[aristeides]

Why do Hispanics support this anti-Columbus cause? After all, the language of most of them is Spanish, their culture is predominantly Spanish.

I wondered this some 30 years ago, when I visited an exhibition at a museum in NYC about Aztec discoveries found in Mexico City. The tone of the film and the captions on the exhibits was that the Spanish conquest of Mexico was a great disaster. But the exhibit was chiefly about the Templo Mayor, the temple of the Aztec war god that had recently been unearthed. That was the temple where the Aztecs performed their human sacrifices, and the exhibit was filled with paraphernalia associated with the sacrifices, like receptacles for the victims' hearts and blood. It seemed to me that that exhibit, despite the film and captions, made the best possible case for the moral desirability of the Spanish conquest. After I left the exhibit, I said to myself, "Viva Espana! Viva Cristo Rey!" I might have added, "Viva Cristobal Colon!"

It was weird. It was like an exhibit about Auschwitz that tried to glorify the Nazis. What is it about the thinking of these people?

[ELS]

What is it about the thinking of these people?

You are having difficulty understanding their "thinking" because, as the author of the article said, they abhor logic and reason.

[livius]

I've certainly never understood the Hispanic support for anti-Columbus day manifestations, either.

I think the Hispanics we're talking about are the PC types who managed to get into the academy and spread their PC stupidity about. They all, btw, are busy fancying that they see Aztec features when they look in the mirror, although there are many parts of Lat Am where the majority of the inhabitants, and certainly those in the university classes, have no Indian blood at all. As you point out, I'm not really sure why they'd WANT to be related to the Aztecs or most of the other groups either, for that matter.

One thing that I did like in NY was that many HIspanic groups were not into this, and enjoyed Columbus Day as an occasion to stress their Spanish roots and also to trot out some dances and local dress from their particular Lat Am country. Columbus Day is also the date of the big national holidy in Spain. Among people who still acknowledge their religion, it is the feast of the Virgen del Pilar, patroness of the military, among other things. It is known in Spain (among the non-religious) as the Día de la Hispanidad.