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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDumbass O'Reilly tries to write smartass defense of Columbus
http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/354528-bill-oreilly-killing-columbus-and-never-learning-your-historyIn Los Angeles County, the holiday of Columbus Day will soon vanish. The Board of Supervisors has replaced it with "Indigenous People's Day."
The reason: Christopher Columbus was "oppressive."
Kind of like the traffic in LA.
The hate-Columbus movement is led by a woman named Sheila Kuehl who once upon a time played Zelda Gilroy in the classic 1960's sitcom Dobie Gillis. It is hard to imagine Zelda, Dobie, and their pal Maynard G. Krebs protesting the great explorer back then but, hey, who knows?
-snip-
For the record, Columbus made four voyages across the Atlantic between 1492 and 1504. He was looking for a route to Asia so he could buy spices at a discount or something.
But Chris kept running into various Caribbean islands, also the formidable obstacles of South and Central America. There was no passage to the Far East, only an endless drifting around.
Along the way, Columbus ran into some Indian tribes, most notably the Caribes. They did not like Chris and his malodorous European crews. Strife broke out and some bad stuff went down on both sides.
On the Island of Hispaniola, present day Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Columbus did establish slavery to support various laborious enterprises. Not good. Slave labor was common at the time the world over but that's no excuse.
However, that was a minor part of the "Columbus business," as Hollywood would have put it if they were wooing him for a three picture deal. Mostly, Columbus was a brilliant navigator who opened up the world for travel. No small achievement.
-snip-
The reason: Christopher Columbus was "oppressive."
Kind of like the traffic in LA.
The hate-Columbus movement is led by a woman named Sheila Kuehl who once upon a time played Zelda Gilroy in the classic 1960's sitcom Dobie Gillis. It is hard to imagine Zelda, Dobie, and their pal Maynard G. Krebs protesting the great explorer back then but, hey, who knows?
-snip-
For the record, Columbus made four voyages across the Atlantic between 1492 and 1504. He was looking for a route to Asia so he could buy spices at a discount or something.
But Chris kept running into various Caribbean islands, also the formidable obstacles of South and Central America. There was no passage to the Far East, only an endless drifting around.
Along the way, Columbus ran into some Indian tribes, most notably the Caribes. They did not like Chris and his malodorous European crews. Strife broke out and some bad stuff went down on both sides.
On the Island of Hispaniola, present day Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Columbus did establish slavery to support various laborious enterprises. Not good. Slave labor was common at the time the world over but that's no excuse.
However, that was a minor part of the "Columbus business," as Hollywood would have put it if they were wooing him for a three picture deal. Mostly, Columbus was a brilliant navigator who opened up the world for travel. No small achievement.
-snip-
This is stupid and offensive on so many levels I don't know where to begin.
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Dumbass O'Reilly tries to write smartass defense of Columbus (Original Post)
highplainsdem
Oct 2017
OP
brucefan
(1,549 posts)1. Brilliant navigator?
He discovered America because he got lost!
Many others had a much better understanding of the radius of the Earth than Columbus. His bacon was saved by having a continent in his way.
underpants
(182,281 posts)2. Strife broke out and some bad stuff went down on both sides.
Now THAT'S some historical writing folks!
highplainsdem
(48,731 posts)4. Good ol' Bill-O, being flippant about genocide.
teamster633
(2,029 posts)5. I imagine most of his "writing" is equally enlightening...