Happy Columbus Day…Unless You are a Libtardian
More destruction of America’s historical figures and indoctrination of the youth by the godless Libtardians:
Darker side of Columbus taught in US classrooms
Many will not observe holiday
boston.com
TAMPA, Fla. – Jeffrey Kolowith’s kindergarten students read a poem about Christopher Columbus, take a journey to the New World on three paper ships, and place the explorer’s picture on a timeline through history.
Kolowith’s students learn about the explorer’s significance, but they also come away with a more nuanced picture of Columbus than the noble discoverer often portrayed in pop culture and legend.
[“Nuanced,” you say? Is that what we are calling it today? Back in my day, they called it, “Libtard-Commie agenda-driven indoctrination of the youth in order to destroy America and her culture.” But, I guess that was too many words for the kids coming out of such institutes of lower learning and had to be condensed to “nuanced.” ]
“I talk about the situation where he didn’t even realize where he was,’’ Kolowith said. “And we talked about how he was very, very mean, very bossy.’’
[He was the LEADER of an expedition, idiot! What? Do you really think democracy works on a boat? Get a clue, moron! If he wasn’t so “bossy,” he would have been forced by his men to turn back long before hitting the New World. Freakin’ idiots.]
Columbus’s stature in US classrooms has declined somewhat through the years, and many districts will not observe his namesake holiday today. Although lessons vary, many teachers are trying to present a more balanced perspective of what happened after Columbus reached the Caribbean and the suffering of indigenous populations.
“The whole terminology has changed,’’ said James Kracht, executive associate dean for academic affairs in the Texas A&M College of Education and Human Development. “You don’t hear people using the world ‘discovery’ anymore like they used to. ‘Columbus discovers America.’ Because how could he discover America if there were already people living here?’’
[Yes, how could man have “discovered” fire, or anything which has already existed, for that matter? —What load of moronic BS.]
In Texas, students start learning in the fifth grade about the “Columbian Exchange,’’ which consisted not only of gold, crops, and goods shipped back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean, but also of diseases carried by settlers that decimated native populations.
In McDonald, Pa., 30 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, fourth-grade students at Fort Cherry Elementary put Columbus on trial this year, charging him with misrepresenting the Spanish crown and thievery. They found him guilty and sentenced him to life in prison.
[What type of crap is that? Why didn’t they just give him the death penalty and be done with it? Oh, yeah. I almost forgot; Libtardians only believe in killing innocent babies…]
Of course, the perspective given varies across classrooms and grades. Donna Sabis-Burns, a team leader with the US Department of Education’s School Support and Technology Program, surveyed teachers nationwide about the Columbus reading materials they used in class for her University of Florida dissertation.
She examined 62 picture books and found the majority were outdated, containing inaccurate – and sometimes outright demeaning – depictions of the native Taino population.
[Outdated? WTF? We are talking about an event that occurred over 500 years ago! How the heck can a painting made shortly after the event be considered “outdated” by a later painting or picture? — Unless, of course, it doesn’t fit into the Libtardians’ views of social norms.]
The federal holiday also is not universally recognized. Schools in Miami, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Seattle will be open, while those in New York City, Washington, and Chicago will be closed.
The day is an especially sensitive issue in places with larger Native American populations.
“We have a very large Alaska native population, so just the whole Columbus being the founder of the United States doesn’t sit well with a lot of people, myself included,’’ said Paul Prussing, deputy director of Alaska’s Division of Teaching and Learning Support.
[This guy is “deputy director” of a teaching organization? What a joke! Columbus wasn’t the “founder of the United States,” moron! Columbus never even set foot on North American soil! No wonder the kids are so screwed up these days!
In his egregious error, he exposes the real agenda: Bash the United States and its founders in order to destroy its cultural identity!]
Many recall decades ago when there was scant mention of indigenous groups in discussions about Columbus. Kracht remembers a picture in one of his fifth-grade textbooks that showed Columbus wading to shore with a huge flag and cross.
“The indigenous population was kind of waiting expectantly, almost with smiles on their faces,’’ Kracht said. “ ‘I wonder what this guy is bringing us?’ Well, he’s bringing us smallpox, for one thing, and none of us are going to live very long.’’
