Denver seems to be the epicenter of Columbus Day protests. Every year now its the same thing,
"Columbus committed genocide", "Columbus was a rapist". Even the Denver Post allows its writer's to publish factually incorrect stories in saying that Columbus was arrested for allegations of brutality. He was sent back to Spain in chains (probably for disappointment in lack of gold coming back for the New World) but was released with apologies from the King and Queen of Spain.
The bias against Columbus is amazing. It really does come down to hate of Western culture.
The Spaniards did come as conquerors. This was not unique in world history. True, the natives in Latin America were wiped out. Partly due to conquest, partly due to other reasons including disease.
MSN's Encarta considers this a tragedy because of Latin America's cultural signficance. I suppose the human sacrifice practiced at the time should have been saved. Here is Encarta's description Aztec religious practice:
"The sacrificial rituals were elaborate in form, calculated according to the stars to please specific gods at specific times. A victim would ascend the steps of the pyramid. At the top, a priest would stretch the victim across a stone altar and cut out the victim’s heart. The priest would hold the heart aloft to the god being honored and then fling it into a sacred fire while it was still beating. Often many victims were killed at once. In 1487, according to legend, Aztec priests sacrificed more than 80,000 prisoners of war at the dedication of the reconstructed temple of the sun god in Tenochtitlán."
OK, if we are going to judge Columbus by today's standards, let's judge the culture's he supposedly is responsible for destroying by today's standards.
