Columbus

            First things first: Howard Zinn is a fellow traveler of Noam Chomsky. Both are leftist revisionists with severe anti-American and anti-Western Civilization bias. While some of the events described in the articles may in fact be true, they are woefully inadequate in footnotes and other reference material. We do not celebrate Leif Ericsson Day because his discovery of America does not retain the importance that is representative of Columbus". Columbus" discovery was a watershed in the history of the indigenous peoples" of the New World and one of the most momentous events in the history of the human race: each half of the planet became aware of the other half's existence and began a massive interchange of materials, cultures, and people. It began the transfer of commercial crops like potatoes, rubber, and cocoa (and horses) that became mainstays of national economies. Also, his discovery resulted in technology transfers and manufacturing techniques like shipbuilding and mining. It is also noteworthy that Columbus" discovery is used as raw material to advance various historians" theses about the triumph or failure of Christianity and Western Civilization, and not as something important in and of itself. This explains the articles I just read. While I condemn certain practices, I make an effort to separate fact from fiction and causation from morality. If we are to vilify Christopher Columbus then we must approve of human sacrifice. So who is Christopher Columbus? He was a product of the time and should be judged according to the era in which he lived.