Today is Columbus Day, which in a nutshell means that the mail doesn’t come, liquor stores are closed (because I live in Pennsylvania), and I also have to suffer the inconvenience of trash pickup being off a day this week. Also, my local oyster house is offering buck-a-shucks and $5 fishbowl drink specials all day in honor of the holiday, which I am considering taking them up on.
But why do we, as a nation, still celebrate Columbus Day? All those heroic tales of the brave and great explorer have pretty much been debunked, as it is now common knowledge that Christopher Columbus was a greedy psychopath who tortured and killed native peoples, wiping out entire populations with war and disease — thanks in part to articles like this one on The Oatmeal that have gone viral in recent years.
So, this video uploaded by Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, brought up the important question: Columbus Day, why is this still a thing? Christopher Columbus was not a good person, and we should really not be celebrating him. Then again, counterpoint: $5 fishbowl drinks? Nope, we definitely still shouldn’t.
