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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 20, 2025

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Columbus was an exaggerated evil. Most of what went badly happened under other men’s watch. He certainly is not guilty of genocide. This sort of blood libel from the left is why Trump won (again)

Re: confederate generals - I could very well say the same thing about the Indian leaders that are today honoured. Why should we? They were bloodlustful savages that tortured children and POWs, and engaged in actual genocide against each other constantly …. And were our enemies! But leftists can’t seem to see why that should stop them from venerating them. Curious indeed

Columbus was an exaggerated evil

I don't know what you mean by 'exaggerated'. He's not personally responsible for every atrocity committed in the name of the Spanish Empire, but he dealt brutally with both his subordinates and the indigenous people under his authority to a degree that was notorious during his life. He also bears at least partial responsibility for the violent and deliberate destruction of several Caribbean indigenous cultures (i.e. genocide).

This sort of blood libel from the left is why Trump won

a) that's not what blood libel means b) insofar as puncturing myths of a romanticized past is a reason Trump won, it mostly speaks poorly of his supporters.

I could very well say the same thing about the Indian leaders that are today honoured

You certainly could. Depending on who you're talking about, I might even agree, though the whataboutism misses the point. Nobody is building statues of Native American leaders as a celebration of scalping anymore than people are building statues of George Washington as a celebration of slavery. (And if they are, they shouldn't). Native American war leaders are honored as icons of resistance against wars of conquest. The veneration of Confederate generals is at best a veneration of an ultra-sanitized version of the Confederate cause.