I'm genuinely curious, I wasn't trying to hand-wave anything. I think it's probably a cultural zeitgeist, but in my opinion it's interesting how Columbus was so specifically targeted (when there's inarguably much worse historical people out there that are still celebrated). With that said, just think about how disingenuous your comment comes off: you're literally comparing a person that's still alive and held to today's ethical and legal standards (able to face his accusers, etc.) to someone that lived 500 years ago.
Columbus has a holiday named after him here in the US, so there’s a visible target. He’s more an avatar than anything else, though obviously problematic.
There are plenty of terrible people - living and dead - that are worthy of disdain. But the dead, like children, can’t speak for themselves so they’re decent as far as avatars go re: making a point.
Columbus was bad enough, but what followed after him was worse.
The Tainos and other island tribes were cursed to have gold jewelry. If they had never had it the Columbian discovery of the Americas may not have been that much bigger a deal than the Viking discovery of the Americas.
It was always going to go the way it did, because of sugarcane. Columbus introduced “white gold” in 1493 on his second voyage even. By 1515-1520 there were sugar plantations in the Caribbean, and the Portuguese had them in Brazil.
