Christopher Columbus: A Hero Or Villain

Columbus day is rejoiced with pleasure all over modern America. This holiday is commemorated to be the day that Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas. Because of his ‘accomplishment’ of kickstarting globalization and discovering the Americas, some people believe him to be a hero. Because of the immense cruelty and hardship, he served towards the native people of the Americas that he ‘discovered,’ some people know of him being a villain. Is he a hero or a villain? Is he more than a terrorist? Is he more than a rapist? Is he more than a heartless man who vanquished thousands of people? Columbus was nothing more than a selfish man who strived to only better himself and his title no matter what his actions caused to others. Columbus was obsessed

Because of this debate, I got to see his toxic impact on the modern world. Debating started off with each position getting a chance to speak or retaliate on what the other side had to say. My group, the villain side, had less than a third a side of the paper to make up for evidence. The hero side, had more than two pages. If you balance this ratio, it is common sense to see who would’ve won the argument. However, I was strangely proud of losing. Losing meant that there was no way our evidence could be considered the truth. Thus, proving to me that the side I am on is correct. At every argument, the villain side had cold hard claims to back up what they supported. Our position lacked evidence, and all of what we said was full of ‘what if’s and observations. By being on this side, it made me more aware of what I was arguing against. Being aware of what the other stance had to say made writing and expressing my views on Columbus easier. I also got to note on his impact on the modern world and how having a holiday named after a mass murderer isn’t very remorseful to the people he killed. Letting his mistakes go is disrespectful to the people of the past and he should be considered a villian and not a hero. There are kids who learn about his doings in school and respect him; there are adults who continue to adore him for finding ‘America’ even though they should know