What's Thanksgiving really all about?
Gandalf Grey
What's Thanksgiving really all about?
By Mary Shaw
Created Nov 22 2009 - 9:03am
The Thanksgiving holiday is just around the corner, but this year I am
tempted to skip the festivities. While some Americans mark this holiday as
an occasion to give thanks and gratitude for their perceived blessings, that
benign and admirable purpose too often takes a back seat to what
Thanksgiving has become in recent decades: a celebration of gluttony and
excess.
In conversations about the upcoming holiday, I hear Americans talk excitedly
about their plans to overeat -- to eat so much that they've built a
post-meal nap into their annual Thanksgiving routine. It's all about the
feast. It's all about stuffing themselves fuller than Grandma stuffed the
turkey. More mashed potatoes. Extra gravy. A second slice of pie. Then sleep
it off. And they're proud of it.
Meanwhile, also here in the United States, millions of people are going to
sleep hungry. According to a report [1] from the Department of Agriculture
for 2008, 49 million Americans lacked dependable access to adequate food
last year, including nearly 17 million children -- more than one in five
across the U.S. It can't be any better this year, given the economic crisis.
How then can gluttony be celebrated like a sport on November 26th?
There is a rationalization, if you want to call it that. People justify the
annual gorging by citing the story of a harvest feast that the Pilgrims
shared with Native Americans at Plymouth in 1621. That's all very quaint and
sweet, but also naive. And this leads to another reason why I'm
uncomfortable with the Thanksgiving holiday: That Pilgrim feast was a
prelude to genocide.
As African Americans remained enslaved in this country's early years, Native
Americans didn't have it much better. The European "settlers" wasted no time
in stealing the land out from under the indigenous peoples -- almost as fast
as they spread the smallpox and other epidemic diseases that they brought
with them to the new world. In 1830, as the "settlers" pushed westward, the
23rd Congress of the United States passed the "Indian Removal Act",
legitimizing the land greed of the white "settlers" and resulting in the
death or displacement of countless Native Americans. This legislation was
signed into law by none other than all-American action hero President Andrew
Jackson himself. (Think of that when you pull out your twenty-dollar bill to
pay for your Thanksgiving turkey.)
The Native Americans who survived were herded onto reservations, where they
faced their own set of challenges. This form of apartheid separated Native
Americans physically, socially, and economically from the world outside the
reservation. Traditionally nomadic hunter societies were forced to learn to
farm for their subsistence. Disenfranchised and disillusioned, the Native
American population came to face the highest rates of poverty, suicide,
alcoholism, and teen pregnancy amongst ethnic groups in the U.S. -- a trend
that continues to this day. All because of the selfish, imperialistic dreams
of the white man.
Happy Thanksgiving, white America. Enjoy your feast. And be thankful that
you were not born on a Native American reservation or in captivity on a
slave owner's plantation.
Might does not make right. And so may the laws of karma ultimately even the
score.
Meantime, may those with a conscience celebrate the holiday as it was
intended -- to join with friends and family in appreciation of what really
matters in life: love, health, sharing, and caring.
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike,
that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in
this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud
of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing
of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to
which we are committed today at home and around the world.
"
-John F. Kennedy, 1961
Dave Heil
> Published on The Smirking Chimp (http://www.smirkingchimp.com)
>
> What's Thanksgiving really all about?
>
> By Mary Shaw
>
> Created Nov 22 2009 - 9:03am
>
>
> The Thanksgiving holiday is just around the corner, but this year I am
> tempted to skip the festivities. While some Americans mark this holiday as
> an occasion to give thanks and gratitude for their perceived blessings, that
> benign and admirable purpose too often takes a back seat to what
> Thanksgiving has become in recent decades: a celebration of gluttony and
> excess.
>
> In conversations about the upcoming holiday, I hear Americans talk excitedly
> about their plans to overeat -- to eat so much that they've built a
> post-meal nap into their annual Thanksgiving routine. It's all about the
> feast. It's all about stuffing themselves fuller than Grandma stuffed the
> turkey. More mashed potatoes. Extra gravy. A second slice of pie. Then sleep
> it off. And they're proud of it.
