rd presents the antithesis to Berliner's argument. He begins by pointing out that Christopher Columbus never set foot on the North American continent, nor did he open it to European trade: "Scandinavian Vikings already had settlements here in the eleventh century, and British fisherman probably fished the shores of Canada for decades" (Weatherford par. 2). Recognizing that apologists like Berliner are instead commemorating Columbus' discovery as the great "cultural encounter," he describes the heinous crimes against humanity that Columbus introduced to the new world. "Under [the apologist] interpretation," Weatherford contends, "Columbus becomes a sensitive genius thinking beyond his time in the passionate pursuit of knowledge and understanding"(par. 3) when actually he prompted the first wave of North American genocide, slavery, and European-style warfare. It is notable that Berliner's article was written for the Ayn Rand Institute, an organization that founds its principles on the philosophy of objectivism and the notion of individualism. It was republished in Capitalism Magazine, an online publication that prides itself in defending individual rights. It is apparent that Berliner is speaking to his pro-capitalistic audience, as his flattering descriptions of Western civilization appear highly exaggerated. Informed readers recognize that Berliner's historical facts are grossly construed to support his extreme views of Western civilization. For example, he describes the inhabitants of what is now the United States as "wandering across the land, living from hand-to-mouth and from day-to-day" and as having "no written language, no division of labor, little agriculture and scant permanent settlement" (Berliner par. 4). Berliner uses no historical data or fact to support these points, and for good reason: historical fact refutes these points. History texts describe the early agricultural techniques of the Native Americans as so...
