[conspire] Federales in Portland?

[Ruben Safir]

On Fri, Jul 24, 2020 at 02:50:18PM -0700, Rick Moen wrote:
> Quoting Ruben Safir (ruben at mrbrklyn.com):
> 
> > That is not where I was going with that, but since we are here, most of 
> > what you wrote here is true.  I think he used copper tokens around the
> > neck.
> 
> Correct.  The copper token signified 'I've paid my mandatory gold 
> quota for this year.'  If the next deadline got missed, then the token
> got swapped out for the unfortunate resident's severed hands.
> 
> > Regardless, he was not more brutal than others in his day,
> > unfortunately.  I got to get out but if I get a chance I can more fully
> > explain that.
> 
> Well, I cannot honestly think of any others who were that sadistic and 
> murderous.  This was not warfare; it was extra-cruel slaughter and
> genocide.  Pizarro killed lots of people in battle.  Cortes killed 
> lots of people in battle.  But those were conquistadors who conquered
> empires, not torturers and mass-murderers who preyed on, and wiped out, 
> an entire nation of helpless islanders.
> 
> We don't go around making a point of erecting heroic statues of sadistic 
> torturers and genocidal mass-murderers.  Which is my point.
> 
> But, speaking of context, the statues of Columbus and the institution of 
> Columbus Day were _not_ in knowledge of those facts, as they weren't 
> widely known at the time.  Truth to tell, it was strictly 1930s
> Italian-American ethnic boosterism, and as such it wasn't really about
> Columbus at all.  Italian-American civic leaders merely glommed onto 
> Christopher Columbus as the very most accomlished and famous Italian
> in history, and proposed to have a public holiday (and statues) as, 

Umm - Frank Sinatra...


> in effect, celbrations of Italian-ness.  This is the way politics works.
> 
> Now that it's better known what a cruel and murderous bastich the man
> was, it's predictable that cities, etc., are rather likely to quietly 
> tuck away those statues.  But, since those aren't _my_ cities, I 
> consider it a local matter for local residents.
> 
> 
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