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From: John van Hezewyk
Date: 9/28/2003
Time: 2:27:19 AM
Remote Name: 67.243.39.127
Mark makes an interesting point, one that I had not considered. So the patrons who funded Columbus and the other explorers were profit-motivated--they were far worse things, including murderers and thieves. That said, let's go back to Columbus; in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. That's what we learn in elementary school, and high school teaches us that maybe the Vikings did it first. If we're lucky, we learn that the Europeans brought with them disease, and killed the natives. The truth is a much darker realm--Columbus and his successors virtually annihilated the population of the Western Hemisphere. They destroyed sprawling, complex civilizations without even a pang of guilt--all in the name of power, wealth, and glory. From Columbus in the 1400's to Custer four centuries later, the Europeans (and the Americans derived from them) saw only opportunity and profit, with no regard for the native people or basic morality. Yes, the kingdoms were greedy and immoral--just like the people they sent to explore and colonize the New World. The immorality of the monarchs does not change the immorality of the explorers. So honestly, what difference does it make that the kingdoms were greedy? The cities of pre-Columbian America are no less ruined, the First Nations people are no less destroyed. I doubt they see the distinction.