These days, it really wouldn’t be Columbus Day without some left-winger pretending to be offended by history.
To be fair, the deeds of Christopher Columbus do deserve a serious critique. Even by the so-called standards of the time, there is certainly evidence to suggest that the Italian explorer might not deserve the namesake holiday we afford him today.
But, this meme goes way past a critique and into blatant lies, starting with the text at the top of the page.
“That’s a nice nation you got there,” the meme reads over geographical areas Columbus never came close to.
Inexcusable behavior aside, Columbus didn’t land in some utopia where everyone was getting along. There was no “one nation” on the continent. The islanders he encountered were by many accounts peaceful enough among one another, but this didn’t not paint an accurate picture of what was happening throughout the rest of the New World at the time.
While European monarchs were violently vying for power, many of the native tribes inhabiting North America were doing the exact same thing with each other. Even before European explorers introduced modern weapons of war, these tribes were engaged in territorial disputes, human sacrifice, an annexation of other tribes. This certainly doesn’t describe the behavior of every tribe, but suggesting that North America was some kind of love fest in the absence of white Europeans is horribly dishonest and ignorant.
~ Facts Not Memes.
