Wait wait wait…
St Edmund?
I think you’ve mistaken him for Boramir from Lord of the Rings…
Get rid of Columbus day!
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Dezrtfish/Red…the Coke in the fridge only belongs to you if you believe in private property.
Guest & Mr_mischief…you make a good points about “updating” our opinions on historical figures. It’s healthy to question what you’ve been taught…and what better standards to apply than your own. If you feel that your standards are not righteous, then you should consider those while you’re at it.
Columbus’ actions (and, more importantly, the actions of his men) were at that time largely considered distasteful. Rape has never been acceptable. Neither has burning and dismembering men, women and children.
“But I’m not one to judge.”
And in 500 years? Yeah, I hope future generations are critical enough to depose heroes if it’s warranted. Good for them! Keep improving those heroes!
Here’s what I would give a holiday to, Cystic Crypt…
Subject founds pharmaceutical company, discovers/invents cure for AIDS, and broadly distributes across the world as a non-profit endeavor.
Gets the African National Congress off the ground and functioning as a guiding and peaceful leadership…and, ultimately, brings Africa into the 21st century.
Becomes an incredibly popular advocate for peace among the religious right, be it Christian, Muslim, or Jew. This person’s deeds lead to decades (or more) of peace in the middle east and elsewhere.
Those are a few just off the top of my head. Granted, they’re pretty large-scale. Here are some other “hero cauldrons”…
Poverty, domestic abuse, education, campaign and voting reforms, medical cures (cancer, etc.), superb skateboarding skills, space travel technology, or even grass-roots philosophers.
Okay, I’m talking a lot but not saying much.
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In todays world if somebody tried to give medicine cheap to third world countries they would be sued for using anti-dumping laws. The world is a cynical place.
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I have yet to see enough proof to convince me that CC was personally guilty of rape or of dismemberment. Dismemberment of theives and of slaves was rather common. I do consider slavery wrong. I do consider CC wrong for enslaving people.
I also have to give him some slack for operating under the prevalent assumption of his time that some people were important and some weren’t. I don’t think it makes him right or anyone else right to have done it. It was bad then, but it would be far worse for someone raised with today’s principles to do the same thing.
Columbus isn’t just honored for accidentally finding the West Indies. He’s honored for stating that the world is round and then making a discovery based on that. He stood up against one firm belief of his period – one that men had been excommunicated and even killed over. I don’t think we can hold one man to the standard of breaking with his entire culture in two such massively important issues until we each have at least done so on one count.
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I have yet to see enough proof to convince me that CC was personally guilty … of dismemberment.
Well, as CC is a medic, maybe he did dismember some people. :D ;) :)
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@F_alk:
I have yet to see enough proof to convince me that CC was personally guilty … of dismemberment.
Well, as CC is a medic, maybe he did dismember some people. :D ;) :)
the people i’ve dismembered were already dead.
I believe . . . . -
LMAO :lol: :lol:
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Sorry, I meant Christopher Columbus. But I believe the point that he broke against society and the Church in a time when it still wasn’t “Right” to think the world was round makes a big difference.
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Columbus’ actions (and, more importantly, the actions of his men) were at that time largely considered distasteful. Rape has never been acceptable. Neither has burning and dismembering men, women and children.
Mr. Thumb, I believe a jury of Huns, Vikings, Mongols and/or Visigoths would find you guilty of blasphemy or some other well trumped up charges.
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@cystic:
the people i’ve dismembered were already dead.
I believe . . . .Suddently the poster (as seen on X Files) “i want to believe” has a totally different meaning :)
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Well, there are a number of vaguely philosophical points being slipped on around here. For example, the person who embraces the actions of history for being relevant to its time will ultimately need to define when history starts. I did not like my boss yesterday and, for whatever reason, I punhed him in the face. Matters not if I was right or wrong because, at that time, it felt right.
On a larger scale that presumes right and wrong is defined by society, you have tons of great examples to choose from. If slavery is accepted, should we honor excellent slave “owners?”
I think we should continue to honor Columbus because there are already so many books and made-for-TV movies about him. It would be expensive to find a substitute.
TH.umb
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Lets pretend for a second. Ignore the 8 million figure, since its questionable.
Lets say there were 2,000,000 people on Haiti in 1492.
