Monday, October 08, 2012

Happy Columbus Day …

… and if you disagree, well, screwez-vous: Celebrating Columbus, Brave and Bright - Charles C. W. Cooke - National Review Online.

Unlike previous landings, Columbus’s mattered. It was the first to lead to a permanent settlement and the first enduring landing from a civilization that boasted modern ideas such as a belief in science, reason, individual achievement, and Christianity. Ultimately, Columbus’s story serves as the introduction to a story of immeasurable historical importance. To dismiss celebration of the man because he didn’t make it to America first would be akin to declaring that we must scorn Isaac Newton’s contribution to science because he wasn’t actually hit by an apple.

To scorn Columbus because he wasn't a 20th century boy is about as ahistorical as it gets.

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