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From his very first contact with native people, Columbus had their domination in mind. For example, on October 14, 1492, Columbus wrote in his journal, "with fifty men they can all be subjugated and made to do what is required of them." [5] These were not mere words: after his second voyage, Columbus sent back a consignment of natives to be sold as slaves. [6]
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The religious beliefs of Apocalyptic Christianity were yet another one of Columbus' motivations for setting sail; consequently, it was the most illogical motivation he possessed.
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Columbus, in need of a cargo other than gold and spices to ship to Spain, decided to send the Taino slaves as a show of the wealth available in the New World. He loaded the “best men and women” onto ships and sent them off to Europe, thus beginning the widespread enslavement of the native peoples.
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His marauding band hunted Indians for sport and profit - beating, raping, torturing, killing, and then using the Indian bodies as food for their hunting dogs. Within four years of Columbus' arrival on Hispaniola, his men had killed or exported one-third of the original Indian population of 300,000.
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They forced their way into native settlements, slaughtering everyone they found there, including small children, old men, pregnant women, and even women who had just given birth. They hacked them to pieces, slicing open their bellies with their swords as though they were so many sheep herded into a pen. They even laid wagers on whether they could manage to slice a man in two at a stroke, or cut an individual's head from his body, or disembowel him with a single blow of their axes. They grabbed suckling infants by the feet and, ripping them from their mothers' breasts, dashed them headlong against the rocks.
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After exploring hundreds of islands but failing to find much gold, Columbus returned to Spain in 1496. He kidnapped some 500 natives to serve as slaves in the Old World, and half of them died en route.
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In retrospect, if he had instead landed in a non-pacifist country, such as that of the Iroquois or Maya, history would have turned out differently. Their Warriors would have fought back ferociously, very probably ending his voyage on the American side of the Atlantic. If this had happened, and no Europeans had appeared for another century, population growth and technology development would have reduced the possibility of European colonization considerably. However, history turned out the way it did and no amount of fantasizing can change that.
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Setting up shop on the large island he called Espa–ola (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic), he promptly instituted policies of slavery (encomiendo) and systematic extermination against the native Taino population.
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Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for October 10th through October 13th:
- American Creation: Should We Celebrate Columbus Day? - However exciting it may be for us to remember Columbus as a pure-hearted explorer, the historical record cannot be ignored. As a result, it is plainly clear that Columbus was not the benevolent explorer we often consider him to be in American popular culture. Instead, Columbus was very much a tyrant who used religion to justify his acts of violence towards the native people of the "New World." Again, Alan Taylor points out what Columbus' real intentions were when it came to the native people of the "New World:"
- Columbus Day | culturekitchen - Together, Columbus Day and Thanksgiving are the foundation myths of America. I have been ambivalent, in the litteral meaning of the word, towards Columbus Day for years now. I celebrate America and Columbus' "discovery" of the "New World" because the result of his discovery and the ultimate founding of America is that my family, myself included, is alive and thriving today. Without America, my family would have been exterminated in the genocide of Nazi Germany if not before that in the genocide of the pogroms in Tsarist Russia and later Stalin's genocide in the Soviet Union. But I am reminded every Columbus day of the genocides on which the founding of America was based. My family had a refuge from genocide because of a previous genocide committed against the natives of America. How's THAT for ambivalence?
- Better to Be… - Swampland - TIME - Watch the tape of the guy screaming, "He's a terrorist!" McCain seems to shudder at that, he rolls his eyes… and I thought for a moment he'd admonish the man. But he didn't. And now he's selling the Ayres non-story full-time. Yes, yes, it's all he has. True enough: he no longer has his honor. But we are on the edge of some real serious craziness here and it would be nice if McCain did the right thing and told his more bloodthirsty supporters to go home and take a cold shower. But McCain hasn't done the right thing all year. His campaign is appalling, as the New York Times editorial board said today–and more, it is a national disgrace.
- Deborah Hargreaves: We should take the axe to these architects of downfall | Comment is free | The Guardian - Banks are supposed to be risk-averse institutions. They are custodians of our money, and we expect them to protect it. But it seems the current generation of bankers has forgotten this age-old adage and become carried away with the idea of turning their retail networks into international powerhouses. Now that gamble has not worked, they have come running to us to help them out.
- Kristof: Can this be pro-life? - International Herald Tribune - The Bush administration this month is quietly cutting off birth control supplies to some of the world's poorest women in Africa. Thus the paradox of a "pro-life" administration adopting a policy whose result will be tens of thousands of additional abortions each year - along with more women dying in childbirth. The saga also spotlights a clear difference between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain.