Christopher Columbus enslaved them and worked them to death. He was the leader of the Spanish in the region. As Hitler is responsible for the Halocaust, Columbus is responsible for the genocide. Do we really want a holiday dedicated to such a person? Someone who would enslave, kill, or maim 2,000,000 people for gold?
Sorry, I meant Christopher Columbus. But I believe the point that he broke against society and the Church in a time when it still wasn’t “Right” to think the world was round makes a big difference.
First off, also according to “Lies my Teacher Told me”, Columbus disproving that the world was flat is also a myth. As far back as Ancient Greece, scientists proved the earth was round, as it cast a spherical shadow on the moon. Evidence shoes (don’t have the book on me) that no serious scientist at the time believed that the earth was flat. The Flat Earth story is as much a children’s tale as the first thanksgiving.
How about a man who “broke against society and the church”, Charles Darwin. His book “The Origin of Species” changed science as a whole. Evolution is one of the biggest scientific discoveries in the past 300 years. Darwin didn’t kill millions of people. Darwin saved millions of lives.
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Yanny, why are you so “obsessed” with this book? How do you know for sure that what this guy is saying is the truth, and not just a bitter slap in the face to the publisher’s who rejected his American History book?
You citing this stuff as fact, would be like me using Rush Limbaugh as a reference. Sure, it may be true, but are we getting the whole story…? :-?
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Well Yanny, since you are the one that has the book why don’t you site some of the authors references?
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@Deviant:Scripter:
Yanny, why are you so “obsessed” with this book? How do you know for sure that what this guy is saying is the truth, and not just a bitter slap in the face to the publisher’s who rejected his American History book?
You citing this stuff as fact, would be like me using Rush Limbaugh as a reference. Sure, it may be true, but are we getting the whole story…? :-?
this is something i was thinking about.
Eventually Yanny will end up writing a book:
“Lies the ‘Lies my teacher told me’ told me” book. -
@Deviant:Scripter:
Yanny, why are you so “obsessed” with this book? How do you know for sure that what this guy is saying is the truth, and not just a bitter slap in the face to the publisher’s who rejected his American History book?
You citing this stuff as fact, would be like me using Rush Limbaugh as a reference. Sure, it may be true, but are we getting the whole story…? :-?
Well, Rush IS documented to be right 98.6% of the time. :D
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@Deviant:Scripter:
Yanny, why are you so “obsessed” with this book? How do you know for sure that what this guy is saying is the truth, and not just a bitter slap in the face to the publisher’s who rejected his American History book?
You citing this stuff as fact, would be like me using Rush Limbaugh as a reference. Sure, it may be true, but are we getting the whole story…? :-?
Well, Rush IS documented to be right 98.6% of the time. :D
100% if you ask me… :wink:
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@cystic:
Eventually Yanny will end up writing a book:
“Lies the ‘Lies my teacher told me’ told me” book.Ow! My brain just rebooted!
Rush is now 98.6% correct? What happened?
Did they find he was right when
more facts came out about Clinton?
I know it takes a lot of errors/corrections to change
his percentages after 14 and 3/4’s years of broadcasting.Sometimes I disagree with El Rushbo. Like now.
He’s pushing the Affirmative Action point about
Jayson Blair(NY Times reporter who plagarized.)
I can see his perspective and agree to a point,
but the editors and publisher are covering their butst.The top dog at the paper said it was all Blair’s fault,
not to blame the editors or ME. If it was any other
business they would all be saying,
“The corruption/problem reaches all the way to the TOP!”
So why not here?! -
Currently, the book is beyond my reach (In car in shop), so I cannot directly quote anything. However, the main part of the first chapter in the book is dedicated to how he finds his information. His sources are “Primary Sources”, meaning the actual archeological evidence. Letters, Carvings, Ancient Books, Pottery, Journals ect. When he has to, meaning he cannot find any primary sources on the subject, he will resort to “Secondary Sources”, meaning compiling of information that were made during the time period (Almanacs, Encyclopedias, their ancient equivilants, ect).
And note I cited sources above. I will however cite more for the information I have postd since. I still have yet to hear a single decent arguement against Columbus day.
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I still have yet to hear a single decent arguement against Columbus day.
LOL. :P You must be speaking about yourself. :lol:
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So it was late when I wrote that :)
Deviant, why should Columbus day be a holiday?
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