Columbusing

10/9/2023

Take a look at this article from The Oatmeal. What are some issues with the myth that Christopher Columbus "discovered" the Americas? Explain. Do you think Columbus should be honored with a holiday in the United States? Why or why not?

34 Comments

Lilly Cerise

10/9/2023 09:20:40 am

I think that the biggest issue is that Christopher Columbus did not discover the Americas, and he actually majorly disrupted other people's lives. I do not think we should celebrate him, but we also cannot forget about him and ignore what he did.

Sydnee Cluff

10/9/2023 09:26:13 am

I agree with you that he was not the first person who founded the Americas so why are we giving him all this praise when he was technically the second person to find the Americas.

Brianna Anderson

10/9/2023 09:28:06 am

I agree, he really didn't discover the Americas

Sydnee Cluff

10/9/2023 09:24:21 am

Technically Christopher Columbus wasn't the first person to find the Americas. Leif Ericson found them before Columbus was even born. People say that Columbus proved to everyone that the world was round but, very few people in Christopher Columbus time believe the world was round so Columbus didn't really have to convince anybody. I don't think Columbus shouldn't have a holiday but I think he should at least share it with Leif Ericson who technically founded the Americas first.

Brianna Anderson

10/9/2023 09:29:04 am

I agree the holiday should be celebrating the true founder of the Americas

Abby Jackson

10/9/2023 09:31:02 am

I agree the holiday really should be shared with Leif. It's really not fair he gets most of the credit for it.

Sienna

10/9/2023 09:37:46 am

I agree. we should be celebrating Ericson instead of Columbus.

Brianna Anderson

10/9/2023 09:24:42 am

The issue is Native Americans were already living here way before he got there. Also Leif Erickson found the america's 500 years before Christopher even set sail. I don't think we should celebrate him because he wasn't a good man and even if he was decent he didn't even do anything important, because the new world had already been discovered. When he arrived in the Americas he demanded things from the natives even though it was there home. All he did was destroy the natives lifes in the Americas.

Sydnee Cluff

10/9/2023 09:27:11 am

I agree with you the Columbus distrupted more to world then discovered.

Sienna Crispin

10/9/2023 09:38:27 am

I agree. Columbus brought more bad to the world than he did good.

Lisa Mualem

10/9/2023 09:26:19 am

There are many issues with the myth, first of all we are teaching kids that no one knew about the 'New World" until Christopher Columbus, which is not true. We are also teaching kids different reasons why he came and what he did instead of the truth. These kids are being blindsided from the truth and are growing up praising a murderer basically. I don't think it should be a holiday since there is no reason for banks and stores to close for someone like him, but I don't think we should let the past "disappear".

Abby Jackson

10/9/2023 09:28:58 am

I agree, they are being blindsided and everybody is trying to hide the truth of what he really did so he looks like the good guy.

Mykala

10/9/2023 09:30:09 am

I agree that Columbus day should not be celebrated as a holiday but instead a lesson to teach further generations.

Alyssa

10/9/2023 09:32:11 am

I didn't think of it as praising a murderer. I agree with you about that statement.

Abby Jackson

10/9/2023 09:26:51 am

Almost everybody believes that he discovered the Americas and that he was the guy who saved everybody and created new land. The main reason he went to find the new land was for money, he didn't care about the people living there or what could be made, he just wanted the gold. Because he wanted it so bad he hurt the natives there and took everything from them. I don't think he should be honored as much as the other guy who saved all of the natives and did more. I feel he should be honored because yes he did take the trip to the land and got everybody to know about it but he also did horrible things that could've been treated way different. He just took control of the power he was given.

Lisa Mualem

10/9/2023 09:28:15 am

I agree that he really just took advantage of his power.

Sara Chaffin

10/9/2023 09:30:40 am

He definitely took control of the power he was given.

Alyssa

10/9/2023 09:30:57 am

I agree with what you say, taking the power and gaining more from it.

Autumn Schewe

10/9/2023 09:32:17 am

I agree, he did take a lot of advantage of his power to do terrible things.

Mykala

10/9/2023 09:27:20 am

One big problem about the myth that Columbus "discovered" the Americas is that he didn't. There had been multiple natives, vikings, and other sailors that had discovered that land way before Columbus. Columbus Day should not be a holiday because not only did he not discover anything he was a terrible person who let greed and money persuade his morals. He was a murder, slave trader, and only wanted power.

Autumn Schewe

10/9/2023 09:30:04 am

I didn't even think about the vikings discovering it first!

