Monday, October 09, 2017

Censorship on Columbus Day

Want proof that colonialism was a good thing?

I mentioned that Colonialism article might be censored, and now it has happened:
A controversial essay that offered a defense of colonialism and led to a revolt at Third World Quarterly has been withdrawn due to “serious and credible threats of personal violence” to the journal’s editor, according to a notice posted by the journal’s publisher, Taylor & Francis.

The essay, “The Case for Colonialism,” was withdrawn at the request of the journal’s editor, Shahid Qadir, ...
If you have not read the arguments in favor of colonialism, then you do not have an informed opinion on the subject. Now the anti-white thugs will prevent any honest scholarly discussion.

For now, you can find the (pdf) article here.

More and more, celebrations of Columbus Day have been replaced with complaints about Columbus committing genocide against indigenous ppl. Only obscure blogs like Rightly Considered do anonymous philosophers deny that it was genocide.
Most people know that the Aztecs were conquered by Cortez. But how many people know that the Aztecs were an aggressive empire that was at war with other Mesoamerican states? ... Cortez only conquered the far superior Aztec numbers because Tlaxcala and the Totonacs considered the Spanish useful allies to curb the great threat of the Aztecs coming from Tenochtitlan. ...

Although not allies like the Tlaxacallans, the Tarascans also accepted Spanish sovereignty and likewise were exempt from the brutal suppression that the Spaniard inflicted upon the Mesoamerican states they defeated in war. The diverse histories of the Aztecs, Tarascans, and Tlaxacallans make the imposition of a single narrative in Mesoamerica inaccurate or misleading. And certainly the treatment of the latter two cannot be understood as a genocide. ...

Spain does not represent all colonial powers. English and French models were quite different in their approach to the Americas. The French got along famously with the Indians they encountered. The British treated the Indians as sovereign polities and negotiated and made trade agreements and alliances with them.
All this talk of genocide by white-haters is just going to encourage more talk of White Genocide. Currently white countries are being invaded by non-whites from the Third World.

Update: AP reports:
President Donald Trump is proclaiming Monday as Columbus Day — without any of his predecessor's qualms.

The president's proclamation Friday directs the U.S. to celebrate his discovery of the Americas, noting "the permanent arrival of Europeans ... was a transformative event that undeniably and fundamentally changed the course of human history and set the stage for the development of our great Nation."

Trump's proclamation only praises Columbus, Spain and the explorer's native Italy.

It contrasts with President Barack Obama's document almost exactly a year earlier. Obama's proclamation acknowledged Columbus' spirit of exploration. But he said the nation should "also acknowledge the pain and suffering reflected in the stories of Native Americans who had long resided on this land prior to the arrival of European newcomers."
Trump is right here. Columbus's discovery was maybe the most important and positive transformative events in all of human history. That is why Columbus Day is celebrated.

No comments: