Brown University has decided Christopher Columbus no longer warrants a holiday. But the faculty still wants a long weekend, so it’s Goodbye, Columbus Day. Hello, Fall Weekend. “Hundreds of Brown students had asked the Providence school to stop observing Columbus Day,” the AP reports, ”citing the explorer’s violent treatment of Native Americans he encountered.”
Let’s not stop there, writes Providence Journal columnist Mark Patinkin. Since Hannukah is based on a celebration of carbon-based fuels during a time of global warming, it should be renamed “Alternative Fuels-Day.” Mother’s and Father’s Day “assumes a rigid, traditional family structure no longer in keeping with society’s changes.” Thus it would be better to combine the two into a single new holiday called “Guardian’s Day.” And President’s Day, he notes, discriminates against the other two branches of government. It’s gotta go, he writes.
Because of the importance of Christmas, I for one would be willing to see it go forward, but only if the elves are allowed to join the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which may well be possible if the Obama administration follows through on promises to make it easier for unions to organize in the workplace.
Patinkin is joking. Brown isn’t.
I can’t imagine why anyone would think your curriculum is Euro-centric.
There is a clear line here… Columbus is a lousy inspiration for a holiday… Mothers, a bad construct or not, are not a bad inspiration for a holiday. This is anti-political correctness as its worst…