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I’m sure I probably shouldn’t, but seeing as how this is the reason I have the day off, and during Dylan’s nap is the only time I’m likely to be able to post between now and when Parker gets home…
Tags: current events, politics
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That’s “National Coming Out a Day Late,” because I missed National Coming Out Day. I don’t think I have anyone left to come out to at this point. Let’s see, I’m out to Parker’s swimming teacher, the mom who sat next to me during the swimming class, the I can’t tell my coming out story again, but you can read it anyway since I reposted it last year.
So, at best, I can support others wherever they are in their coming out process. I thought the best way would be to share some of the videos I perused on YouTube today, of all kinds of people coming out, talking about coming out, and supporting people who are coming out.
Tags: current events, gay rights
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Damn. It’s 9:21 p.m. on a Friday night. Nobody’s reading blogs right now, but I gotta run with this.
Not just abuse of power, but unlawful abuse of power. Well, what can I say?
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Tags: crime, current events, elections, politics
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Part of the problem with my morning routine is that by the time I get around to checking the news, it isn’t news any more. That is, it’s already been blogged by everybody and their brother. But in case you haven’t heard, the Connecticut Supreme Court overturned the state’s marriage ban.
Connecticut’s Supreme Court ruled Friday that same-sex couples have the right to marry, making that state the third behind Massachusetts and California to legalize such unions.
The divided court ruled 4-3 that gay and lesbian couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry under the state constitution, and Connecticut’s civil unions law does not provide those couples with the same rights as heterosexual couples.
“I can’t believe it. We’re thrilled, we’re absolutely overjoyed. We’re finally going to be able, after 33 years, to get married,” said Janet Peck of Colchester, who was a plaintiff with her partner, Carole Conklin.
Justices overturned a lower court ruling and found in favor of the plaintiffs, who said the state’s marriage law discriminates against them because it applies only to heterosexual couples, therefore denying gay couples the financial, social and emotional benefits of marriage.
I haven’t had time to read the entire decision, but here’s what I’d call the “money quote” from the decision.
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This article from Esquire —actually a slideshow —seemed like an opportunity to start or join a meme. So, I’m going to post the titles I’ve read from among those Esquire had named the Greatest Books Ever Written, declared them 75 Books Every Man Should Read. I decided to see how many of them I’ve actually read. How many have you read?
Here’s my list:
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Tags: current events
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Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for October 9th from 15:21 to 16:50:
- TPMCafe | Talking Points Memo | Sitting On the Conservative Coffin - Polls show that the share of the population self-identifying as "conservative" continues to hold steady at around the same level as it has for years. In the latest New York Times poll, for example, 36 percent self-identified as conservative, 38 percent as moderate, and 22 percent as liberal; the reading for conservative is toward the high end of the fairly narrow range the Times poll has measured since the early 1990s. Don't these people read books!? Though I've argued ad nauseum that progressives should strive to make the "conservative" label as toxic as the right succeeded in rendering the "liberal" brand, it's becoming pretty clear at this point that it ain't going to happen. If roughly the same number of Americans are as proud to call themselves conservative after the past eight years of disastrous right-wing governance as before, those folks aren't going to be talked out of anything.
- James Love: McCarthyism with Lipstick - Like Obama, Sarah Palin missed the 60s and the Vietnam war controversies. She grew up when there was no draft, and when disco was more important than politics. She is discovering now her abilities to engage in the type of character assaults that one associates with Joe McCarthy — guilt by association. Like McCarthy, she has no real boundaries or shame.
- Dave Winer: Profiles in Cowardice - The politics of the Republicans this year has crossed the line, as Joe Biden said today, so well. When one of your supporters yells "Treason!" or "Kill Him!" in one of your rallies, in response to your words, a response is called for, yet no response came. You need to stop and say "Wait a minute — Country First asshole." We're not going to get anywhere by killing our opponents, the leaders of half our citizens. That's a civil war, Republicans — we fought one of those, and it came pretty close to destroying us. It's time to back off the precipice Ms. Palin and Mr. McCain.
- Rusel DeMaria: We the Losers - Palin has something. She has a natural charisma. She hasn't any wisdom or experience to speak of. She has a distorted world view and a vicious streak the size of her famous Alaskan pipeline, but she attracts people and can move people in a way that McCain never could. So, to me, she's dangerous, because she can incite people into a hate state. She is doing it now. The problem is, whoever wins this presidential election, we are all losers because of what McCain and Palin are doing now. Let me say that again, Joe Biden-like. We are all losers.
