Finding Out About Columbus

A TWELVE YEAR OLD kid called Rush Limbaugh, and suggested that El Rushbo write a book about Christopher Columbus, because the teachers and kids at school were saying terrible things about the discoverer of America, and Rush could set things straight. Rush agreed; it would be a good idea, to put a stop to all this liberal anti-American nonsense. Welcome to the world of modern, revisionist history in the public schools, wherein the American dream is no longer taught without mention of the American nightmare. Rush and the twelve year old radio call in caller, who spoke like a very intelligent person, should both grab a copy of Christopher's journal, and read the first paragraph about what happened after they hit the beach on Hispaniola. It says it right there: these native people are extremely friendly, peaceful, strong, and healthy. They are going to make great servants! Then the Columbus party killed three million of them, but got their gold, so it was worth it. The priest who also kept a journal was utterly appalled at the extent of the brutality and bloodshed. Somehow you get the sense that Rush Limbaugh never has, and never will read the journal of Christopher Columbus, handed down to us from that fateful, adventurous, bloody summer and fall of 1492. Its very revealing, and tells us exactly what Columbus did, only Columbus does not think of himself as a mass murderer. Rush Limbaugh may be beyond education, but the twelve year old kid isn't. It may be that all of his teachers and classmates will overwhelm the nice boy with peer pressure, and prevail upon him to understand, however reluctantly, that the dream and the nightmare coexist. And, hell, maybe he'll even find out about the Trail of Tears, and all that.