3 ms·
I'm not sure what the "genuine spirit" is in celebrating a man whose incredible brutality towards indigenous people was astonishing even for his time. Here is m
by xenocyon 6y ago
I'm not sure what the "genuine spirit" is in celebrating a man whose incredible brutality towards indigenous people was astonishing even for his time. Here is merely one atrocity from amongst the many he committed:
"So Columbus tried again for gold, but this time he and his men didn’t go looking for it. They ordered all Taíno people 14 and older to deliver a certain amount of gold dust every three months. If they didn’t, their hands would be cut off.
At this point, the Taíno were refusing to grow crops, and those who didn’t bleed to death after their hands were removed began to die of famine and disease. When they fled into the mountains, they were hunted down by dogs. Many killed themselves with cassava poison."
(source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/10/14/here-are-indigenous-people-christopher-columbus-his-men-could-not-annihilate/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/10/14/here-are-i...)
- eyelidlessness 6y agoYou're absolutely right and I applaud you pointing out his brutality. But I wanted to add (since I can't respond to the parent comment): > historical appreciation of European settlement of the Americas What is there to appreciate? Like, say you're completely willing to ignore or just completely ignorant of the brutality of all of this. What is to appreciate or celebrate about European settlement of the Americas? Like, it's astonishing to me that this is just such a rote value and I sincerely cannot imagine anyone has an explanation for why it's so important or valuable or worth celebrating. Like pretend the Euro story of an "empty continent" had any validity... okay what then? You made... lebensraum? Cool beans, you put more people on more land. Big fuckin deal, welcome to being literally every human group on literally every piece of earth.