History is written by the winners - this is a well known principle. For example, October 11 was Columbus Day. Ever since the 18th century, Columbus' arrival on American soil in 1492 is being celebrated in the United States, all throughout Central America, the Caribbean, Spain, Argentina, Uruguay etc. But what is actually being celebrated? And if
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I had been under the impression that the Spanish had wiped out the Arawaks until I read that Alexander Humboldt encountered Arawaks during his explorations in South America. Americans do not value Humboldt because he was a humanitarian who advocated against slavery and in favor of Native rights. He was also a scientist which was another strike against him in the eyes of American puritans.
BTW, if Irish Catholics knew more about Patrick, they would not consider him a saint. He was an opponent of Irish independence and culture.
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But at the very least, college-age students should be learning about history from a fair an unbiased point of view (which generally proves that our cultural heroes were pretty rotten bastards)
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Shouldn't there be a Genghis Khan day though? I mean that guy is responsible for more deaths than anyone else (40 mil?).
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Of course you're right that the West has problems with distinguishing between its heroes and its monsters, but then between the various brutes that made civilization in the West there's only picking between evils, for there is also nothing of good among any of them. Millions or hundreds of thousands of dead people slain by their actions removes them from ordinary moral calculations.
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Citation needed.
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