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P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online: www.dailyemerald.com
Friday, October 10, 2003
Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor:
Jan Tobias Montry
Editorial Editor:
Travis Willse
Columbus Day
celebrates lies,
corporate greed
One reason crimes against humanity continue is because some
countries rationalize similar acts in their past that brought them
to power. On Monday, October 13, the United States celebrates
Columbus Day with parades and sales on consumer goods: Many
people will honor one of history's most infamous mass murder
ers while they give their money to the corporations that contin
ue his legacy of atrocity.
According to 1 loward Zinn — selec
I B KT tions from whose book "A People's 1 lis
WZL I tory of the United States" will be featured
COMMENTARY in a reading Monday from 9 a m. to 1
- p.m. in the EMU's Ben Linder Room —
Columbus is not worthy. 1 le didn't find
Asia, and if the Americas had not been in his way the expedition
would have failed. I le lied to Madrid about his finds and was willing
to commit any act of barbarism to satisfy his greed. He instituted
genocide: 1 le caused men, women and children to be raped, burned,
maimed, tortured, enslaved, mutilated and murdered. Ihe day ded
icated to him should be one of mourning, not celebration.
Bartolome de las Casas was a young Catholic priest initially
participating in the ravage let loose upon the Indies. Eventually
rebelling against the cruelty he witnessed, he transcribed the ad
miral's journal and began a multi-volume work titled, "History
of the Indies." I le relates how the Spaniards "thought nothing of
knifing Indians by tens and twenties and of cutting slices off them
to test the sharpness of their blades," going on to describe how
"two of these so-called Christians met two Indian boys one day,
each carrying a parrot; they took the parrots and for fun beheaded
the boys." According to la Casas, between 1494 and 1508, over 3
million people died from war, slavery and the mines. As he writes,
"Who in future generations will believe this? 1 myself writing it as
a knowledgeable eyewitness can hardly believe it..."
How is it that our people today can celebrate this guy? Is it be
cause Americans like those who facilitate the death of over 7,000
children in three months on Cuba alone, as reported by la Casas?
I don’t believe so. People continue to participate because the cor
porations who control the country's media tell them it is okay to
do so; the ease of rationalizing wrong is directly related to the
number of those participating. Our population has been subject
ed to the longest and most sophisticated program of brainwash
ing ever attempted: We are living in a constructed society — our
own Matrix — a bubble of unreality not shared by the rest of the
world. But, as Lincoln may have said,"... You can't fool all the peo
ple all the time..."
Good character is not derived from simply not doing wrong,
but rather from actively doing right. Fight back: Pop the bubble.
Tear down the construct: Destroy the Matrix. Refuse to spend
money that day except in local, non-corporate businesses. Regain
your power, help expose a wrong, support your indigenous sis
ters and brothers, and save the world for our future generations.
Kayanow and peace to all.
Bob Kezer is a junior in the international studies
and religious studies programs.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Parking citations make students,
parents feel unwelcome
Does the City of Eugene Planning and Development's Parking
Administration have any decency? No! On Sept. 25, the day that
University students officially began to move in, the Eugene park
ing police buggies gave citations to vehicles in the two-hour zones
around the University residence halls. Are traffic fines the way the
city wants to welcome the parents of the thousands of University
students? Apparently so. The city ought to be ashamed of itself.
Don't the parents and students contribute enough money to the
city's economy to allow the city to not give them parking citations
on the one day that is supposed to be fun and when students will
be starting their new journey?
Although I was not a victim of Eugene's Parking Nazis this time,
1 am still outraged. Both the city and the University have refused,
and still refuse, to provide adequate parking space for the city's
and University's population. I suspect they refuse to do the right
thing because they see Eugenians and students as cash cows from
whom they can reap hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.
Does the city's greed have no limits?
I have never lived in a city where the powers that be make its resi
dents and visitors feel so unwelcome I guess there really is a first for
everything. I keep counting down the days until 1 graduate next year
and leave this town. I'll take myself and my money elsewhere.
Kevin Franken
Law
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Monday is Columbus Day — in grade
school the holiday we spent making con
struction paper American flags, acting in
usually naive explorers-encounter-Native
American vignettes and hearing a 30
minute review of the European "discov
ery" of the New World.
