Columbus Day Should Not be Celebrated.

My opponent seems to be sold on the idea that Columbus should be honored for his "discovery", simply because If it weren't for him, "the very creation of modern nations" wouldn't have occurred. Unfortunately this notion is ridiculous and I will tell you why. . To believe in my opponents claim you have to. . 1. Be completely sold with the thought that Columbus and Columbus only was the one individual who desired to travel to the unknown territories of the globe. . 2. No one in the future would have had the capacity to pull of Columbus's task. . 3. Think that industrialization of nations is accepted by everyone to be an awesome thing. If the exploration aspect of Columbus's legacy is the big concern for you, than why don't we have a national holiday for NASA to commend there achievements in space exploration? At least they didn't commit genocide. . --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My responses to con's 3 main topics (1) Columbus's "Discovery" First of the "discovery" was an accident. Columbus had an entire crew behind him, (which he treated horribly) which right off the bat kind of makes it a bit dumb in the first place to give props only to Columbus. Most importantly the discovery is irrelevant. The main concern with which I have with Columbus Day and why I feel it should not be celebrated is purely for who Columbus was, what he ACTUALLY did, what his real intentions were. Which, sorry were frankly evil, imperialistic, and above all SHOULD NOT be honored with a national holiday. Con parades with the notion that the holiday clearly doesn't celebrate the deaths of native Americans. . To which I reply: No sh*t. That's not the point. The point is the holiday commends Christopher Columbus, who is historically DOCUMENTED as a complete sadist who did nothing but exploit and enslave. So no con, I do not have to prove malicious intent in celebrating Columbus Day, all I have to prove is why Christopher Columbus should not be honored with a national holiday. Con states: "Even if a hundred genocides occurred". . Obviously my opponent could careless about who is honored nationally as long as they "discovered" something ( By accident) , it doesn't matter how many people or civilizations were wiped out in the process. .. (2) Genocide As much as my opponent may think he's have been "proving" he has really just been running away from my argument. I NEVER said that the intent of Columbus Day was to "celebrate genocide". NOT ONCE IN THE ENTIRE DEBATE! NOT ONCE! Con pulled that argument out of thin air. What I did say was. . "It is in my opinion that Columbus's legacy is grossly misrepresented and that his "accomplishments" was nothing more but a failed journey riddled with genocide and imperialism. Thus, Columbus shouldn't be honored with a national holiday. " Keep in mind that I have restated, and gave further elaboration to my very first argument in both rounds two and three. Con on the other hand has absolutely ignored his first two contentions and merely ran away with his third. (3) Malicious Intent I have repeated myself quite enough and I think by now con may get the picture now and stop pulling that argument out of thin air. As for his argument. . Again, if you sincerely believe that Columbus and Columbus alone is THE individual who is single handedly is entitled to be given thanks for the modernization of nations in the America's I'm afraid you're dead wrong. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *THE BOTTOM LINE* "Columbus was merely an explorer, actually didn't do much in the Americas except travel. He made four voyages and stopped at numerous locations on the Americas. It was the later conquistadors who were the ones who enslaved and killed natives on a large scale. " - Con (Face palm) . http://www.youtube.com... Disproven. Don't like RT? Think they're full of it? Ok, how about another source. . . http://www.youtube.com... Disproven again. Don't like the Biography Channel? Think they're full of it? Alright than, how about another source. . . http://www.youtube.com... So I'll ignore cons dead wrong perception of Christopher Columbus and grant him the naive proposition being that Columbus was a great explorer who should be credited with the discovery. Why would the U. S. , have national holiday for an explorer who notoriously is known for enslaving indigenous natives and engaging in genocide. Not only that, but above all never set foot in what would now be considered the United States OR even the continent of North America. .