Eduardo Galeano at The Progressive writes—The Curse of Columbus Day:
Because Columbus didn’t understand what the Indians were saying, he concluded that they didn’t know how to speak. Because they wore no clothes, were gentle, and gave away everything they had, he concluded they lacked the capacity for reason. And because he was certain of having discovered the Orient by the back door, he believed they were Indians from India.
Afterwards, during the second voyage, the admiral promulgated an act establishing that Cuba was part of Asia. The document of June 14, 1494, stated as evidence that the crew of the three ships recognized it as such. Whoever said otherwise was given thirty lashes, fined 10,000 maravedíes, and had his tongue cut out.
The notary, Hernán Pérez de Luna, attested, and the sailors who could write signed at the bottom.
The conquistadors demanded that America be something it wasn’t. And they treated the Americans as if they were what they imagined the pagans of the Orient to be.
Christopher Columbus said he saw on the shores of Cuba sirens with men’s faces and chicken feathers, and supposed that not far from there men and women had tails.
In Guyana, according to Sir Walter Raleigh, there were people with eyes in their shoulders and mouths in their chests.
In Venezuela, according to Pedro Simon, there were Indians with ears so long they dragged on the ground.
In the Amazon, according to Christopher of Acuña, the natives’ feet were shaped backwards, heels forward and toes behind, and according to Pedro Martín de Anglería, women mutilated one breast to be able to fire their arrows better.
Anglería, who wrote the first history of America, though he never set foot there, also affirmed that in the New World there were people with tails, and these tails were so long the natives could sit only in chairs with holes.
The Black Code prohibited the torture of slaves in the French colonies. But it wasn’t to torture them but to educate them that slaves’ masters whipped their backs and cut their tendons when they fled.
The Laws of the Indians, which protected those in the Spanish colonies, were quite moving. But the gallows and pillory set up in the center of every Main Square were even more affecting. [...]
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At Daily Kos on this date in 2007—And the media played stupid: vicious harpy edition:
Let's get right to it. Michelle Malkin. Again.
We all know the long story. The short version here is that she's decided it's fair game to stalk the family of the 12 year old kid who had the temerity to use the SCHIP program and say he liked it, and that you might, too. This was evil, of course, because although Malkin's family faced pretty much the same predicament three years ago, her family is Republican and presumably has a lot of American flag lapel pins, while this kid's family is a bunch of Jerkoff Nazis from Planet Stalin.
But here's how, despite the outrage, the media insists on being dumber than Malkin. As emptywheel points out, when the New York Times finally takes note of the fact that Malkin is a corrosive bottom-feeder, they forget all about her syndicated newspaper column and semi-regular TeeVee appearances (including substituting for Bill O'Reilly) and she becomes...
Michelle Malkin, one of the bloggers who have strongly criticized the Frosts....
Yes, only an icky-poopie blah-grr would sink so low. Didn't you know?
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show, Greg Dworkin helps review the last of the “pre-tape” polls, and that debate-shaped thing that was on TV last night. Trump’s top dirty tricksters choked, big league. Trump lobbied hard for those yooge tax deductions he claimed (and blamed Hillary for).
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