“A nation trafficking its own children is more to be condemned than the buyers.” (Voltaire)
Columbus and the War on Western Civilization
By: George Noga – October 9, 2022
This is a special Columbus Day posting; read our 2019, 2020 and 2021 Columbus Day posts on our website: www.mllg.us. Christopher Columbus is the lightning rod for the progressive war on western civilization; hence, it is appropriate to address criticisms leveled at him. We also intrepidly tackle the issue of slavery, which is central to the war on western civilization as well as to Critical Race Theory and to the 1619 project. Note: For those interested in this subject, I highly recommend “The War on the West” a new book by Douglas Murray, from which some of the material herein is sourced.
What if the Chinese or Arabs had Discovered America?
Progressive Svengalis use Columbus to brainwash our children to despise western civilization. They condemn Columbus for subjugating the native population and for genocide in introducing infectious diseases. What was the West supposed to do, leave America alone and keep it a secret? When the Chinese and/or Arabs would surely have come, things would have been far worse. What if an advanced Native American society had discovered paleolithic Europe? What would happen today if we discovered a resource rich planet inhabited by primitive people? No technologically advanced society has ever encountered an aboriginal population and behaved any better. It is disingenuous to condemn the West for innate, unchanging human behavior.
In the 15th century no one understood infectious diseases; contagion from outsiders to the native population was inevitable no matter who discovered America. Europeans had acquired immunity from many diseases because of their diversity and also travel being more commonplace compared to the mostly isolated indigenous population of the Americas – who were thus highly vulnerable to disease. Further, many of the infectious diseases brought from Europe originated in Asia. There is not one record extant that shows any American or European government had a policy of genocide.
Slavery and Western Civilization
Slavery is evil and is to be condemned always and everywhere. It is right and proper for schools to teach our children about the history and evils of slavery in America; that is not an issue. The problem is lack of context. Progressives, who run government schools, teach only about slavery in America and they fail to inform students about mitigating factors. Consequently, children in the USA believe slavery occurred only in America and are ignorant of the often-heroic efforts to abolish it. In the following paragraphs, I provide much needed context, including much that may surprise you.
Progressives condemn slavery only in the West and divorce it from all contexts. Slavery has been a constant throughout history. From the 15th century to the 19th century, 10 million slaves were shipped from Africa to the West; during that same time, a far greater number (15 million) was shipped east to the Ottoman Empire. Instead of being forcibly captured by European slavers, most slaves were sold by other Africans, even by their own families, making them complicit in the slave trade. The slave trade could not have succeeded without the active support of African elites.
There are no descendants of the slaves sent east, because they were all castrated and then killed when their usefulness ended. Thus, eastern nations that imported 15 million slaves do not have the same legacy as the USA with tens of millions descended from slaves. Again, this is because the Ottomans castrated and killed their slaves. As late as the 19th century, Barbary pirates captured and enslaved over one million Europeans. Slavery exists today in Mauritania, Ghana, South Sudan and many other places. There are more slaves today (50 million) than there were in the 19th century.
As Voltaire stated, selling one’s neighbors, and even one’s own
children, into slavery is more condemnable than buying them.
There were many heroic actions taken by the West to end slavery. England abolished slavery in 1807 and then used its navy to wipe out the slave trade throughout much of the world. England established a naval squadron in west Africa that grew to include 20% of its fleet. From 1808 to 1860, the West Africa squadron captured 1,600 slave ships and freed 150,000 slaves. The Royal Navy lost over 1,500 men in that operation.
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We rightly celebrate the achievements of western civilization – including those of Christopher Columbus. Happy Columbus Day 2022 from MLLG to all our readers!
