Columbus Day

It's debatable who really discovered America, but does it really matter?

Should be renamed, "Native American Genocide Day".

I don't have any mail, that's unusual, and why the hell is the bank closed!? Oh, right it's Columbus Day. I forgot. UPDATE: It's become such a minor holiday that Google doesn't even have a special logo today, and Google has a special logo for almost everything anymore.

I don't know if I can fully trust a holiday that doesn't have a card?

I can appreciate the holiday, but it's not all that big of a deal to me. The holidays that seem to stand out to me the most are Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving.

Today is October 12. On this date in history, Columbus discovered America in 1492. I always celebrate this holiday to the nth degree because it is now so politically incorrect! Let's face facts. The Europeans led the natives of the Americas out of heathen darkness and into the light of Western Civilization. If the Aztecs and Incas were so great, how come scores of thousands of Indians allied with the Spanish to overthrow them? Answer--these two "civilizations" were bloody, oppressive, horrid despotisms.

We don't celebrate this in Canada, although it falls near enough to our Thanksgiving that some Americans assume we do. Doesn't this commemorate the day that Columbus discovered San Salvador? Do they celebrate it there?

i dont think that columbus should be honored. he killied over half of the taino population. he did exactly what the queen told him not to do, which was to make the Taino Indians christians, but to NOT turn them into slaves. he brought over diseases like smallpox and made them all sick. columbus didnt even discover america. the tiano indians and the vikings did. and he abandoned over half of his ship members on an island and left them to die. i dont think that columbus was a good man at all, therefore he should NOT have a honored holiday. I also think that columbus started slavery. maybe if he wouldnt have tortured all those people, things would be different than it is today. maybe we wouldnt have as much racism. thats what i think.

An American holiday to celebrate someone who didn't discover America, hmm.... Well, I guess it's nice for mailmen, bank employees, and state workers, for the rest of us, it's just a hassle that we can't get our trash picked up, our check cashed, or mail out or house payment. Totally useless holiday.

I appreciate the myth, fact or fiction that he discovered America, although someone would have eventually. The day really does not mean anything unless you are lucky enough to work in a federal job, public education, or a bank, and are lucky enough to have a day off work.

I have many reasons. Columbus did not discover America, he landed in the Carribean. He wasn't even the first to land there. People like the Vikings and other explorers came before him. It is one of the lies teachers tell. When he was sailing, he was trying to get to India on a Western route. Columbus didn't even know he was in America. He thought he was on an island near Japan or Asia. He gave diseases the people were not immune to like smallpox and enslaved some natives.The population went from 8 to 5 million in only 4 years! Do the math; 1 million people each year because of him is not a good thing. Columbus did more harm than good. Look at me! I'm a 7th grader, yet I am giving way better reasons that most of you! That's what I call sad!

i dont receive a day off of work for this holiday, so i dont consider it a real one.

OK, so Columbus started slavery? The ancient Egyptians will be pleased to hear that they're off the hook. And the ancient Greeks discovered that the world was round? Hmm. And, Columbus was mean to the natives? Well, I'm convinced. Just to show how outraged I am, I'm going to WORK next Columbus Day and I suggest all federal, municipal, academic and bank personnel do the same. During Columbus' time, many scholars theorized that the world was round but nobody had proved it yet to the Europeans. Magellan (was he related to our magellan? Maybe they just share the screenname) was the first man to circumnavigate the globe, but I don't think he was Greek, I'm pretty sure old Ferdinand was Portugese.

Cristopher Columbus was not the first to discover the world was round. The Ancient greeks did. And if he did discover america, how come the Indians were there first. And if he was so religious, why did he cut off people noses, hand and ears, rape, hang and start slavery. Columbus Day is nothing but a good for nothing holiday honoring the villain who hurt the Natives. Why think of him as a hero and why celebrate that awful day?

Columbus was a great explorer and deserves this day! Others may have been here first, but it wasn't until Columbus got here that the Europeans began arriving in masses and civilized the continent or continents. (Most countries recognize North & South America to be one continent.)

Columbus day, just another excuse for a day off, someone who lost his way around the world and found America long after a bunch of other people did...

This one needs to be celebrated more intensly. This is the guy who discover the entire continent. It should at least be a national holiday.

...And THEN I learned the true meaning of Columbus Day... A great time to celebrate the man who brought Europe to America. Plus, a day off. Good all around!

