COLUMBUS DAY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT DAY OF EVERY YEAR

John Schwarz in The Intercept:

Today, October 12, is Columbus Day. Every year it’s officially the second Monday in October; this year it falls on the exact anniversary of the Niña, Pinta and Santa María’s arrival in the Bahamas 523 years ago.

So to mark today, I’ve made a list. I’m sure to almost all Americans it would seem like a meaningless jumble of things with no connection to each other. But in fact it tells one story, the story of why October 12, 1492, is the most important date in human history — and demonstrates that you have to understand that in order for anything happening on Earth now to make sense:

• $ (i.e., the dollar sign) — and Cerro Rico, Bolivia’s “Mountain That Eats Men”
• the movies War of the Worlds and Avatar — and the movies Apocalypse Nowand Day of the Jackal
• the original seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony— and the “generous offer” made by Israel to the Palestinian Authority in 2000
• Cinco de Mayo — and the investor-state dispute settlement section of the Trans-Pacific Partnership
• an abortive 2003 attempt to bring Nelson Mandela to the United Nations to oppose the invasion of Iraq — and South Koreans protesting the 2010 Israeli attack on the first Gaza flotilla
• Hitler’s October 17, 1941, discussion of the invasion of the Soviet Union — and the Washington Redskins

Confused? Here’s the explanation…

More here.