Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has already planted himself firmly on the wrong side of history with his support of Donald Trump’s election lies and, well, everything else. So it’s perhaps no surprise that he also finds himself defending another, uh, divisive figure in world history.
Monday marks for some a celebration of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, though in recent years the day has been changed to honor the Indigenous Peoples that Columbus committed countless atrocities against in the name of exploration. The evidence that Columbus wasn’t all that great is vast, and considering the genocide of Indigenous peoples that led to the foundation of America, it’s been seen as less than couth to continue honoring Columbus with his own day.
But according to Raw Story, it seems that Giuliani feels someone had to do all that rape and murder, so why not an Italian? During an appearance on Real America’s Voice with noted criminal Steve Bannon, Giuliani said that all those crimes are what any “hero” does.
“Did he engage in some immoral acts himself?” Giuliani asked. “Did he allow his crew to do it? There seems to be evidence that he did. But we don’t know that for sure. It’s hundreds of years ago.”
“Did he do anything that other men and women of his age would have done? No,” he continued. “And have all of our other heroes done that? I mean, John F. Kennedy — now it’s a different age, but now we know things about John F. Kennedy that make him considerably less than perfect.”
It really is remarkable that Giuliani’s defense here boils down to the whataboutism that every famous person does crimes, and that they are all, somehow, equally bad. But regardless of what former President John F. Kennedy did in his life, none of that equals continuing to celebrate Columbus in America on Indigenous People’s Day. Which is why many do not, no matter how cool America’s Mayor thinks he is.
[via Raw Story]
Source: https://uproxx.com/viral/rudy-giuliani-christoper-columbus-bad-rap/
