Columbus Day Should Not be Celebrated.

Where to begin... First off Christopher Columbus's journey, in other words his goal, was in fact a failure. Considering his intent was to find a quicker trade route to India in order to acquire goods such as silk.. This did not happen. Columbus's "discovery" was an accident and for that matter a complete fraud. Con asks, "How has his legacy been misrepresented?".. Simple, Columbus didn't discover jack. The Americas had already been flourishing with civilizations thus were in fact inhabited, making the "discovery" a bit of an overstatement. Secondly, con clearly doesn't understand my reasoning for why Columbus Day should not be celebrated. For starters my opponent made the ridiculous comparison to the genocide of the Arawak Indians to the fight for independence that lead to the birth of the United States. I fail to see how the deaths of genocidal imperialism compare to the casualties of the Revolutionary War. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My rebuttal to con's arguments.. (C1) It's nice knowing that my opponent wishes to speak collectively for the entire nation of the United States. However, I'm afraid that's an unjust claim. In other words, how do you know Columbus's acts where a product of bravery? Just because someone is beloved a certain way doesn't exactly make that someone a "good guy". Much less an honorable one.. Columbus's fame is a product of false idolization. (C2) Perhaps Italians deserve a day that would actually reflect Italian pride. (C3) The intent of the holiday is to celebrate Columbus and his "achievement". Sense both Columbus and his achievement sincerely do not deserve really any sense of honoring in the first place.. The intent is unjustified. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My Responses to con's rebuttal.. a) Again, the intent of the holiday is to celebrate Columbus and his "achievement". Knowing that Christopher Columbus's discovery, really wasn't a discovery.. Knowing that Columbus and his predecessors did nothing but enslave and bring fatal diseases to natives which eventually lead to their genocide.. Con apparently feels its okay to justify genocide as long as you discover (but not really) land. b) So was slavery, but that doesn't mean we should celebrate it. c) An excerpt from Howard Zinn's " A Peoples History of the United States".. " Trying to put together an army of resistance, the Arawaks faced Spaniards who had armor, muskets, swords, horses. When the Spaniards took prisoners they hanged them or burned them to death. Among the Arawaks, mass suicides began, with cassava poison. Infants were killed to save them from the Spaniards. In two years, through murder, mutilation, or suicide, half of the 250,000 Indians on Haiti were dead. When it became clear that there was no gold left, the Indians were taken as slave labor on huge estates, known later as encomiendas. They were worked at a ferocious pace, and died by the thousands. By the year 1515, there were perhaps fifty thousand Indians left. By 1550, there were five hundred. A report of the year 1650 shows none of the original Arawaks or their descendants left on the island. " .. You don't see that as genocide..? d) My opponent stated "Columbus was merely an explorer".. Explorers don't enslave, exploit and dictate entire civilizations. "actually didn't do much in the Americas except travel." .. Where did you learn this? Regardless of how you view Columbus I have never heard that argument before.. That he honestly didn't do much in the Americas except travel..? Really? I ask con to elaborate his statement. "Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold." - Christopher Columbus .. You wish to celebrate this man..? Sources: http://www.historyisaweapon.com... http://hubpages.com... http://www.americanindiansource.com... http://guides.wikinut.com... A Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn