You're a tool. Despite Columbus's buffoonery, the dude braved the unknown and helped bring knowledge of a "new world" to Europe. Furthermore, the celebration of that at the time was necessary for encouraging others to follow suit, which lead to the capitalization of medieval Europe. It created an entire new class. It was the catalyst for the free market and democracy. You don't have the modern world without it. If someone wants to memorialize that, that's fine. Likewise, Robert E. Lee was instrumental in easing tensions between the North and the South. Without him, who knows how things would have played out. The statues designed to honor Lee for his contribution to the restoration of the Union (the ones created after his death), were a reminder that the US was one people group. No one in the union would have had that same impact. That wasn't stirred up again until the civil rights movement in the 60's.

Disregarding the good because of the bad is stupid. We don't have to celebrate it today, but we can allow for the historicity of the celebration. We can allow it as an homage to how they contributed. A tribute can be for one ideal; It doesn't have to speak to the totality of a person. Further, it can be the jumping off point for any manner of discussions about the past. That you would discard that value because of some faux nobility blows my mind. Grow up.

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