The second Monday in October, and
moreover the legends of daring explor
ers scouting the Brave New World, is
traditionally venerated in the school
room and in the public forum, a patri
otic celebration of the human spirit and
the quest to push outward the bounds
of knowledge. Indeed, Christopher
Columbus has become the namesake of
no fewer than 10 American cities, a
university and the United States'
capital district.
But in recent years, critics have lambast
ed the holiday, claiming that Columbus
Day is at best a misguided, undeserved
commemoration of a greed-driven quest
for power to an implicit affirmation of
past genocide on the part of the modern
American consciousness.
Conversely, Columbus' most ardent
modern supporters invoke historical in
evitability or cultural Darwinism as a jus
tification for what modern historians
recognize as a gross, discriminatory
quashing of human rights. After all, they
might argue, a collision between the Old
and New worlds was, in the long run, a
certain eventuality, and moreover, that
Columbus didn't have the privilege of
knowing the modem construction of hu
man rights.
Both of these extremes are, of course,
absurd. And, as usual, the truth is some
where in between. But herein lies a les
son about criticism of America in the
modern world.
Most sociopolitical extremists fall into
one of two categories: The most fanati
cal social Darwinists tend to approach
the history as a series of conflicts in
which the superior — that is, the most
fit — culture or idea rightfully tends to
win. Operating under the Panglossian
assumption that ours is therefore the
best of all possible worlds, they tend to
view even obvious abuse as part of his
tory's natural flow, even if that abuse
is regrettable.
At the opposite end of the spectrum are
usually paranoid, counterculture radicals
like overzealous Marxists. At worst, they
see soul-crushing exploitation in every
power structure everywhere and often rab
idly protest accordingly.
Philosophical fallacy plagues both of
these stances, but I'm going to spend most
of the rest of this column addressing the
latter. In the few years since the Sept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks, America's critics
have protested more and more loudly. In
deed, informed and rational dissent is the
very basis for American patriotism, per
Thomas Jefferson.
Travis Willse
Rivalless wit
Many of America's domestic critics,
however, are regrettably uninformed, ir
rational or both.
Often, they will appeal to America's
history what they see as the nation's un
equivocal, unrelenting evil. Lincoln's
suspension of habeas corpus during the
Civil War, the establishment of Japanese
internment camps in World War II, slav
ery and at least several other human
rights violations all mar the nation's hu
man rights record.
Being human, we have inherited the
legacy of our predecessors' successes, and
we are heirs to their mistakes. Fortunately,
though, the individuality of human
thought spares us from culpability for
them. Thus, to assign a blanket of blame
to some or all Americans for past trans
gressions — regardless of whether they
have indirectly benefited from them — is
morally and philosophically bankrupt.
Furthermore, the irrational among
America's critics often claim that America
represents a grandiose, culture-crunching
evil. Certainly, even the nation's recent his
tory includes civil and human rights vio
lations. However, America's record of hu
man rights is among the cleanest of
history's world powers. Also, the nation,
particularly as it stands now, is more accu
rately characterized by traditions of free
speech, free press — as criticism of the gov
ernment in this publication and others
demonstrates — and a usually open polit
ical process.
American law, culture and politits
clearly have much room for improve
ment: You'll certainly see criticisms of
some of those shortcomings later in this
space. But citing policy faults or civil
rights violations as a basis for character
izing the modern American Zeitgeist as
wholly or inherently evil is intellectually
dishonest, genuinely unpatriotic and
represents a lack of gratefulness for liv
ing in a nation where the above free
doms are enjoyed. Not all societies are
equally good: Freedom is better than
slavery, free speech is better than censor
ship, open debate is better than political
imprisonment.
True patriotism lies neither in blind
defense of the nation's political machi
nations and mistakes nor in rabidly at
tacking your country — which embodies
as law or tradition the importance of hu
man and civil rights — as immoral.
1 can think of no better way to cele
brate the second Monday of October
than by reflecting on the importance of
rationality and the many blessings of liv
ing in free society.
Contact the editorial editor
at traviswillse@dailyemeraid.com.
His opinions do not necessarily represent
those of the Emerald.