<p>If ever there was proof about Brown being overly liberal…</p>
<p>personally i think Columbus was a monster. i’m glad they changed the name. i don’t think he should be glorified… even if it doesn’t hold meaning for a lot of people. the fact that he treated others so cruelly disgusts me and i find him undeserving of a holiday. </p>
<p>haha. i know that’s slightly dramatic to say the least but he’s one of the few people i can rant about for hours on end.</p>
<p>that video was pretty disrepectful…My favorite argument was the Italian guy saying “I’m guilty” to the fact that Columbus brought slavery, explotation and disease to America, and went on to say that since other people were doing it, it was okay that Columbus was. Hmmmm…two wrongs don’t equal a right? Seriously, I’m sort of suprised their arguments were so bad. Well it is fox after all, and they are uber conservative.</p>
<p>^^ We had the guns. Life’s tough. Get a helmet.</p>
<p>About time? Maybe this should happen to the whole world?</p>
<p>Sure, Columbus was a brave dude, enormous props for that.
But also, he killed numerous natives that he met along the way and enslaved them just so he could bring back something to show his King. And also, he wasn’t the first explorer to reach America. Chinese Admiral Zheng He beat him there by over 100 years. Yes, there is proof, go look it up. Rumor has it that Columbus also used Zheng He’s maps XD.</p>
<p>I just watched that video and I’ve lost all respect for FOX news.</p>
<p>I completely agree with fox news. And the report is completely representetive of our superficial student body. Oh noes Columbus was s mean what ever to do? I know, lets change the name, and all the dead and living indians will be so much happier that we brought justice!</p>
<p>It is completely absurd, if I was an indian, I would find this renaming completely outrageous. I don’t think they need spoiled american kids who know nothing about history attempting to make all the bads right by pretending to care. And plus, it’s true, we still get the day off. It’s still a holiday which we celebrate. I find this renaming as a pinnacle of the generalized hypocrisy of our generation.</p>
<p>But negru, do you know of anyone in the student body other than the 10-20 people involved who actively cared about it at all?</p>
<p>Passively agreeing is just as bad. Of course besides the 4-5 active leftist people who actually come up with the ideas, nobody cares at all, about anything (burma, tibet, world peace, etc). That’s why I used the word superficial. It’s just that when someone comes up to them “do you want all war to stop and all puppies to be saved?” of course they’re gonna say, ya sure! who wouldn’t want puppies not to die, right? That makes you superficial. Not thinking or acting on the issue except until someone reminds you of it. And then just agreeing to whatever without any actual thought process. </p>
<p>And because you’d be regarded as an idiot or right-ist or whatever if you don’t agree. On any issue basically: affirmative action, global warming, obama’s godliness, marxism, you name it. If Brown really was a place for open debate free speech yady-yada, well we would’ve had some debate. And the faculty behind this change shouldn’t have given in just because of student pressure or fear of being considered idiots with no feelings who also vote for Bush. All this leftist non-sense on our campus is not the effect of a majority of liberal intellectuals. It’s witch hunting. It makes all the liberals look very stupid. It’s not true liberalism, it’s just liberal wannabes who think anything of the left side is better than on the right, just because it’s there, and no further investigation or questioning is needed.</p>
<p>In fact, the whole democratic agenda has become no different than the business of tele-evangelism. Just keep telling people “you’re guilty of all indians who died! you are guilty of polluting our earth! of being richer than people in africa! of being this particular color! and religion! feel very very bad about yourself! But it’s ok! Just give us some cash, and everything will be set right. Then you can go back to whatever you were doing, and not care anymore. Until we ask your cash and support again!”</p>
<p>It’s using the exact same scheme your local religion uses. Make people feel bad and then manipulate them. Again, kind of hypocritical, coming from the side bashing right wing conservatives for using religion as their motive.</p>
<p>I completely degree with the idea that you’d be characterized as an idiot if you didn’t agree with this Columbus stuff. Most of the people I knew were slightly in favor saying it wasn’t a bad idea at best, and totally indifferent most often. I’ve had to debate affirmative action constantly at Brown. In fact, almost all the stuff you’re saying doesn’t reflect my own experience at all, but it does seem like we’re constantly spending our time seeing different aspects of Brown. </p>
