friendly coworker has forwarded to me a short essay about Christopher Columbus. It was written by a 17-year-old and published by Tolerance.org, which is “a web project of the Southern Poverty Law Center”.

The essay begins,

Since childhood, the notion that Christopher Columbus is a man to be celebrated has been forced into all our heads.

First, it always stops me short when a 17-year-old says something to me about something that has been going on “since our childhood”. And yes, as a high school teacher I experience that somewhat regularly. It’s an interesting reminder that they think of themselves as adults, yet aren’t very good at recognizing that my personal experiences predate their lives by nearly two decades. These generalizations they make are not always inaccurate, so the author’s age is no reason to dismiss the comment. In this case, it should be dismissed on its merits.

What is it about this opening sentence that endeavors for understanding and tolerance? Keep in mind what exactly Tolerance.org purports to engender:

Tolerance is respect, acceptance and appreciation of the rich diversity of our world's cultures, our forms of expression and ways of being human. Tolerance is harmony in difference.

Ah, the old can of worms… should those who value “tolerance” practice such toward those whom they believe do not value it? Is it not “intolerant” to devalue certain cultures that are less egalitarian than one might prefer? What is the reason for valuing tolerance? Have you any justification for valuing it, or does it dangle unsupported like a trapeze artist in the circus of your philosophy?

Columbus was not the only person who believed the world was round nor was he the first to venture out into the unknown. If we celebrate Columbus Day based solely on the fact that he accidentally discovered the Americas and from this discovery evolved the United States, we prove how closed-minded we are. How can we ignore everything else?

We should be proud of the United States and all that it stands for. But we should not cover up the mistakes it took to get here. Celebrating Columbus Day does just that. It glorifies the good and covers up the bad.

I absolutely abhor this kind of nonsense. I don’t think this young woman has any appreciation for how her argument actually defeats itself. If we did not celebrate Columbus Day, we would not have an opportunity each October to hear reminders of the brutality and arrogance of European explorers towards every population they encountered. Contrary to the young author’s implication of systematic indoctrination and propaganda, I have spent twice her lifetime hearing the opposite - that is, that Christopher Columbus was a fool, a fraud, a violent buffoon who accidentally stumbled into the history books without even recognizing what he’d done. This is as much an inaccurate myth as is the image of one heroic man seeking to prove the world was round and bring Christian peace and civilization to the noble savages. And when was I treated to this misunderstanding and intolerance? Why, October 12th. If Columbus Day were abolished, we wouldn’t have our annual opportunity to examine these extreme viewpoints and recognize that the truth isn’t quite so sensational and one-sided. In fact, the traditional and unrealistically heroic view of Columbus would probably be dominant if the holiday had been abolished when I was 17. The author might consider that before demanding to eliminate the historical discussion (and day off from school) from the calendars of those who will follow her.

So, how about a little tolerance? How about an attempt to place Columbus’s voyages in a historical context that need not propagandize him as hero or villain?

At least she indicates at the end of her editorial that she hasn't been taken in by those who hate on George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It's a start.

Posted by Wulf on October 8, 2007 at 08:09 PM

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Of all things, good sense is the most fairly distributed: everyone thinks he is so well supplied with it that even those who are the hardest to satisfy in every other respect never desire more of it than they already have.

-Rene Descartes

Hating on Columbus

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