Honoring Christopher Columbus Controversy

How do you know what your being told is truthful? How do you separate opinion from fact? Within this essay two articles will be compared based on the author’s credibility, the validity of the article, and the bias in the article from the author. Both Dr. Keegen and Dr. Carroll are respected in their fields and both of their articles “Honoring Christopher Columbus” and “COLUMBUS, HERO OR HEEL?” will be analyzed for reliability.

The purpose of the article written by Dr. William F. Keegan is to provide two differing opinions on Christopher Columbus. Dr. Keegan wrote the article, “COLUMBUS, HERO OR HEEL?” for the VISTA Magazine. The purpose of the article written by Dr. Warren H. Carroll, is to persuade readers to praise and honor Christopher Columbus. The article, “Honoring Christopher Columbus”, was written by Dr. Carroll for the Summer 1992 issue of “Faith & Reason”.

“COLUMBUS, HERO OR HEEL” was originally published in VISTA Magazine with a target audience of Hispanics. The article is also on the Caribbean Archeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History site. Dr. Keegan is supported by the Florida
In the “Honoring Christopher Columbus” article, there is a biased opinion expressed because of the author. Warren H. Carroll was a leading Roman Catholic historian, and a devout Catholic. Throughout the article he praises Columbus as not only a brave explorer but also a hero. Regardless of the truthfulness of the article, this shows extreme bias to being pro Columbus. In “COLUMBUS, HERO OR HEEL?” the author seems to be more against Columbus being a hero, and continuously questions the validity of how Columbus is generally seen based on what is universally accepted. In both articles there are also plain facts that when cross referenced with each other they stay true, but also opinions that show the authors