Proud? What an odd choice of words. How about, they're happy about it.
Mary left out the gathered family and the memories. She left out the
football.
> Meanwhile, also here in the United States, millions of people are going to
> sleep hungry.
Really? I don't believe it. Just about anyone who has no money for
food can get a multi-course Thanksgiving meal for free. Walmart has
frozen turkeys for forty cents a pound. Less than five bucks buys a
12-lb. bird. Now Mary will have to manufacture another tale.
> According to a report [1] from the Department of Agriculture
> for 2008, 49 million Americans lacked dependable access to adequate food
> last year, including nearly 17 million children -- more than one in five
> across the U.S. It can't be any better this year, given the economic crisis.
I don't believe Mary on this one either. She didn't define "dependable
access" or "adequate food". I bet Mary is trying to trick us again.
> How then can gluttony be celebrated like a sport on November 26th?
So far, Mary is the only one telling us that we're celebrating gluttony.
> There is a rationalization, if you want to call it that. People justify the
> annual gorging by citing the story of a harvest feast that the Pilgrims
> shared with Native Americans at Plymouth in 1621. That's all very quaint and
> sweet, but also naive. And this leads to another reason why I'm
> uncomfortable with the Thanksgiving holiday: That Pilgrim feast was a
> prelude to genocide.
Let's not stuff the turkey this year. Let's tell Mary to get stuffed!
>
> As African Americans remained enslaved in this country's early years, Native
> Americans didn't have it much better.
How many enslave African Americans were living around Plymouth when the
Pilgrims celebrated that first Thanksgiving?
> The European "settlers" wasted no time
> in stealing the land out from under the indigenous peoples -- almost as fast
> as they spread the smallpox and other epidemic diseases that they brought
> with them to the new world.
Purposely too, I'll bet you'll claim!
> In 1830, as the "settlers" pushed westward, the
> 23rd Congress of the United States passed the "Indian Removal Act",
> legitimizing the land greed of the white "settlers" and resulting in the
> death or displacement of countless Native Americans. This legislation was
> signed into law by none other than all-American action hero President Andrew
> Jackson himself. (Think of that when you pull out your twenty-dollar bill to
> pay for your Thanksgiving turkey.)
I pulled out a five and a couple of ones for mine. How badly did that
bother Mary? America truly is the land of plenty, even for Indians and
African Americans.
> The Native Americans who survived were herded onto reservations, where they
> faced their own set of challenges. This form of apartheid separated Native
> Americans physically, socially, and economically from the world outside the
> reservation. Traditionally nomadic hunter societies were forced to learn to
> farm for their subsistence. Disenfranchised and disillusioned, the Native
> American population came to face the highest rates of poverty, suicide,
> alcoholism, and teen pregnancy amongst ethnic groups in the U.S. -- a trend
> that continues to this day. All because of the selfish, imperialistic dreams
> of the white man.
Awwwww. Mary surely can put a damper on a holiday celebration. Will
she be doing a Christmas article? If so, will Goofda> hl be stealing it
and posting it here?
> Happy Thanksgiving, white America. Enjoy your feast.
Shall I phone my black, Asian and American Indian friends and tell them
that Mary Shaw says they don't count and that they shouldn't be stuffing
themselves with turkey and the trimmings?
> And be thankful that
> you were not born on a Native American reservation or in captivity on a
> slave owner's plantation.
does Mary have any idea how old I'd be if I was born into captivity on a
slave owner's plantation in America? This woman is a wet blanket.
> Might does not make right. And so may the laws of karma ultimately even the
> score.
If there is karmic justice, Mary might choke on a wishbone.
> Meantime, may those with a conscience celebrate the holiday as it was
> intended -- to join with friends and family in appreciation of what really
> matters in life: love, health, sharing, and caring.
Goofdorf is a thief. He stole this copyrighted article.
Mary Shaw is a pinhead.