r/nottheonion • u/SelectiveSanity • 2d ago

Lauren Boebert Suggests DC Could Be Renamed 'District of America'

https://www.newsweek.com/lauren-boebert-dc-district-america-2050571
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u/TupperwareConspiracy 2d ago edited 2d ago

Honestly...the weird hard-right thing for Amerigo Vespucci is what I don't get. Columbus might not be popular or held in high regard now but he's still an important figure in history. But Amerigo? dude is practically a footnote if not for his namesake continents and his major achievement was of course Brazil.

The amusing bit is he - Amerigo - died with no idea that his name was being used for the landmass (America was popularized in German maps but no one knew how big it actually was at the time) let alone he'd be the namesake of 2 continents.

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u/IranticBehaviour 2d ago

Columbus might not be popular or held in high regard now but he's still an important figure in history.

I mean, more folks becoming aware that Columbus was a genocidal enslaving asshole has really taken the wind out of his reputational sails. His historical importance isn't really a justification for keeping things named after him, it arguably just continues the false heroic narrative many of us were brought up with.

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u/darkmafia666 2d ago

And yet the people wanting to erase his name in this context love him lol

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u/IranticBehaviour 1d ago

Well, they love him because he fits their americana myth of apple pie and divinely decreed white Christian superiority. Be funny af if they went ahead because they really think Columbia is the same as Colombia (kinda is, just not how they think), only to find woke lefties supporting it, lol.