Columbus Day Matters
All cultures are important and valuable, but it is a facile mistake to think all cultures are equal. They are not.
Cultures are not equal in terms of values, rights, ethics, morality, achievements, advancements, nor any other comparative feature. This isn’t good or bad, it isn’t a celebration or indictment, it’s just a basic observation. In the 15th century, among other differences European culture had developed different philosophies and military armaments than their western-hemisphere counterparts. At any rate, leftists hate white culture, or more specifically the alleged absence of any white culture, so they apparently noticed we’re not all equal either.
Columbus Day matters because the initial landing at Hispaniola, and the subsequent Columbian Exchange, marked one of the most pivotal moments in human history. This cannot be overstated. The consequences of Columbus sailing across the ocean blue paved the way for a modern world. It’s also why we rightfully set aside a day to remember it.
Now, the fact that we acknowledge this moment in history is not to spit upon the graves of the conquered. The fact that we acknowledge it is because it is worth acknowledging the evolution of mankind. For the first time, the world was united like never before. And it would never look back.
Moreover, coming out of the European arrival was the eventual formation of the United States of America, a country in current decline but nonetheless one that has served as a model nation in terms of advancing unprecedented human rights, securing freedom around the world, and despite claims of its pervasive racial animus, still the single-most desirable country for non-white immigrants the world over to reach. The modern world is a direct result of America’s prominence on the global stage. On an infinite timeline, I daresay some cultures would never accomplish what the United States has.
Critics of Columbus Day point to issues of body count, oppression, and conquest. These are all the unfortunate but inevitable consequences of cultures colliding. It is regrettable, but when has this not happened? Alexander the Great spread out across Anatolia with his battle tactics; Islam took shape in the 7th century and in little time enveloped the entire Middle East by the sword; Genghis Kahn ravaged Asia with his hordes. None of their empire building was the result of handshakes and back slaps. We cannot fathom the bloodshed and horror, but as with Columbus Day, we remember these events not because we glorify deadly achievements but because they shaped human history.
Without a doubt, though the unavoidable loss of life and culture is still unfortunate, the real tragedy in this story is the false sense of victimhood displayed by contemporary heirs of the indigenous populations. Now, before anyone takes that out of context, let me put it in more context. When was the last time these posers grieved over the forced removal of the Ojibwe from present-day New York and toward the Midwest by other native peoples? I have heard of no such grief. Likewise for many oppressed tribes in present-day Mexico under Aztec imperialism, living in fear of having their hearts ripped out atop gigantic temples to the Aztec gods after being ritualistically captured in flower wars? Every tribe in every corner lived out their existence as has every other human community – through accumulation of power and resources. People either survived or died, usually as a trade-off of someone else doing the opposite.
Land acknowledgements? Don’t get me started.
Selective outrage is a pathetic emotion to display; was it okay for Napoleon to set his armies on Belgium, or for Bismarck to unify cultural Germans under a single flag? Apparently, for I have not heard a peep of protest against it. Only when Europeans or Americans conquer indigenous communities is it awful. As with the silence from one indigenous community conquering another, there is a similar disregard for all other European conquests, as if the Bavarians weren’t indigenous to their region and the Dutch to theirs.
Claims of historical bias also mar the celebration of Columbus Day. However, if any history is being whitewashed, it is not the application of Eurocentrism in textbooks; it is the juvenile rewriting of Native American myths that all of Elizabeth Warren’s ancestors lived in harmony while majestically using every bone and ligament from the deer or buffalo which they hunted. Leftist infantilize the memories of native peoples and somehow truth-telling historians are the bad guys.
Curiously, the thing these people – whether of a tribal background or simply the beta white allies – never complain about is air conditioning, fossil fuel consumption, grocery stores, cell phones, seasonal clothing, alcohol, free government healthcare, and every other modern amenity. If given the choice right now to commune on open land, live outside year round, and hunt buffalo to survive or binge a can of Pringles from a temperature-controlled home with Netflix on the 4K HD flat screen, which do you think they would all prefer?
Oh, but pipelines…nope.
It is all a lie. Leftists certainly don’t have a problem with conquering modern-day America through a combination of technological, medical, and economic warfare, so once more their vapid concerns for the indigenous populations is an empty gesture. I myself am quite indigenous now to the United States of America. This is my home. Is it okay for evil, egomaniacal leftists to conquer my native lands of America but it was not okay for previous whites to do any conquering?
I have sympathy for my compatriots of all ethnic backgrounds. Not because other people for whom I have no responsibility did things in the past that all of their contemporaries likewise did or would have done, and certainly not because I do anything harmful today, but because they are convinced of their victimhood and accept horrific limitations on their sense of self-worth offered by leftism.
If there is any tragedy in rejecting Columbus Day, it is because it represents their rejection of truth. Living a lie is an awful imprisonment.
Content syndicated from TheBlueStateConservative.com with permission.