Im sick of hearing from people how Columbus didn't discover America and thus should not have his own holiday. Everyone knows that. The reason its celebrated is because he caused the colonization of America from Europe. Who gives a rats ass if he didn't discover America? Because of him, Spain, England, and France set up colonies.

Columbus day is a holiday celebrating the loss of great culture taken over by the ignorant plague of a equaly great but less tolerant more powerful one.

He did not discover America, the nation wasn't named after him. Well it is another excuse for retailer's to run more sales(believe me I know)

columbus was an a**hole and there is no point celebrating him. although i added a star because of a day off school. whooo!!!!

Besides the historical error that Christophor Columbus did indeed not discover America, I don't see the significance of this holiday. There were many explorers who were instrumental in the settlement of Americas, so instead of honoring just one, why don't we honor them all with an Explorer's Day or something like that? We have a President's day- why not an Explorer's Day?

To honor Columbus is to honor the superiority of Western civilization.

In my opinion, Columbus Day should not be a holiday at all. It is a day to honor Christopher Columbus, who supposedly discovered America. I have to admit that as a kid I believed that Columbus did discover America because that was what teachers taught us in elementary school, but as I grew older I learned the truth. The truth is that Columbus did not discover America! Why? Well, simply because the Indians had already been here for centuries before his arrival. Historical evidence shows that Columbus was actually trying to find a shorter route to India in order to bring back much of the riches of that country to his majesty and the queen in Spain. Perhaps what bothers me the most is that Christopher Columbus has been made out to be a hero so to speak, and he really wasn't. He and his men brought sickness and disease to America, and eventually the Indians were wiped out because of it. Therefore, can you really blame many Native Americans for resenting Columbus Day? I'm not saying that Co... Read more

I think it is a bit stupid to celebrate a man who supposedly discovered a land, when the Native Americans had lived here for generations, now think about it????

Only good thing about this holiday is I get the day off from school. Columbus didn't discover America; people were here long before him!

I do not consider Columbus any kind of hero. It is just another day for the federal, state workers and post office to get a day off. He was not the first person to "discover" America. The Native Indians were here first.Why should Columbus be honored?

I don't feel it should be celebrated because Columbus was the master of genocide and racism when he discovered the Americas in the late 1400s. He brutally killed nearly the entire Arawak Indian population.

shouldn't be a holiday.

This is such a pointless holiday. You don't even get the day off work unless you're a government or federal worker. As we have seen and learned over the years, Columbus was not the most important figure in American history and he did not truly "discover America." Heck, he thought he was in India anyway! There were people coming to this continent long before Columbus- Leif Erikson and the Vikings were here in the 11th or 12th century, and there's possible evidence there were people here even before them! Columbus was simply the first non-American to proclaim it his land in the name of god and gold, which led to the tragic exploitation of the native peoples and resources. A truly pointless and forgettable holiday in my opinion.

Another worthless holiday. The only way it can be applied in today's society, is for the spirit of exploration, discovery, and breaking boundaries. But Columbus himself was a monster, and should not be used as an excuse for the lousy, lazy postal workers to sit on their duff.

another important event in the conquering of the indian savages.

OK, OK, I'd like to know why this villain in history deserves to get ANY positive recognition, whether it be having a holiday celebrating him, or (wrongly) teaching little kids he discovered America. He's NOT a hero... more of a zero. First off, he wasn't the first to think the world was round... everyone already KNEW the world was round (they just thought the sun revolved around the earth, but they knew it WAS round). Christopher Columbus just thought the world was MUCH smaller than it actually was, and he was wrong. He thought by sailing from Europe he could easily get to India, not realizing another continent was in the way. Are we celebrating his goof up? Even though he wasn't the first to discover America? Or are we celebrating how he killed thousands of Native Americans in this "new" land? That's worthy of being celebrated, right? Yeah, sure... Well... hey, it looks like I'm sitting in a place known as "Louisiana", so I discovered it! Make me famous! Give me a holiday... Read more

Other than giving the Government another excuse to take a day off funded by my tax dollars, what exactly are we celebrating here? He wasn’t the first to discover America and he only got here by accident via poor navigation.

Columbus wasn't even the first one to descover America...

To be honest, I don't see much point in this one. We could just as easily celebrate Leif Erikson or some other explorer/discoverer/conqueror/opportunist. A day off (for some - not me anymore though) so I guess that's nothing to grumble about.