Discoverer's Day AKA Columbus Dat

In the beginning, sure I enjoyed Discoverer's Day, who didn't? It was a day off of school. Now that I know the reasons behind the day, I truly hate it. How can we celebrate the day in which a man "claimed" a land that was already occupied? It's like going to my neighbor's house and moving in because I discovered it. People back then cared for nothing but themselves, using made of rules that applied to everyone but no one knew but their opponents. It's a rather maddening "holiday".

Dr. Tony Castanha was an interesting but sadly, depressing to listen to. He seemed to state the more serious and worse facts of the history and seemed to omit the rest. Yes the history was gruesome, but there are always two sides to the story. In fact I had some questions of my own.

If Columbus was discovering China but hit Cuba instead, how did he not notice the difference? Cubans and Chinese don't exactly look like brothers and sisters. In fact, they look completely different. Wasn't there some kind of pictures or drawings or even references to the languages? Another question was related to geography. China was entered  via west side instead of along the coast. If this was the case, then they should know that China is NOT an island. But Cuba is an island, so how did they discover China? The native Cubans also wore little clothing since island wear was typically reduced clothing due to heat and faster degradation, so even some history of China would know that they were extremely noble, and that no Chinese would wander around in a loin cloth. It seemed like the greater the need for more land and wealth (greed) the less common sense everyone had. The worst case was the law that non-christian lands were considered vacant. If this was the case, then how come China wasn't invaded? Are they not Christians? Chinese are loyal to their Emperor first and Family second, no where in between is there a God.

It just seemed to me that while Dr. Castanha had many good facts on the history of Columbus Day, there were just as many holes in the plot. Were any of these taken into consideration? It seemed like he told  a story of a country of people who lacked basic common sense. I'm not sure, but if anything, this was factual.