Lies My Teacher Told Me (Ch.3: 1493), James W. Loewen

Sanne Bergh

Eng48A

Journal for Loewen

Dec. 9, 2011

Author Quote

"The worshipful biographical vignettes of Columbus in our textbooks serve to indoctrinate students into a mindless endorsement of colonialism... the Columbus myth allows us to accept the contemporary division of the world into developed and underdeveloped spheres as natural and given, rather than a historical product issuing from a process that began with Columbus's first voyage"

Internet Quote 

On his first voyage, Columbus kidnapped some ten to twenty-five Indians and took them back with him to Spain. Only seven or eight of the Indians arrived alive, but along with the parrots, gold trinkets, and other exotica, they caused quite a stir in Seville. Ferdinand and Isabella provided Columbus with seventeen ships, 1,200 to 1,500 men, cannons, crossbows, guns, cavalry, and attack dogs for a second voyage. 

Brief Summary

Columbus is depicted as a hero by many textbooks based upon the fact that he founded a part of America. However, he is really not the hero that he is made out to be. He kidnapped slaves, caused war, and acted like a monster.

Response/Reaction

In response to Columbus' gruesome and greedy behavior, I reflect on the Disney movie about Columbus I would watch when I was a small. Like many students, I was under the illusion that Columbus was indeed, a hero. Disney's colorful renditions have a specular ability to make even the worst American event seem like a positive affair. In Loewen's text, there was discussions of torture, battle, and cruelty which contradict my entire childhood. However, with all this new knowledge about Columbus, I came to the conclusion that he is not very smart. First of all, he wasn't even going in the right direction and lacked the navigational skills to go to where he was actually going. He thought he was in China or the West Indies, and then in the land he didn't know, he claimed it. If he were in China, would he have claimed it? Second of all, he was a racist. He looked down on the Indians and chopped off their hands, and to justify their enslavement he called them "cruel" and "stupid" which is simply hypocritical. In addition to his insults, his previous letters reflecting on his first voyage stated that the Indians were "of quick intelligence" and "well built". Additionally, I personally think that he went out on the voyage for all the wrong reasons. It was good that the Indians stood up for themselves. They stopped helping the Spanish, sensing that Columbus was probably going to kidnap them and enslave them. It's just arogant, mean and rude to go to another country, plant a flag on the ground and claim authority. Columbus shouldn't have been there in the first place, he was looking for a trade route. One whiff of "fame" or "fortune" and Columbus got his greedy little paws all over it. What's even greater is the fact that America celebrates the man. At least we can get fifty percent off when we purchase our next toaster during the Columbus Day Blowout Sale at Sears.

From Letter.., Christopher Columbus

Sanne Bergh
Eng48A
Journal for Columbus
Dec. 6, 2011

Author Quote
"To the first island which I found I gave the name San Salvador, in remembrance of the Divine Majesty, Who has marvelously bestowed all this; the Indians call it 'Guanahani.' To the second I gave the name Isla de Santa Maria de Concepcion; to the third, Fernandina; to the fourth, Isabella; to the fifth, Isla Juana, and so to each one I gave a new name (32)".

Internet Quote
Columbus called the island (in what is now The Bahamas) San Salvador; the natives called Guanahani. Exactly which island in the Bahamas this corresponds to is an unresolved topic; prime candidates are Samana Cay, Plana Cays, or San Salvador Island (so named in 1925 in the belief that it was Columbus's San Salvador). The indigenous people he encountered, the Lucayan, Taíno or Arawak, were peaceful and friendly.

Brief Summary
Essentially, Columbus landed on an island and "conquered" it, therefore making it Spanish territory. He gave it a name, despite the fact that it already had a name. He brought the indigenous people back with him to Spain, with hopes of Christianizing them and making them servants.

Response/Ideas
Columbus represents the superiority complex that the Spanish possesses. He acts as a vehicle to symbolize their greed and desire for more and more power. It is understandable to go out to new countries to seek out a land that is different and new, but to rename the entire land and dub it as Spanish is a whole other matter. What essentially makes Europeans more powerful than "indigenous" countries or settlements is their bigger weapons. They had fancier armor, guns and boats and therefore held more precedence. It automatically created a sense of superiority and power over those who may not have possessed such items. For example, had the Indians of Guannahani created mutiny and rebelled against the Spanish, perhaps taking the weapons, would the Spanish become the indentured slaves of the indigenous people? Maybe in the eyes of the Europeans, they would have felt that these "savages" would have eaten them or simply sent them away. It's the very peacefulness and kindness that the Indians had that made the Spanish so quick to take them back with them. The Europeans were too quick to believe that the Indians did not have any intelligence. The true barbarianism lies in the fact that the Europeans went to another land, renamed it, kidnapped the people and called them stupid and faithless. It's also ironic, considering their will was to Christianize them and to give them morals, when the Bible itself could sense some hypocrisy in the entire matter.

