| Topic Name: |
Krakow, Poland |
| Message Name: |
Discovered on Accident? |
| Date Posted: |
03/08/2006 |
| In Reply To: |
America is unique in today's world and in the history of the world. Unprecedented freedom, unprecedented prosperity. It is a tryly great country. Not perfect, but good beyond the comprehension of most of the world's inhabitants. And, yes, many brave men and women, of all national and ethnic backgrounds have proudly fought and died to create and preserve it.
However, don't forget that it was discovered by accident by an Italian financed by the Spanish while looking for a short-cut from Europe to India as a way to acquire the riches of India and the Orient through trade. And when trade didn't work, the Western powers were not beyond just taking what they wanted, eventually colonizing those regions. And also colonizing Africa where also humans were captured, enslaved, and shipped to the Americas to help build the economies of those original colonies. And on the way to establishing what we now enjoy, the Europeans also caused the deaths (through disease, famine, and outright murder)of over 80% of the indiginous population of the Americas, claiming this "virgin" Eden as their own God-given birthright. And we have desperate calls to tightly close our borders to the Hispanic people from the South whose ancenstry includes many of those peoples who were wiped out by the same discovering conquerors whose language they have adopted.
Yet, America remains the greatest country the world has ever known. However, it's peoples' perpetual and undeniable right to sole posession of the riches they currently posses simply due to their own hard work is certainly debatable. The world has always been and will continue to be a bit more complicated than the one depicted in our American History textbooks. |
| Message: |
Unlikely. Icelanders were fishing off of the coast of North America and even brought back indigenous slaves prior to Columbus sallying forth. The whole India thing is a farce.
Recommended Reading: "Lies My Teacher Told Me" - James Loewen
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