Poll of the Day > Columbus Day or Indigenous Day?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Which one do you Perfer? ((Poll Question)

How about "Excuse for a school holiday in October" day?

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Polaroid Federal Bankruptcy Protection Day

i'm down for anything that isn't columbus day

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Don't give a **** what it's called. We've never had a holiday for it here in California. *Sob*

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Columbus doesn't deserve a holiday or any amount of praise.

Not a real holiday so it doesn't really matter.

Dikitain posted...

How about "Excuse for a school holiday in October" day?

Basically all it is.

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Where I work we have the choice of taking today off or the day after Thanksgiving. Since everyone else will probably use PTO to take that day off, I'll take today off and work the day after Thanksgiving since nobody else will be there and I can just goof off all day.

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We're eventually going to reach a point where every holiday is just going to be "Generic Mid-Month Day", because no one ever really celebrates anything anyway, and pretty much everything offends someone these days.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

We're eventually going to reach a point where every holiday is just going to be "Generic Mid-Month Day", because no one ever really celebrates anything anyway, and pretty much everything offends someone these days.

boomer take

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It was mostly created because the Italian Americans at the time were pissed that they didn't have an ethnic holiday, so they had to find someone Italian and vaguely American and I guess Columbus was the closest one that fit the bill that everyone could agree on. It was always of somewhat tenuous providence.

Honestly, I don't care if you call it Columbus, Lief Erickson, Vespucci or indigenous peoples day. I just want my day off. It seems like ever since this naming controversy started companies stop giving the day off, which sucks. I guess it does not pay to look a gift horse in the mouth

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I don't think Columbus did anything wrong (at least per the standards of the time) but I think recognizing the heritage and tradition of First Nations peoples is a broader and more culturally significant reason to dedicate a day on the calendar to.

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I feel like we should adopt what some of Europe did in the Middle Ages and have a festival every month that lasts for a few days. But, you know, without eliminating weekends or fair work shifts. <_<

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This is where I draw the line.

Christopher Columbus did some crazy shit. But hey... it was a part of the times. He wasnt the only one. As a matter of fact, it was a way of life. Do I agree with it? No, and we as a society have come a long way.

This one thing shouldnt overshadow his accomplishment of sailing across the Atlantic and discovering for the Eastern world the North & South American continents.

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Solid Sonic posted...

I don't think Columbus did anything wrong (at least per the standards of the time) but I think recognizing the heritage and tradition of First Nations peoples is a broader and more culturally significant reason to dedicate a day on the calendar to.

HornedLion posted...

This is where I draw the line.

Christopher Columbus did some crazy shit. But hey... it was a part of the times. He wasnt the only one. As a matter of fact, it was a way of life. Do I agree with it? No, and we as a society have come a long way.

This one thing shouldnt overshadow his accomplishment of sailing across the Atlantic and discovering for the Eastern world the North & South American continents.

both of you dont know anything about history LMAO

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Still-have-to-go-to-work Day

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What about the dinosaurs tho

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Lorthremar posted...

both of you dont know anything about history LMAO

@Solid_Sonic
Hey, Sonic, how bout we tie this sucker down and shove cannolis up his buco del culo til hes blue and goes crying home to his gooma.

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DragonClaw01 posted...

It was mostly created because the Italian Americans at the time were pissed that they didn't have an ethnic holiday, so they had to find someone Italian and vaguely American and I guess Columbus was the closest one that fit the bill that everyone could agree on. It was always of somewhat tenuous providence.

Honestly, I don't care if you call it Columbus, Lief Erickson, Vespucci or indigenous peoples day. I just want my day off. It seems like ever since this naming controversy started companies stop giving the day off, which sucks. I guess it does not pay to look a gift horse in the mouth

Italian-Americans latching onto Columbus is the funniest shit to me because he really wasn't even Italian..

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He made life better for some and more miserable for others. he also wasnt the first to discover america but it is what it is.

im part white and part indigenous to central america. So im partial for and against the holiday. at the end of the day it is what it is

There's this narrative that pervades a lot of historical study that people just "didn't know any better" or it was "normal for the time". It was easier for people to get away with this stuff sure (and as a result it happened more frequently), but that doesn't mean these people weren't getting ripped on by their contemporaries. The treatment of indigenous peoples in America was a controversial topic for centuries, and it's a disservice to the good people who were alive back then to celebrate those who committed genocide because they had more of an "impact" on history.

I'm sure in a hundred years time it will be said that the capitol rioters, anti vaxxers and neo-fascists werent bad by the standards of the 2020s, and it will be just as wrong then.

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Can you imagine the outrage if there was a Bin Laden Day? "Sure, he killed thousands of people, but he had his reasons and he's an important historical figure herp de derpy derp."

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Gaawa_chan posted...

Can you imagine the outrage if there was a Bin Laden Day? "Sure, he killed thousands of people, but he had his reasons and he's an important historical figure herp de derpy derp."

Bin Laden and Columbus. Totally comparable.

CaptainStrong posted...

Bin Laden and Columbus. Totally comparable.

Yea, Columbus was worse.

CaptainStrong posted...

Bin Laden and Columbus. Totally comparable.

Columbus killed infinitely more

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BEERandWEED posted...

Yea, Columbus was worse.

more proof this is sunny, he also hates columbus with irrational passion
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Krazy_Kirby posted...

more proof this is sunny, he also hates columbus with irrational passion

You're still wrong. Also nothing I said was irrational passion. It's facts that Columbus committed atrocious acts on the native population.

Niether because I'm tired of all these holidays, unless they give me time off I guess.

Either Columbus or Columbo day. Columbo day would be an awesome alternative.

pionear posted...

Columbo

...and apparently this dude already went that route?

BEERandWEED posted...

Columbus doesn't deserve a holiday or any amount of praise.

He deserves a huge amount of praise, and his involvement in America's history -- even if he never landed on the mainland -- is certainly holiday-worthy because it concerns history for ALL Americans. Meanwhile we have other holidays that only relate to things concerning some Americans.

teddy241 posted...

he also wasnt the first to discover america but it is what it is.

His travel was Europe's discovery of it, considering that the Vikings didn't exactly transfer that knowledge and the native population didn't share it.

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Columbus was a piece of shit and anyone who defends him is a piece of shit.
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GanonsSpirit posted...

Columbus was a piece of shit and anyone who defends him is a piece of shit.

What did he do that was so bad? Discovering a continent? You wouldn't even exist without his contributions to humanity.

CaptainStrong posted...

What did he do that was so bad? Discovering a continent? You wouldn't even exist without his contributions to humanity.

Try genocide, dipshit.
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GanonsSpirit posted...

Try genocide, dipshit.

Try not being a dick, dickhead. Sooooooooooorry for not being a fucking expert on him. All I know about him is what I was taught in school and I didn't hear a fucking word about genocide.

Can we make election day a holiday instead?

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Columbo day, but only if we get a Matlock day too

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Krazy_Kirby posted...

more proof this is sunny, he also hates columbus with irrational passion

Umm. No.

Plus Columbus committed genocide.

Zeus posted...

He deserves a huge amount of praise, and his involvement in America's history -- even if he never landed on the mainland -- is certainly holiday-worthy because it concerns history for ALL Americans. Meanwhile we have other holidays that only relate to things concerning some Americans.

You really need to brush up on history. He has nothing to do with Americans. In fact, he cruelly murdered many natives of the Caribbean islands. Had he actually landed in what is considered the America's, he would have been worse than the Spanish conquistadors that followed him.

The whole "he is an Italian hero" is fabricated. He is no hero, he's actually a villian.

If a comedian can be canceled for a joke made 10 years ago, then a man that committed actual genocide hundreds of years ago deserves far worse.

Fuck Columbus and Columbus defenders.

CaptainStrong posted...

What did he do that was so bad? Discovering a continent? You wouldn't even exist without his contributions to humanity.

He didn't discover anything. How can you discover something when people were already living there? Although, he did a great job of killing off an entire culture. Columbus was a fucking scumbag.

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Didn't he also condone his men raping tons of women as well among other horrible things?

Seriously a twisted person to celebrate no matter what.

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As long as it remains a random day off work for me you can call it whatever you want.

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The history of Columbus is actually a great case study about how governments, their media, and the educational system can all lie to a population and get away with it. The same practice continues today.

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SunWuKung420 posted...

The history of Columbus is actually a great case study about how governments, their media, and the educational system can all lie to a population and get away with it. The same practice continues today.

Written by the winners, baby. Don't like it? Don't lose.

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SunWuKung420 posted...

The history of Columbus is actually a great case study about how governments, their media, and the educational system can all lie to a population and get away with it. The same practice continues today.

How did they lie? He is mostly celebrated for his courage to sail into uncharted waters and discovering new and bountiful lands. It is especially impressive since he came from a relative modest background and made something of himself. No one is bragging up his time as governor that is pretty much a non-sequester to his career as an explorer.

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Solid Sonic posted...

Written by the winners, baby. Don't like it? Don't lose.

Not even written by a winner so much as a revisionist centuries after things had happened. Peeling back the bullshit and looking at what happened, and how Columbus was seen as a criminal even in his day, is not so revisionist nor loser talk.

HornedLion posted...

Christopher Columbus did some crazy s***. But hey... it was a part of the times. He wasnt the only one. As a matter of fact, it was a way of life. Do I agree with it? No, and we as a society have come a long way.

Except no, that wasn't "the way of life" back then. He was seen as a criminal for what he did, and was given a punishment for it until he was pardoned some time later. Saying he was typical and a way of life back then is like looking at the likes of Paul Alvin Slough, Nicholas Abram Slatten, or Clint Lorance and saying their actual criminal behavior is just another day in the modern neighborhood.

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It should be Indigenous Day. The Native Americans were here first. Columbus doesn't deserve credit. He deserves punishment for kidnapping, killing, and doing many terrible things to the natives.

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fishy071 posted...

It should be Indigenous Day. The Native Americans were here first. Columbus doesn't deserve credit. He deserves punishment for kidnapping, killing, and doing many terrible things to the natives.

so tribes were allowed to kill other tribes for land, but people coming here weren't?
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Nice of you to oversimplify what tribes fought one another over.

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Fun Fact: Columbus Day was invented because of rising anti-Italian sentiment and was used as a way to placate them

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Entity13 posted...

Except no, that wasn't "the way of life" back then. He was seen as a criminal for what he did, and was given a punishment for it until he was pardoned some time later. Saying he was typical and a way of life back then is like looking at the likes of Paul Alvin Slough, Nicholas Abram Slatten, or Clint Lorance and saying their actual criminal behavior is just another day in the modern neighborhood.

This. "His actions were justified at the time." No. They weren't. He was hauled back to Europe in chains for his atrocities and rightly so. He was vile even for his times. It's not justifiable. It's also not hard to grow the fuck up and stop simping for mass murderers just because you heard some revisionist history as a child.

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Found it. I mentioned rape above, but wasn't sure I remembered right. I'm spoilering the following as it's really horrible.

A Columbus shipmate, Miguel Cuneo, wrote that When our caravels were to leave for Spain, we gathered 1,600 male and female Indians on Feb. 17, 1495 (and) we let it be known that ... (any of the sailors) who wanted to take them could do so. Cuneo took a teenage Caribbean girl as a gift from Columbus. And when she resisted , (he) thrashed her mercilessly and raped her. Speaking of rape, it was noted by University of Vermont history professor Dr. James Loewen that As soon as the 1493 expedition got to the Caribbean ... Columbus was rewarding his lieutenants with native women to rape. On Haiti, sex slaves were one more prerequisite that (they) enjoyed. It included adult rape and child rape. As Columbus himself wrote in 1500, girls from 9-10 are in demand. In one day, de las Casas saw Columbus soldiers dismember, behead or rape 3,000 natives. As a result, de las Casas wrote, My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature that now I tremble as I write.

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Lief Erikson Day

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