There are people who believe the discussion has shifted too far. Patrick Korten, vice president of communications for the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic fraternal service organization, recalled a note from a member who saw a lesson at a New Jersey school.
The students were forced to stand in a cafeteria and not allowed to eat while other students teased and intimidated them – apparently so they could better understand the suffering that the indigenous populations endured because of Columbus, Korten said.
[Freakin’ unbelievable! What? You don’t think the indigenous people made fun of Columbus and his merry men? And, what? Are you trying to tell me that Columbus had a bunch of food on the ship and didn’t give any rotten salt pork to the “starving” natives? Give me break!]
“My impression is that in some classrooms, it’s anything but a balanced presentation,’’ Korten said. “That it’s deliberately very negative, which is a matter of great concern because that is not accurate.’’
Explore posts in the same categories: Education, History, Indoctrination
Doctor Bulldog & Ronin 
12 October, 2009 at 12:19 pm
It is perhaps only fitting that Columbus day should be changed to Obama day, they have a lot in common. Firstly, Columbus did not know where he was going, ditto Obama. When he got there, he did not know where he was, ditto Obama.
And lastly, he did it all on borrowed money, ditto again.
12 October, 2009 at 12:27 pm
LOL! That’s pretty good! I love it!
Cheers
22 September, 2010 at 1:01 pm
no doubt you are an ignorant, manipulative f*cks but comparing columbus’ discovery of a new land with man’s discovery of fire is significantly more idiotic than first assumed by this piece. open your eyes to all information, not just what proves you right.
and if this is a satire of some cro-magnon type (your fire buddies), it was a horrible attempt and you probably have more important things to waste your time on.
22 September, 2010 at 1:03 pm
conservatives now days are considered to be those who can see the truth, but choose to morph every word into an intricate web of pointless arguments over problems that wouldn’t have existed had it not been for their own ignorant theories.
22 September, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Wow, slow down there Troll. Did you read what was there? Fire already existed. Therefore, how could it have been discovered is the same arguement.
Just give yourself a late term abortion, and do everyone a favor.
12 October, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Liberals love to yank people out of history and judge them by today’s standards its important in their holier than thou ideology. And typical of a liberal they judge a Captain in charge of an expedition with a bunch of kids. My bet is if these kids were to pick a Captain to make that journey none of them would have made it. Probably descend into cannibalism at some point in their journey to nowhere.
As far as disease, it’s as old as man. I blame the medicine man for his failure to protect his people. If he were more interested in science than in hocus pocus the whole episode could have been avoided.
12 October, 2009 at 6:03 pm
I had a great Columbus day!
13 October, 2009 at 6:16 am
For some American Indian’s Columbus Day is a day of mourning. I get that treaties were broken, really bad things happened, etc. My question is, how long do the descendents of the first European people who landed here have to pay for the bad things that happened?
15 December, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Read Columbus’s own account of the expeditions. He does all but admit to being gold, spice and slave hungry. He admits that the natives were “gentle” people and would be easy to “enslave”. And by the way, sickness wasn’t half of the reason the Indians died. Columbus wasn’t merly a “bully” as you so laughably point out. He flat out murdered these people for gold. That is a stone cold fact not opinion. If you want to continue to praise this man, because I can tell it is so important to you people, then you should probably read his own words. Columbus and his men were greedy savages. He writes about it himself. You conservatives try to be so simple but you are so simple minded.
15 December, 2009 at 10:29 pm
90% of Native Americans in North, and South American died of DZ. It is a sad fact.
Hit, and run preston, hit, and run.
16 December, 2009 at 10:42 am
no no, not a hit and run. True of Native Americans in general, but I believe that we are talking about the Arawak Indians in which Columbus and his men encounterd in Hispanola. In just a few short years, more than half of the 250,000 Indians that lived there were killed because of subjection, imbearable working conditions mining for gold, insensable murders by the Spaniards, or in captivity on ships while on their way back to Spain so that they could be sold into slavery. By the time the Spaniards were done, little trace of The Arawak or there culture remained. This is also a sad fact and its one that people here love avoid. You can talk about North and South America all you want but its the expedition in Hispanola or the modern day DR that everyone celebrates and its this expedition that Columbus was so brutal. He accounts of it himself. Its ok to celebrate the whole idea that the expeditions had a significant impact on the discovery of our world but its not ok to celebrate Columbus the man.
