Reflection On Columbus: Happy To Be An American; Pissed At The Process

   

The above quotation is not fabricated.

It is a historical reflection on Christian Europe's conquest of Latin America 

written by revered Dominican Friar Bartolome de las Casas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolom%C3%A9_de_las_Casas

http://www.lascasas.org/

***

Dear Fred,

Thanks for your email.

I have always admired the extraordinary courage of Columbus and his crew, setting sail to the unknown, trespassing "the point of no return." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus

Next Spring, on my first trip to Spain (Portugal and Morocco), I look forward to visiting Cadiz, the nondescript city from which Cristoforo Colombo began his journey to terra incognita armed only with his belief that land was "out there." 

That way lie dragons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_be_dragons 

Although I appreciate the great goodness that eventually emerged from European colonization, I stumble on the manifold evils arising from The Conquest.

Here is a pertinent post from last December:

"The Pope Finally Does His Job. Christian Conservatives Aghast"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-pope-finally-does-his-job.html

Have you seen "The Mission" with Jeremy Irons, Robert de Niro and Daniel Berrigan playing a colonial priest?  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091530/

Not a great movie but a very good movie that focuses the central argument over the humanity - or animality - of native Americans.

U.S. Civil War general Sheridan said -- and meant -- "The only good Indian is a dead Indian." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Sheridan

George Washington ordered the complete annihilation of the peaceful, remarkably civilized Seneca who lived on the land where I grew up in Rochester and Honeoye, New York. ("Honeoye" is Seneca for "finger lying" and refers to a Seneca foraging story.)  http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/02/general-george-washington-orders.html

I hold Mary Jemison in high regard and wonder what she "saw" that made her prefer "the Indians" who scalped her parents and siblings to "the life" and lineage of her birth family's culture.

http://www.letchworthparkhistory.com/jem.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jemison

The overarching story of The Conquest (in that part of The New World now known as The "United" States) is told more powerfully than Greek tragedy in Rick Burns' documentary, "The Way West." 

"American Exceptionalism: In Theory And Practice"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/05/american-exceptionalism-in-theory-and.html

Since my return to "the states" in 1989, I find myself welcoming the northern migration of Hispanics whose genes and instincts are rooted in their "Indian" past.

I have no idea how it will end -- or even if The United States (as you and I know it) will survive the deluge. 

But it "feels" to me -- and even "rationalizes" to my satisfaction -- that native Americans are appropriately re-appropriating their 20,000 year-old place in the world. (It worked for the Jews after 1900 years.)

The "beauty" of this occupation is that it has no ideological propulsion nor "legal demand." 

It is simply happening - just as our Celtic forebears poured across Europe from what is now "Slovakia" to the outermost Irish isles.

I welcome the natives and hope they become our salvation.

In the main, white Americans continue their decline into the slovenly slobbishness of WalMart consumerism - a Caucasian coven of churls, yahoos and boors strangely determined to replace their Tocquevillian integrity with couch potatohood and the lassitude of aggressive ignorance.

It is hard to imagine that this nation originated in a burst of Enlightenment genius - with learning, rationality and the promise-of-progress at the heart of the enterprise.  

In the end, my relationship with Columbus is rather like a child sired by rape. 

On one hand, I can not help but be grateful for the outcome. 

On the other, it is hard to applaud the thievery and carnage.

Pax tecum

Alan

PS A final - out of place - note. My travel business, Yucatan Adventure, has brought me into "close contact" with Franciscan Friar, Diego de Landa - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_de_Landa and La Guerra de Castas. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerra_de_Castas

On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 7:36 PM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:

the seasons begins -- referring to the ritual revisionist bashing of the great admiral, the day of discovery that changed the world -- for the better.

Pax ought to get on this one.

-- 

Fred Owens
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