- Black Congressmen Declare Racism In Palin’s Rhetoric | The New York Observer - As the McCain campaign ratchets up the intensity of its attacks on Barack Obama, some black elected officials are calling the tactics desperate, unseemly and racist. “They are trying to throw out these codes,” said Representative Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York. “He’s ‘not one of us?’” Mr. Meeks said, referring to a comment Sarah Palin made at a campaign rally on Oct. 6 in Florida. “That’s racial. That’s fear. They know they can’t win on the issues, so the last resort they have is race and fear.” “Racism is alive and well in this country, and McCain and Palin are trying to appeal to that and it’s unfortunate,” said Representative Ed Towns, also from New York.
- David Brooks: Sarah Palin “Represents A Fatal Cancer To The Republican Party” - [Sarah Palin] represents a fatal cancer to the Republican party. When I first started in journalism, I worked at the National Review for Bill Buckley. And Buckley famously said he'd rather be ruled by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than by the Harvard faculty. But he didn't think those were the only two options. He thought it was important to have people on the conservative side who celebrated ideas, who celebrated learning. And his whole life was based on that, and that was also true for a lot of the other conservatives in the Reagan era. Reagan had an immense faith in the power of ideas. But there has been a counter, more populist tradition, which is not only to scorn liberal ideas but to scorn ideas entirely. And I'm afraid that Sarah Palin has those prejudices. I think President Bush has those prejudices.
- Open Left:: The Hate Machine & The Lynch Mob - As you can see, the Lynch Mob has no facts - it's not even interested in facts, nor even incoherence (or basic grammar). It is interested in fulminating and spewing hate - and hate alone. I fear for Barack Obama's safety in these final days. I really do. The conservative movement is not going to go down quietly - and with this upsurge in unbridled anger, I'm worried we're going to see some violence. I really hope I'm wrong - but I'm concerned.
- The Washington Monthly - ONLY ELITISTS CARE ABOUT PRONUNCIATION…. Barack Obama pronounces "Pakistan" correctly, with a soft "a," just like a lot of people who know what they're talking about, including Gen. David Petraeus. Apparently, having completely run out of compelling policy arguments to make, some high-profile conservatives have decided to make this their latest campaign hobbyhorse. The National Review's Mark Stein, for example, said that Obama prefers the "exotic pronunciation." He added, "[O]ne thing I like about Sarah Palin is the way she says 'Eye-raq'." This came after the National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez posted an email that argued, "[N]o one in flyover country says Pock-i-stahn. It's annoying." The inanity of what the right decides to whine about never ceases to amaze me. That Obama's pronunciation is accurate is irrelevant. Mispronunciation apparently makes some conservatives feel better about themselves, and raises doubts about candidates who care to get this right. "Elites" care about country names; real Americans don't.
- New America Media Blogs - “That one” is slightly less demeaning than gook, but not by much Senator John Mccain once got into hot water for his insistence on using the word gook to describe his Vietnamese captors ( and alleged torturers) during his 2000 presidential bid. After many asian groups protested, and after trying to explain in vain that he meant “gook” as a term reserved only for certain kinds of Vietnamese, Mccain finally apologized. Perhaps because the convoluted logic seems to suggest that Chink could be used only to imply mean Chinese and not all Chinese and so on. One could tell, however, the senator only apologized out of reluctance. Gook – in Korean it actually means country – was an common term used among American military personnel in the Korean and later Vietnamese theater- a derogatory word that unified the US by demeaning its enemy- and no one seemed to cared.
- Progressive Voter Guide to the Economy | Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace | AlterNet - The past year has been especially painful for America's working majority. In August, companies' payrolls shrank for the eighth consecutive month, resulting in a five-year high in unemployment. Whoever ends up occupying the White House in January 2009 will be faced with the epic task of restoring Americans' sense of economic security. What will the next president do about energy? About the mortgage meltdown? What kind of trade policies will he put into place? Read below for the answers. We've compiled these brief issue overviews to help you make an informed choice in November.
- BBC NEWS | Americas | Challenges for changing America - Barack Obama's emergence as a presidential candidate in the US represents a profound change in the American psyche, distinguished historian Simon Schama argues in his new series for the BBC, The American Future. "Whether or not he wins the presidency, this represents an historic shift in America's self-perception," Mr Schama says.
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You’ve probably already seen this, but it’s something as many people as possible should see. So, I’m doing what I can.
I’ll just add one thing. These are the people who have kept George W. Bush’s approval rating in the double digits, if only just barely, for the last few years. These are the people the McCain-Palin ticket is going out of their way not just to court, but to rouse them in a way they have not been roused before.
What will happen if they win? What will happen if they lose? Which is worse?
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At least he didn’t say “That boy,” but he was just one word off. I heard it, and I saw it. I saw it first, actually, during the first debate when McCain refused to look Obama in the eye.
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Tags: current events, elections, politics
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