Lies my Teacher Told Me: The Truth About Thanksgiving (Ch. 3), Loewen

Sanne Bergh
Eng48A
Journal for Loewen
Dec. 2, 2011

Author Quote
"They chose Plymouth because of its beautiful cleared fields, recently planted corn, and its useful harbor and "brook of fresh water." It was a lovely site for town. Indeed, until the plague, it had been a town, for "New Plimoth" was none other than Squanto's village of Patuxet"

Internet Quote
"Jane Kamensky, a professor of history at Brandeis, asks on the website "Common Place" whether it’s worth while “to plumb the bottom of it all – to determine, for example, ... whether Plymouth’s ‘Pilgrims’ were indeed the grave-robbing hypocrites that UAINE [United American Indians of New England] describes. ... Was the ‘first Thanksgiving’ merely a pretext for bloodshed, enslavement, and displacement that would follow in later decades?"

Brief Summary

Basically the author is saying that history books have lied about what really happened when the pilgrims "settled". They used religion to justify the beauty and food that was already there, and eventually would wipe out all of the Indians. The Indians reached out to help, but instead caught a nasty bug and died. There are many myths about the happiness of Thanksgiving and Loewen writes about the hardships both parties had faced. 

Responses/Reactions/Ideas

It's noted that the "beautiful cleared lands" was "none other than Squanto's village of Patuxet" which interestingly enough, was already populated. I believe the pilgrims had, what one may call, a superiority complex. They thought themselves better and had a close enough mind to believe that the men wandering the lands were "wild" and uncivilized. Squanto himself spoke English and interacted with the pilgrims, and that makes him wild. In all fairness, I believe that the pilgrims were completely selfish. I say this because they isolated themselves and did not allow themselves to seek out different ways of thinking. They refused to adapt, making integration complex. It is even noted that Squanto had a difficult time attempting to convince the pilgrims to bathe. An example of the close mindedness that probably wiped out "96%" of the settler's population. 

When "the plague" wiped out the population, the settlers claimed it was the will of God. There is an inherent lack of logic. It's simply impossible to go to a completely different land and believe in the same principles as one's own native land. For example, it's a little like speaking English in France and getting upset that these natives do not adapt to the English language. The pilgrims refused to adapt and integrate and stuck with European customs, despite the fact that they actually fled Europe. I believe that the pilgrims were acting a tad hypocritical. The pilgrims trampled all over the Indians' land, stealing their food, infecting them with foreign disease and simply acting completely rude. 

Of Plymouth Plantation, William Bradford

Sanne Bergh
Eng48A
Journal for Bradford
Dec. 1, 2011

Author Quote
"But here I cannot but stay and make a pause, and stand half amazed at this poor people's present condition, and so I think will the reader, too, when he well considers the same (115)".

Internet Quote
"Bradford writes most of his history out of his nostalgia, long after the decline of Pilgrim fervor and commitment had become apparent. Both the early annals which express his confidence in the Pilgrim mission and the later annals, some of which reveal his dismay and disappointment, were written at about the same time."

Brief Summary
Bradford talks about how it is to live as a pilgrim and the misgivings and difficulties that were faced. In his books, he justifies the hardships with the will of God and fate. Everything happens for a reason.

Your Ideas/Reactions/Responses to the Author's Ideas
In times when people had nothing or very little, or even in places where people do not own very much, religion plays a large role in the well-being and happiness of the people. Puritan faith was founded because they didn't want to worship God in the same way Europeans did. As a result, pilgrims fled to America to practice religion in ways that they saw fit. In complete isolation, beliefs tend to take on a whole new form. For example, there's a village in the South Pacific that worships a war veteran named John Frum Day. As a cargo cult, the group of people worship someone or something that is completely arbitrary. However, it is for the simple sake of worship that they do believe so strongly in something that might seem ridiculous. People need something to believe in. Compared to Puritans, this village is not so different. However, to look upon the "poor people's condition" is a rendition of the inherent cause of the intensity of the Puritan faith. It is what triggered people's ability to accept and understand why the world was so cruel. From an Atheist point of view, one might think that the land was simply harsh and inhospitable to people's needs and that there is no alternative belief besides geographical conditions. When Bradford "stops to stare" there is an inherent acknowledgement for the poor conditions of the land. People are undoubtedly left with nothing else but their faith. Essentially, isolationism makes people do things that might make people do crazy things.