Schools, banks, post offices, and the federal, state and local governments are all closed Monday. Why? It is Columbus Day!
Why should this matter? Well, for starters, we all know that Columbus didn't discover America; instead, he discovered Hispanola, today's Haiti and Dominican Republic. Actually, the continents of North and South America were discovered by many others before Columbus, though they did not know it, nor get credit for it.
What makes Columbus' journey so remarkable were several issues. He truly believed the Earth was round and convinced Ferdinand and Isabella to fund his journey. They were willing to risk a fortune on him, right after they drove the Moors from the Iberian Peninsula. He and his brave crew embarked on the journey in the middle of the hurricane season but did not know it. And finally, as his crew was ready to mutiny, good fortune or divine providence intervened and showed there was land ahead.
Yet, this year, the PC police are out of their minds about Columbus Day. They want to change the name to Indigenous People Day. Hey, all you dumb heads! There ARE NO indigenous people who can trace their heritage exclusively to the Western Hemisphere. Everyone here now has ancestors who came from someplace else.
That's right. Native Americans are not native to here. Their ancestors crossed the Bering Land Bridge. South Americans? Japanese and Koreans sailed across the Pacific and landed in Peru, Ecuador and Chile. This is pretty common knowledge if you deign to watch The History Channel.
But I digress.
Understand that eventually, someone would have landed here and would have gotten the good press Columbus got. Leif Erickson landed in Martha's Vineyard but did not get the attention Columbus did.
Why is that?
And, by the way, how did we get our name? It was another Italian, Amerigo Vespucci, who landed on the mainland of North America. Hence, the name. Good press again.
So let's stop this nonsense and leave well enough alone. In 1492, Columbus and his crew were brave enough to sail the ocean blue. And lived to do it several more times. If he didn't, where do you think you would be? Certainly not here, the best country in the world, where you can spew your stupidity with abandon.
Stop and think about it before you decide to show off your dumb brain to smarter people than you. Sometimes it is just better to be quiet and let others THINK you are stupid, than open your mouth and remove all doubt.
In the meantime - Happy Columbus Day!
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