<p>The truth is, most of the faculty didn’t care about this issue either-- they had trouble getting it to pass for so long not because of strong opposition, but because enough faculty members weren’t showing up to the faculty meeting to make a quorum to vote on the issue. The way it was passed was a few very active students went door to door to convince professors to go and vote their way. It wasn’t giving in, it was going through and convincing the minimum number of people it was worht showing up and voting for.</p>
<p>There was almost a year of discussion and multiple faculty meetings and UCS meetings where this issue was debated as well as a campus wide forum held. There was only no active debate if you chose not to show up and debate it.</p>
<p>Negru, just because you don’t agree with it doesn’t make those who do idiots. I find it interesting how you cricize far leftists for making outlandish generalizations about the right and yet you are making the same generalizations about the left…besides, I don’t think this whole Columbus thing represents the entire Brown community as a whole, like you’re making it seem.</p>
<p>Meh I didn’t really care about the changing, I told some reporter that outside of the sci li. Besides I met Christopher Columbus ‘09. He works at Goldman Sachs now. Then I started drinkin’ muh PBR.</p>
<p>Radicalizing Introductory College Classes</p>
<p>[A</a> Rational View on Politics: Radicalizing Introductory College Classes](<a href=“http://libertarianorliberal.blogspot.com/2009/08/radicalizing-introductory-college.html]A”>http://libertarianorliberal.blogspot.com/2009/08/radicalizing-introductory-college.html)</p>
<p>Which supports my views that it’s not only some few freaky students who stir up spirits and dumb down campuses, but many of the professors. Don’t worry, this doesn’t only happen at Brown, but still when I told my friends at Columbia (who were complaining about these issues before) about some of our classes, they were still pretty outraged.</p>
<p>A poster around here was criticizing college professors who know nothing about the real world, just read some books, and then pretend to have a deep understanding of reality, when in fact they have none. And what’s worse, they then proceed to share their so called “knowledge” to students. Students which, having zero real exposure to the outside world due to the over protectionist and closed society, are extremely gullible. As someone coming from a world that is discussed and debated in such classes, I completely agree with that poster. When it comes to politics and economy of course. What’s more, I do not find the professors’ views simply skewed, uninformed or plain dumb, but tragic. </p>
<p>People here do not understand that some leftist views, as ideal and whatever they might sound, are as offensive and ridiculous to people who actually experienced them, as praising hitler to jews. Only worse. </p>
<p>Not one million of the books they read, or tv shows they watch, or papers they write, have the slightest relevance when compared to reality. </p>
<p>Debate? No my friends, you do not debate with this kind of closed minded, patronizing people. Or their silly little pawns. You just get up and leave the class. Needless to say, you also don’t join said silly little pawns for a debate over lunch at the ratty. You spend your time more wisely and effectively, such as by watching mindless zombie porn.</p>
<p>I don’t think this kind of people are mature enough for debate. All they need is a good old fashioned spanking back to reality.</p>
<p>This is outrageous. I believe students should be spending their time on other things besides changing the name of Columbus Day. Most people don’t even know when Columbus Day is, much less care about it. I believe this was a huge waste of time, and an obnoxious attempt to be politically correct.</p>
<p>that was a thread bump that wasn’t really necessary. ugh.</p>
<p>^well… I just read through the thread and now I have to comment…</p>
<p>“‘you’re guilty of all indians who died! you are guilty of polluting our earth! of being richer than people in africa! of being this particular color! and religion! feel very very bad about yourself! But it’s ok! Just give us some cash, and everything will be set right. Then you can go back to whatever you were doing, and not care anymore. Until we ask your cash and support again!’”</p>
<p>Negru, nobody is trying to force guilt down your throat. The name of the holiday honors a person responsible for innumerable tragedies; unless you feel that your identity as a white american is somehow interlaced with the triumphs of Columbus, retiring his name is neither guilt-imposing nor manipulative.</p>
<p>I don’t hold Columbus accountable for the ethical flaws inherent in his culture. Many historical figures are tainted by the immoral values of their time – they don’t command my respect or my scorn. In the same way, Columbus’ treatment of the natives sheds light on some of the shortcomings of western civilization. Apart from the physical destruction of most indigenous peoples, Columbus Day represents the introduction (and domination) of western values to the rest of the world, something that in my opinion is far from deserving celebration.</p>