16 December, 2009 at 12:01 pm
First of all, let me preface this reply: Was Columbus a “bad man?” I don’t know. If the legal system of Columbus’s day did nothing to prosecute him, then I must conclude that his actions were well within the law at that time. Yes, this is a poor defense of Columbus in light of modern sensibilities and ethics. However, one cannot accurately interpret history using modern laws and ethics. Accordingly, even the U.S. Constitution recognizes this in Article I, Section 10, “no State shall pass any ex post facto Law.” That being said, here is my reply to you:
So, now your blaming Columbus for the actions of others? Lumping in the likes of Cortes and the Conquistadors, are we? You do know that Columbus was Italian, right? So, why are you blaming the actions of Spaniards on Columbus? Isn’t there already enough bad stuff that Columbus supposedly did that would not require you to pad the list of accusations?
Now, you mentioned that you read Columbus’s own account of the expeditions. I am quite curious as to how you managed this, since there is NO known exact copy of Columbus’s logs and journals left in existence.
What we have, instead, is an abstract of Columbus’s logbook, written by Bartólome de las Casas sometime in the 16th century. The abstract is mostly written in third person with a healthy smattering of first person quotes from Columbus’s logbook.
That being said, one must also take Bartólome de las Casas’s agenda into account when reading his abstract of Columbus’s writings; Bartólome was rabidly against Indian slavery and was well known to exaggerate and fabricate tales in order to advance his own agenda. Although his intents were honorable, he was, nevertheless, the Michael Moore of his day.
That being said; you believe that you have read Columbus’s journal, while I posit that the only thing you have read is a piece of 16th Century propaganda.
Cheers
16 December, 2009 at 12:09 pm
And a little irony is later the creation of the United States would eventually lead to the destruction of Spanish colonial interests and freedom for people such as the Philippines. Also, shortly after we stood up against the British and gained independence the same type of thing happened down in Mexico in 1810 when Spain granted Mexico independence. It’s too bad the only people Columbus could get to fund him was Spain but eventually it came back to bite them in the arse.
16 December, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Right, its only propaganda because it is a different side of the story.
First of all I said nothing about anyone else but Columbus and his first few expeditions. He was in command and gave the orders and is responsible for the decisions made which killed over half of the population of 250,000 in a few short years. Just him alone. I never said anything about Cortez. In fact, I made that clear in my last reply. Columbus even became governer of the island. There goes that argument.
Also, I was unaware that murder and civil crueltiy were only “modern” laws. I guess these were sensible acts then sense he enslaved indians in the name of the “trinity”. Also, Columbus was eventually arressted when he later became governer of Hispanola for breaking these “modern” ethics and laws but was let go, much to the displeasure of the people, by the king and queen only because of the wealth he brought them. There goes that argument.
True his journal is transcribed by Las Casas, but historains today praise it as near the real thing. But to your credit, and mine, if we don’t really know exatly what columbus said, then how can we say that Las Casas did or didn’t use “healthy smattering”, or tried to “promote his own agenda”. THere goes that argument.
Who knows, but I’m not going to dismiss his transcription because he was an ethical man. Even you say he was ethical. However, you are willing to toss his accounts because he was against slavery and tried his best to change the way expeditions proceded throughout! Wow! That sounds like a fantastic way to excuse Columbus’s behavior. There goes that argument.
I am also aware that Columbus was Italian, but the men he traveled with were Spanish because Spain was the only country that would finance his travels genius. There goes that argument. That was easy.
If what you say about these accounts are true, then not even you are sure of what really happened on these islands in 1492, and neither do I, So why do you act as if you do. I could care less, I just wish some of you had a better argument for your position and particulartly you “doctorbulldog”. Did you copy/paste your post from Wikipedia. Don’t lie. You can do better than a michael moore reference too. Thats always an easy thing to do.