Why Columbus Day is a joke

[EarlyMon]

When I was in 2nd grade, I was taught that Columbus discovered America. When I was in 4th, I was taught that was a myth.

My kids were taught that Columbus helped colonize America.

Who here was actually taught, and left school believing, that Columbus discovered America?

I get that you don't want a holiday for a wicked man - and if this question is too tangential to that, apologies, please ignore, cheers, thanks!

 

[tommy_ed]

Who here was actually taught, and left school believing, that Columbus discovered America?

I actually did until my later years when I really got into history and things of that nature. It wasnt something that made me go "NOOO WAYY" but I kind of thought "interesting... I wonder why they taught us that?" haha and then even later, I discovered the truth which hailed the former response of

 

[A.Nonymous]

When I was in 2nd grade, I was taught that Columbus discovered America. When I was in 4th, I was taught that was a myth.

My kids were taught that Columbus helped colonize America.

Who here was actually taught, and left school believing, that Columbus discovered America?

I get that you don't want a holiday for a wicked man - and if this question is too tangential to that, apologies, please ignore, cheers, thanks!

I was taught that in my early years. It's an oversimplification, but many things in the early school years are overly simplified. I cannot say when I was taught everything else about Columbus and that other people had been to America long before him, but I certainly did not graduate high school thinking that Columbus discovered America and was a saint.

 

[Stuntman]

From what I remember, I was taught that Columbus tried to find a trade route to the far east. He ran into a huge continent that was in the way. He still thought he reached India and so called the natives he saw, "Indians."

In any case, we do not celebrate Columbus Day here in Canada. We celebrate Thanksgiving instead. I don't think I found out about Columbus day in the U.S. until I was in my 20's. I knew the U.S. celebrated Thanksgiving on a different day.

 

[EarlyMon]

He knew that it wasn't India and he knew he needed political cover while he sorted it out, so he made his crew swear to believe in the myth. They weren't fooled, but went along.

He had trouble getting funding not because others thought the Earth was flat, but because his insistence of its size defied contemporary calculations.

Go figure.

 

[Dark Jedi]

ONCE AGAIN, George Washington did many great things, and slavery was very commonplace at the time. Not so with Columbus' crimes.
As for Thanksgiving, that holiday celebrates a particular point in time where we were at peace with the natives.

And if the British would of won Washington all all of the other founding fathers would of been Labeled a traitor and had been executed. Like they say the winners writes the history books. So we only have to go by what history tells us about Washington.

 

[tommy_ed]

And if the British would of won Washington all all of the other founding fathers would of been Labeled a traitor and had been executed. Like they say the winners writes the history books. So we only have to go by what history tells us about Washington.

i would say the leader of a resistive force to oppression and a maniacal mass murderer and child sex-slave trader are two COMPLETELY different people and scenarios...

 

[ElasticNinja]

Seemed like a grand holiday day to me

 

[lordofthereef]

I honestly don't see it as any more ridiculous than Christmas. I mean there are a ton of people that don't believe in anything about Christmas, yet it is a legal holiday, and (almost) everybody participates.

 

[crackle45]

I can see why some people can get upset but I think it's just nice to remember the beginnings of our country and take a day off from work/school!

 

[jerofld]

I can see why some people can get upset but I think it's just nice to remember the beginnings of our country and take a day off from work/school!

We already do that. It's called the Fourth of July.

Besides, I don't consider our roots starting from when Columbus claimed the land for Spain. Our country started when they were English colonies.