On Columbus Day, Celebrate Western Civilization, Not Multiculturalism

[Powerboss]

This guy nails it.


Released: October 3, 2001

On Columbus Day, Celebrate Western Civilization, Not Multiculturalism
By Michael S. Berliner

Columbus Day approaches and this year has a special meaning. Christopher Columbus is a carrier of Western civilization and the very values attacked by terrorists on September 11. To the "politically correct," Columbus Day is an occasion to be mourned. They have mourned, they have attacked, and they have intimidated schools across the country into replacing Columbus Day celebrations with "ethnic diversity" days.

The politically correct view is that Columbus did not discover America, because people had lived here for thousands of years. Worse yet, it's claimed, the main legacy of Columbus is death and destruction. Columbus is routinely vilified as a symbol of slavery and genocide, and the celebration of his arrival likened to a celebration of Hitler and the Holocaust. The attacks on Columbus are ominous, because the actual target is Western civilization.

Did Columbus "discover" America? Yes—in every important respect. This does not mean that no human eye had been cast on America before Columbus arrived. It does mean that Columbus brought America to the attention of the civilized world, i.e., to the growing, scientific civilizations of Western Europe. The result, ultimately, was the United States of America. It was Columbus's discovery for Western Europe that led to the influx of ideas and people on which this nation was founded—and on which it still rests. The opening of America brought the ideas and achievements of Aristotle, Galileo, Newton, and the thousands of thinkers, writers, and inventors who followed.

Prior to 1492, what is now the United States was sparsely inhabited, unused, and undeveloped. The inhabitants were primarily hunter-gatherers, wandering across the land, living from hand to mouth and from day to day. There was virtually no change, no growth for thousands of years. With rare exception, life was nasty, brutish, and short: there was no wheel, no written language, no division of labor, little agriculture and scant permanent settlement; but there were endless, bloody wars. Whatever the problems it brought, the vilified Western culture also brought enormous, undreamed-of benefits, without which most of today's Indians would be infinitely poorer or not even alive.

Columbus should be honored, for in so doing, we honor Western civilization. But the critics do not want to bestow such honor, because their real goal is to denigrate the values of Western civilization and to glorify the primitivism, mysticism, and collectivism embodied in the tribal cultures of American Indians. They decry the glorification of the West as "cultural imperialism" and "Eurocentrism." We should, they claim, replace our reverence for Western civilization with multiculturalism, which regards all cultures (including vicious tyrannies) as morally equal. In fact, they aren't. Some cultures are better than others: a free society is better than slavery; reason is better than brute force as a way to deal with other men; productivity is better than stagnation. In fact, Western civilization stands for man at his best. It stands for the values that make human life possible: reason, science, self-reliance, individualism, ambition, productive achievement. The values of Western civilization are values for all men; they cut across gender, ethnicity, and geography. We should honor Western civilization not for the ethnocentric reason that some of us happen to have European ancestors but because it is the objectively superior culture.

Underlying the political collectivism of the anti-Columbus crowd is a racist view of human nature. They claim that one's identity is primarily ethnic: if one thinks his ancestors were good, he will supposedly feel good about himself; if he thinks his ancestors were bad, he will supposedly feel self-loathing. But it doesn't work; the achievements or failures of one's ancestors are monumentally irrelevant to one's actual worth as a person. Only the lack of a sense of self leads one to look to others to provide what passes for a sense of identity. Neither the deeds nor misdeeds of others are his own; he can take neither credit nor blame for what someone else chose to do. There are no racial achievements or racial failures, only individual achievements and individual failures. One cannot inherit moral worth or moral vice. "Self-esteem through others" is a self-contradiction.

Thus the sham of "preserving one's heritage" as a rational life goal. Thus the cruel hoax of "multicultural education" as an antidote to racism: it will continue to create more racism. Individualism is the only alternative to the racism of political correctness. We must recognize that everyone is a sovereign entity, with the power of choice and independent judgment. That is the ultimate value of Western civilization, and it should be proudly proclaimed.



Dr. Berliner is a member of the board of directors of the Ayn Rand Institute in Marina del Rey, Calif. The Institute promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.


http://www.aynrand.org/medialink/columbus.html

[jojo]

Viva La Individualism!

[Xenodamus]

While I think European culture should be celebrated for its achievements, I find it nauseating that this article, at the same time, belittles the different achievements of the Amerindians such as their pharmacopoeia or their ability to maintain an equlibirum with their surrounding environment by their religion. I think this article is piece of crud and so is its author.

