2020 Post Election MEGAthread

[FatherSioux]

Originally Posted by Danth [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Call me a simpleton if you like, but I don't give special credit for that man for being an ignorant, arrogant, greedy fool who was dead wrong about practically everything he claimed and simply ran into an unexpected landmass, and especially not when the man himself was too proud to ever readily admit it. He was no visionary, just a lucky idiot. The colonization of the Americas certainly happened as a result of him, but in spite of his own purpose. History is funny like that sometimes. Fools and accidents have their impacts just as surely as brilliant minds and deliberate acts. Highlighting such people as they really were is therefore an important aspect of appreciating the often random nature of history more generally.

Danth

Ignorant for his times or ignorant based on todays standards? If you believe he was an idiot I think you're selling him short. He was an adventurer who loved the thrill of exploration. This trait is not common, Columbus is similar to people who volunteered to go into space, they are trailblazers. These people routinely shape and define the future. Columbus gets a bad rap if you judge him based on how you think people should of acted in a time you cannot relate to.