Happy Columbus Day!
Notice that I did not say "Happy Indigenous Peoples Day," or something like that, I said "Happy Columbus Day."
Not everyone is happy that today is Columbus Day because all of a sudden, people are starting to question everything about Columbus and other past heroes who might not be all peachy keen in the eyes of the PC Police.
They are saying that Columbus was a wretch, massacring hundreds of indigenous people on his way to "discovering" America.
Thus, we should not be remembering him for being a hero, and how about celebrating those who were here before the "New World" invaded their land and took over?
Yes, I am putting this in pretty simplistic terms, because the whole argument against Columbus is kind of ridiculous.
All of a sudden, people are looking at him and others as more pariahs than heroes, and they believe that anything having to do with him--street and town names, statues, really, anything--should be wiped off the books.
But Columbus is an interesting figure indeed.
Although some look at him as a horrible person in world history, many Italian Americans would not only disagree, but disagree vehemently.
He is looked upon as a hero for not only what he did, but what he stood for: righteousness, bravery, and leadership.
Whether true or not, Columbus has always stood for the how human beings can push the limits of the human condition, and up until the past few years, his name has been revered as heroic.
And another interesting sidelight to this is that not only was he Italian, but many believe he was also Jewish, a victim of persecution, and that is why he came to distant shores.
That has not been proven or disproven, but whatever the case, Columbus has been looked at as a heroic figure for generations.
But today, the PC Police are looking to push their own envelope, and rid our country of any and all "false idols," so we shall say, and by doing so, rewrite history.
Christopher Columbus has been the poster boy for this move to PC reality, and the problem with this is that the PC Police pick and choose who they want to denigrate--it is isn't a blanket condemnation, it is only directed at who they want dumped.
Case in point is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., probably the most famous and revered civil rights crusader this country has ever seen.
There are memorials devoted to Dr. King's legacy, including one in Washington that thousands of people visit each year.
Dr. King is a hero to people of all generations, backgrounds, religions and creeds, but he is also "problematic."
He did not believe in homosexuality as being "normal," and if he were alive today, perhaps he would be as reviled by some as he would be loved by others for this stance.
However, the PC Police have either not gotten to the legacy of Dr. King, or choose to stay away from it, and he is never on the list of those they want removed from our history.
The thing that both Columbus and King shared is obvious: they were both human beings who did extraordinary things during their lives.
Those "extraordinary things" are what we are honoring when we create statues and memorials to these figures. And again, they were human beings, with some blemishes on their record.
It does not take away from the greatness that these men displayed.
The PC Police want to change history to their way of thinking, wanting to erase any vestiges of human triumph, and yes, human mistakes.
They are wrong in trying to do this.
You cannot change history, and to remove Columbus from the heroes perch he has been on for centuries is not only wrong, but it is misguided, an apt description of what most of the PC Police's agenda is all about.
If you find that you are disgusted by Columbus, or by King, use the monuments to them as discussion pieces, but do not take them down or try to change them in any way, because they are part of our collective history.
Sure, you might be disturbed by a monument to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, but use that feeling as a reason to discuss, in particular with younger folk, why Lee was not a person to admire.
We can leave a better world for our children and our children's children not by removing any vestige of our history that we disagree with, but by using them as starting points to examine why we are here, where we were, and where we are going.
So happy Columbus Day to all, and speak to you again tomorrow.
What is or are your sources of Dr. King's views on homosexuality?
ReplyDeleteMLK believed, according to both his wife and one of his daughters, that homosexuality was "fixable." This is pretty well known, and at least, in part, derives from a letter he received from a young boy who was "suffering" with this malady, and he had asked MLK for help. I don't have chapter and verse in front of me of the letter or the exact quote from MLK, and I am not going to look it up now, but I think that his daughter and wife saying it is enough proof for me. We often make MLK and others into sort of "angels on earth," with no faults at all. Our mistake is that all of these people, including Columbus and MLK, were human beings, and human beings, no matter how great we may think they are, have foibles. No one is perfect. I think this statue thing is nothing but a modern day witch hunt which most people didn't give a second thought to for generations until the PC Police decided that it should be looked at. People like to ride bandwagons, and that is what is happening today. We are looking for perfection, and we aren't going to find perfection on anyone who has a monument dedicated to their lives, and that includes Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Michael Jordan, Malcolm X, MLK and Columbus.
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