Just like the speech from the movie Wall Street, "Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind."
But maybe it doesn't always mark the "upward surge of mankind." Todorov paints a different picture of Columbus than most Americans, or myself, learn about. Basic history classes just go over how Columbus sailed to the New World, and that's it. Not that his main motivation was gold, like Todorov proves through journal entries from the man himself.
Another great line from the same movie is "Greed captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit." Columbus' expedition definitely benefited Europe, but what about the Native Americans? They didn't really go upward, they went down very violently, with the affects still manifesting to this day.
I found this a very interesting read. It most likely has to do with me being a history nut, but Todorov brings up ideas, and facts that challenge the popularly accept "history" about Columbus.
Columbus' mission was to find a route to Asia from the West, and Todorov points out how Columbus negated any argument, mainly by the natives, that challenges this. Renaming everything when it already has a name by the locals will just make things a bit worse. For those in the class that study foreign languages, you probably understand this. Most of you might think that Munich and Muechen are practically the same thing, and just because the Germans will know what city you are talking about when you say Munich doesn't mean that it is the proper name to use.
I thought Jen did a really good job pointing out somethings between Todorov and The Sparrow.
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2 comments:
If you read Columbus' travel diaries, examine his will, and keep in mind that Todorov mentions that Columbus is most wrapped up in cataloging nature (rather than in mining for gold), it becomes evident that gold is not Columbus' primary motivation.
While it is that of his sovereigns, he himself sees it only as a means to launch a new Crusade and bring Christianity back to the Holy Land. Good luck, Columbus.
I'm sure there were a lot of wars and murders done throughout history for greed. The evolutionary sprit remark really tips it off as a social darwinistic philosophy. It could be used as a eugenic dogma preached by the wealthy for their agenda to justify their place in society. People of wealth would never do such a thing, now would they? After all, they earned every last cent they have.
Those people in Haiti, Port de Prince and all over who are starving because of the increase costs of food brought on by Wall Streets recent failures simply have to work harder. Soon it might be Americans in the streets rioting if we keep bailing out Wall Street greedy speculators.
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