US C116 Stamp - Junipero Serra

US C116 Airmail stamp:



Appropriately posted based on today's announcement by Pope Francis:

http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/01/15...nia-missions

And in typical media fashion, the KQED story is 80% negative, with a link, rather than direct discussion, of the positive side. Although Serra casts a large shadow across my corner of Northern California, with schools and roads named after him and a prominent statue overlooking a major freeway, I actually hope the Pope does NOT come West, because there is no chance that Bay Area media will report the event in a positive way.

cjpalermo1964

You are correct.
It seems that it is ok to villify some-one once they are dead and cannot defend their actions.
As and archaeologist and Historian, I see people fall into the same trap, judging events by our times, not by the standards of four or five hundred years ago.
Yes, history is full of bad things, and good things as well. People should look on the positive events not always the bad alone, History needs to be examined by taking all things into consideration.
Here in Australia, Captain Cook is regarded as a "folk hero", he was just like any 18th century British Naval Captain, he was ruthless and cruel, but that was the times. Cook even had sailors beaten for not eating cabbage, but the sailors were not aware that Cook was trying to prevent scurvy, only that they were being beaten for not eating something they did not like.
Historical opinions change, now there is a growing ground swell that Elizabeth the first was a cruel and murderous monarch, which she was.
Horamakhet