History should not be erased
Regarding Christina Pappaconstantinou’s letter “How fast can we erase history?” ( The Sun, Wednesday), I agree that history should not be erased. Regarding Scott Matteson’s letter “You can’t have it both ways” ( The Sun, Thursday) I say it is important to look at history fairly and from all sides.
George Orwell said that those who control the past control the future. This destruction of monuments, this ideology that America is a racist country, including the divisive critical race theory, that this country’s history is somehow more evil than any other, the effort to totally erase or distort it, the renaming or elimination of holidays is a method by which socialist and communists take over a country. It has been done in all countries that have succumbed to these dictatorships. I am sure many well-meaning people think it is an attempt to establish justice and equality, but they are being misled or naive.
Remembering history is important so that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past. Plus, it is important to realize that our historical figures were not perfect. Who is?
America was not a pristine paradise when Christopher Columbus arrived. Like all civilizations in history, it had its good and bad. Wrongs were committed against the Native Americans by Europeans, but so were they committed against the Europeans by Native Americans. And both groups inflicted suffering on their own kind as well.
Speaking of Orwell, COVID19 is beginning to be more like COVID 1984. Matteson’s questioning of Pappaconstantinou’s vaccination status is interesting. It makes no sense to insist that we all mask up and get vaccinated, while thousands of illegal migrants are entering the country with COVID-19, as well as numerous other infections. And can anyone give a good reason as to why Congress and illegal migrants are exempted from the vaccine mandate, while hard-working citizens are losing their jobs if they are not vaccinated?
As for calling it Indigenous People’s Day, it is good to remember that the Native Americans came to this continent from Asia, and that there actually are no people indigenous to North America.