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Originally Posted by Pacifier
So basically you want to celebrate him and be proud of him, but you don't want to be remembered to his atrocities because those happend in the past?
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I think you need to hold both ideas of Columbus in your head at the same time... Why should we have such a black and white view of things... Grey is often the reality of the situation.
Columbus should be celebrated for his achievements BUT only while acknowledging that his great achievements were tempered with some pretty horrible things... I see no need to white wash the past.
It is uncomfortable for many to accept that our ancesters were nasty people. The truth is it was a harsh place to live period.
You can get upset about slavery but many skim over the fact that slavery was practiced by just about everyone (i.e. blacks enslaved blacks and sold them to whites; The Grand Turk would enslave just about anyone who fell into his net). We tend to focus on what happened in the west without looking at the precidence.