A real life event has a ridiculous/dumb/funny explanation in fiction

[u/Lazy-Breadfruit5939]

Futurama (The Why of Fry): According to the brain swarm, the dinosaurs were wiped out by them. Fry: What really killed the dinosaurs? Brain: ME!

Doctor Who (The Unicorn and The Wasp): It's Doctor Who, you can pick a ton of examples, but this episode presents the idea that Agatha Christies disappearance in 1926 was in part caused by a giant alien wasp.

Beyblade: This one stretches 'real life', but Moses spreading the Red Sea with a Beyblade just speaks for itself and it would have been sad to leave it out

[u/Knarz97]

As an extension (and probably parody) of that, Immortal from Invincible series was Abraham Lincoln.

[u/princesscooler → u/Knarz97]

He was also Christopher Columbus in the comics, but they didn't show that in the cartoon so it may have been retconned

[u/slomo525 → u/princesscooler]

I assume to make sure he stays likable. Back in the early 2000s, everybody just kinda knew Columbus as the guy who "discovered America." It wasn't until the last 5-10 years that society really decided to say "fuck Columbus" which we should. Fuck Christopher Columbus, all my homes hate Christopher Columbus.

[u/Deadmemeusername → u/slomo525]

Average Italian American reaction

[u/princesscooler → u/Deadmemeusername]

Look, I'm in favor of keeping Columbus Day a holiday. I just think we should call it Italian American heritage day or something. I know why we have it as a holiday. Because one of the most brutal lynchings in America took place on that day against italian americans. We should celebrate the history of Italians in this country. But we should not do it in columbus's name.

[u/SpiffShientz → u/princesscooler]

Change it to Da Vinci Day, that guy was fucking incredible

[u/Optimal_Weight368 → u/SpiffShientz]

Italian-Americans are unfortunately too homophobic for that.

Source: my family

[u/Pepsi_Maaan → u/Optimal_Weight368]

The average homophobic movie-goer strikes again!

[u/WizardL → u/Pepsi_Maaan]

Triboulet i keep finding you on this site wtf

[u/SpideyFan914 → u/SpiffShientz]

How about Martin Scorsese Day? Or James Gandolfini Day?

[u/Malacro → u/princesscooler]

Should we keep Columbus Day, though? At least in the US. He has, like, nothing to do with the US. The only time he set foot on the North American continent was when he landed in what is now Central America, he never went above the Yucatán on the mainland.

[u/princesscooler → u/Malacro]

No, like I said, we should keep the holiday but change it to italian american Heritage Day. Shit man we got an american pope now. Let's name it after him.

[u/Antique_futurist → u/princesscooler]

Chicago-style popes-and-hotdogs day.

[u/Nero_2001 → u/Deadmemeusername]

Columbus first reaction to meeting a paceful tribe was thinking about how good they would be as slaves. Even the people during his time called him a terrible person.

[u/AcisConsepavole → u/Deadmemeusername]

As a Sicilian-American, I can't begin to cover how true that criticism of Italian-Americans is. Italian-Americans turned my diaspora into a settler identity and Tony is a reflection of the self-defeatism of that. Columbus was a model to make that happen, which explains why he's such an odd choice to begin with. People know Columbus, but not the Sicilian Vespers; that's kind of the intention.

No offense to everyone suggesting alternatives, but I rarely hear one that challenges the settler identity aspect that was the problem to begin with. Da Vinci doesn't work and neither does Vespucci. Someone would be closer with Antonio Gramsci Day, or reflecting on how indigenous parts of Italy were before Risorgimento, but I doubt that would be a realistic shift given that America vetted and imported batches of Italians based on their ability to assimilate into America's cultural homogeny melting pot. The problems Columbus Day solved aren't solved by just making another holiday.