Autumn Schewe

10/9/2023 09:28:00 am

Chritopher Columbus didn't actually discover the New World, Leif Ericson actually discovered it 500 years before Columbus. All Columbus wanted was the gold and nothing else. Columbus was super mean to the natives already on the Americas; he slaved them, tourtured them, and he used them as reward to his men as sex slaves. I don't feel Columbus should be honored because of what he did just to get the money. He didn't care about our society or the new opportunitues that could be opened up or to get to know the natives there. All he wanted was the money and fame. Like the article says; he's a sex slaver, mass murderer, and champion of sociopath imprerialism.

Lisa Mualem

10/9/2023 09:29:58 am

I agree he didn't really care about what the "New World" would become in the future.

Sara Chaffin

10/9/2023 09:32:22 am

I like how you referred to the articles words of describing him.

Sara Chaffin

10/9/2023 09:28:23 am

We all have been taught about Columbus, but most of us didn't know the real story about him and his "discovery". Columbus was known for going out and trying to find a better trade route. We also know that he "discovered" the Americas. This of course is all fake. We know that Leif Ericson discovered the Americas long before Columbus did. We were also taught that he was a good guy and made friends with the local natives. We now know that is wrong and wasn't near the truth. He murdered, enslaved, and sexually assulted the natives. This man was greedy and narcissistic. He had no care for anyone that was different from him. I've always thought that he shouldn't have a holiday. I do think its important to learn about him, but we shouldn't celebrate his lies. In conclusion Columbus is a fake and doesn't deserve a holiday.

Lucile

10/9/2023 09:32:22 am

I completely agree, we shouldn't be celebrating a man who has done such horrible things.

Alyssa

10/9/2023 09:29:10 am

I don't think Columbus day should be a holiday as Columbus did a lot of horrible things. We shouldn't have a federal holiday about his "accomplishments". As The Oatmeal states, "[...] sex slaver, mass murderer, and champion of sociopathic imperialism." Those are topics that shouldn't be celebrated in any way. An issue with the myth is that there was someone else who found the Americas. He was just more popular and did a lot more things, not exactly good things, that made him stand out from the first explorers.

Lucile

10/9/2023 09:31:08 am

I agree, we shouldn't be ignoring all of the horrible things that he has done.

Mykala

10/9/2023 09:32:22 am

I agree that Columbus should not be celebrated because he didn't even "discover" America.

Lucile

10/9/2023 09:29:53 am

I see Columbus Day as a day where elementary students learn about the findings of the "new world" however, while it is a good learning topic it has been taught untruthfully and sugar coated for the children. I believe that history should not be taught truthfully for the sake of young people. If we believe that topics are too heavy and dark for elementary students to learn about, we shouldn't teach it to them at all. Instead we should be teaching sensitive topics to high school/middle school students depending on the agreed sensitivity. I don't believe we should celebrate Christopher Columbus as a good man when he isn't half the man schools teach us about. While slaves were normal to have in his time period, it doesn't make it right. It also doesn't mean that his cruel methods were right either. He was a madman driven by money and fame, if a person doesn't think feeding alive humans to dogs is wrong then there is something mentally wrong with that person. As a society, we have issued rape as a horrible crime so why do we ignore the fact the Christopher Columbus not only forced the natives women to be raped by his men, but he also regularly sold 9-10 year old girls into sex slavery. He wasn't a good man and we shouldn't pretend that he was.

Mykala

10/9/2023 09:35:08 am

I agree that Columbus should not be celebrated because not only did he discover nothing he also did horrible things to those who had already inhabited the land.

Hudson Bertram

10/9/2023 09:32:52 am

I mean realistically Christopher Columbus wasn't even close to being the first to discover the "new world" I feel its relatively known that to are understanding the first people to survive in the Americas were the "Clovis People".
No Christopher Columbus does not deserve a holiday. For one, nobody even acknowledges it as a holiday. According to the Article from the Oatmeal. Columbus was not a good man. He essentially ruled native peoples with an iron fist. Committing atrocity's to the native people.

Sienna Crispin

10/9/2023 09:36:31 am

There are many flaws in the myth that Columbus found the new world. In the article it states, "Leif Ericson technically found the New World 500 years before Columbus ever set sail". This quote proves that Ericson found the New World many years before Columbus was born. There were also Native Americans living there when Columbus arrived proving again that Columbus was not the first person to discover the land. I feel that we should not celebrate Columbus day because we are celebrating him stealing someone elses findings and giving him all the credit for something someone else did.

Miles

10/9/2023 09:37:07 am

I don't think Columbus really lived up to his name, in fact, I think the opposite; apart from going after Leif Erickson, (the man who actually discovered the Americas) he actually wanted gold and riches, but not being able to get those riches, he enslaved, mass murdered, and amputated the natives. I don't think that this should be a national holiday because he actually was a disgrace to the natives, he was a mass murderer, a slave trader, and all because of the gold.

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