[Amigo de Durruti]

I agree with Xenodamus. The article is far-fetched and based more on rhetorical hype than fact. In reality, Columbus day is celebrated throughout America and also in Europe - not at all mourned. It panders to destroy modern "multiculturalism" and sets his article on that premise rather than factual information. It appeals to objectivist morality and the right-wing by setting up strawmen by which to empower the ideology. Typical. I didn't find the article insightful nor worth the time taken to read it.

[Horse_weed]

Originally posted by Amigo de Durruti
I agree with Xenodamus. The article is far-fetched and based more on rhetorical hype than fact. In reality, Columbus day is celebrated throughout America and also in Europe - not at all mourned. It panders to destroy modern "multiculturalism" and sets his article on that premise rather than factual information. It appeals to objectivist morality and the right-wing by setting up strawmen by which to empower the ideology. Typical. I didn't find the article insightful nor worth the time taken to read it.

I didn't make it past the second paragraph.

[Snouter]

Excellent and timely article Powerboss. It is amazing how the West has degenerated into into a multicultural sesspool that celebrates savage cannibals and attacks the great achievement of Western exporers like Columbus.

I watched some of Book TV the other day on C-Span and Thomas Bowden discussed his new book, The Enemies of Christopher Colombus. He exposed the politically correct, anti-Western insanity that plagues the world today. In the question and answer section, someone brought up the ridiculous "earth flat" myth and explained that Columbus and Western intellectuals for thousands of years knew the earth was a sphere. Columbus obvioulsy misjudged the size of the sphere.

There is evidence the "flat earth myth" was promoted by Secular Humanist, anti-Chiristians in an effort to discredit Christians. The great writer Washington Irving (1783-1859) who wrote The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus portrays Columbus arguing against oppositon who allegedly believed the earth was flat. This was untrue since the well-known argument between Columbux and the Council of Salamanca was about the controversial distance between Europe and East and was not about the shape of the Earth.

[jojo]

Thanks to Columbus for discovering the New World.

[Johnson]

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged Latin Americans on Saturday not to celebrate Columbus Day, saying the 1492 discovery of the Americas triggered a 150-year "genocide" of native Indians by foreign conquerors who behaved "worse than Hitler."

[Powerboss]

Originally posted by Snouter
Excellent and timely article Powerboss. It is amazing how the West has degenerated into into a multicultural sesspool that celebrates savage cannibals and attacks the great achievement of Western exporers like Columbus.

.

Yep. I heard it on the radio and found it online.

It goes straight to the heart of what is wrong with the leftist ideology.
They seem to have a guilt problem in knowing or thinking that our culture is better, so they deny it and attempt to discredit every "icon" of western civilization and those who subscribe to western culture being superior as closed minded and other choice words.
They judge the actions of people then to todays standards when in fact the actions back then were the norm.

So, to compensate for this "guilt" they seem to posess, they have invented mulitculteralism and political correctness, two of the biggest shams that ever came down the pike.

[jojo]

eurocentrism is leftist.

[Snouter]

Venezuela under President Hugo Chavez is part of the axis of evil and that Marxist should be forcefully removed per the Monroe Doctrine.

[jojo]

[I don't know]

Why should you celebrate Western Civilization on a day dedicated to the man who "discovered" south america?

I say, try doing it on Leif Erikson day in stead.

[GeorgeMiflinDallas]

Xeno,

What kind of white man's blindness is THIS!

Yours.........."their ability to maintain an equlibirum with their surrounding environment by their religion"

I see. So ALL indian cultures were the same?

They all had the same environment respecting religion? Or maybe you think there WERE no different religions? Were they ALL the same to you?

Ridiculous.

SOME did, yes. Others were nomadic. They used up their area's resources and moved on to a new area to use it up. Some were male centered cultures, others female. Some warred, others farmed.

And nearly ALL of them were SMALL communities, so you CANNOT say that they "lived in harmony" with their environment necessarily because there often weren't enough of them to adversley effect their community!

I love to see this craziness about American Indian cultures. It SO shows a lack of knowledge of them.

[Amigo de Durruti]

Why should you celebrate Western Civilization on a day dedicated to the man who "discovered" south america?

Columbus initiated the Spaniards mass exploration and settlements of North and South America whilst recognizing its potential and calling its attention to Spain, further directing settlements and 'crusades' into the region. Columbus and his band of Spaniards were the first Europeans to successfully colonize America. Keep in mind, when the Spaniards explored the northern hemisphere of America, they did not discover Northern Europeans, but Indians settled throughout the territory. Even if Erikson was the first European to land on America in 1001 AD, it doesn't matter. He did not exploit the land as did Columbus and his shipmates. He did not direct the entire continent of Europe to its attention. He did not successfully plan the colonization of America for its people. This came with Columbus. That is why us Europeans celebrate Columbus and not a viking who happened to stumble upon a mass of land.

[KanuckiStang]

Didn't Columbus set out to find a way to India by travelling West?
On his first voyage, didn't Columbus actually land on an island in the Bahamas on 10/12/1492?
On his second voyage, didn't Columbus pass Puerto Rico and Navidad? And on his third voyage didn't he find Jamaica and South America? On his fourth and final voyage, didn't he find what we now call Honduras in "Central America"?

When did Chris himself actually set foot on what is now US soil?

Wouldn't it make more sense to celebrate "Bjarni Herjolfsson Day"?

[I don't know]

I don't know who the feck Bjarni Herjolfsson is, but Leif Erikson was the one who discovered North America.

[Scott]

Originally posted by Snouter
savage cannibals

did you just call native americans "Savage Cannibals?"


You sir...are extreamly mistaken....and extreamly offensive



please refrain or be warned

[KanuckiStang]

Originally posted by I don't know
I don't know who the feck Bjarni Herjolfsson is, but Leif Erikson was the one who discovered North America.

It is possible that Herjolfsson was the first European in North America:

http://15804427.home.icq.com/Norsemen%20Vikings1.html

Bjarni Herjolfsson-
During the Summer of 986, the same year Eirik the Red settled in Greenland, Bjarni sailed from Iceland to spend the Summer with his Father who Lived in Greenland. Before he reached Greenland the Fogs of the North Atlantic closed in and he drifted Southwest carried by the prevailing WINDS and CURRENTS into the UNKNOWN. When the weather cleared some days later he saw a UNFAMILIAR SHORELINE. It was a LOW LYING shore covered with TREES, PLANTS, and multitudes of FISH some of which were in Rare supply in Greenland. He knew this was not Greenland but where was he? He turned his Ship to the North and traveled up a strange coastline for some time before He turned to the Northeast and retraced his voyage till he finally found the coast of Greenland. Upon arriving in Greenland he told the people of his voyage and the rich New Land to the Southwest.

Eiriksson created the first European settlement in North America but it appears Herjolfsson was the first European to "discover America".

[Snouter]

Originally posted by Scott
did you just call native americans "Savage Cannibals?"

I was referring primarily to the savage cannibals that the Europeans encountered in the Carribean. The term cannibalism is derived frm the Spanish form of Carib, a West Indies tribe who were famous cannibals.

Originally posted by Scott
You sir...are extreamly mistaken....and extreamly offensive.

Cannibalism was widely practiced by primitive goups around the globe until European civilization stopped the practice whenever possible. Unfortunately, it is practiced to this day by barbaric groups of people for food, sorcery, to celebrate defeat of an enemy, or other insane purposes such as to gain the qualities of those who are eaten.

Here is some info on a European who was captured by some savage cannibals in South America.

Hans Staden was a German soldier who sailed to Brazil twice on Portuguese ships. Staden's second voyage to the New World in 1549 proved disasterous, with all three ships being wrecked. Staden then served as a gunnery instructor in a coastal Portuguese fort before being captured by Tupinamba warriors in 1552, who assumed he was Portuguese.

Knowing the language of the Tupi after three years in Brazil, Staden was well aware of his precarious situation. His captors, having shaved off his eyebrows with glass, clearly intended to eat him. Staden attempted to convince the natives that he was German, not Portuguese, and thus a friend of the Tupinamba's French allies. A Frenchman called Karrwattware was summoned from a Tupinamba village four miles away. After the unfortunate Staden failed to understand his French, however, Karrwattware told the natives to "kill him and eat eat him, the good-for-nothing, for he is indeed a Portuguese, your enemy and mine." Things looked even bleaker for Staden when the tribal chief, named Konyan Bebe, announced he had already helped to "kill and eat five Portuguese who said they were Frenchmen, but had all lied."

Staden somehow managed to survive for months among the cannibalistic Tupinamba before finally escaping. During his captivity, he observed many aspects of this now extinct culture which he soon recorded in a book entitled Hans Staden: The True History of his Captivity. This two-part narrative on his confinement and Tupinamba captors was published in 1557 after his return to Europe. It became an immediate best-seller and was reprinted several times with translations in Dutch, Latin, and French. The first section narrates his two voyages and the story of his capture. Part two contains Staden's important ethnographic descriptions of the Tupinamba villages, including subsistence and manioc preparation, pottery manufacture and other crafts, religion, marriage customs, political practices, and cannibalism. Staden's written and illustrated account remains a primary source on the Tupinamba culture, which dominated large portions of southeastern Brazil, and whose language was used for trading as far away as the Andes at the time of initial European contact.

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