Ah, Thanksgiving... That wonderful holiday whose very purpose is for family and friends to get together for turkey, pies, mashed potatoes, pies, homemade noodles, pies, and all things that can be reasonably stuffed down our throats. And, after we awake from our turkey comas, games are pulled out, movies are put on, and...food is pulled back out again for a "snack."
It's a holiday to give thanks for all that's good in the world. It's not a time to associate blame or insert political correctness. However, a school system in Seattle, Washington managed to do just this. In the past few years, the school administration has sent all teachers an annual letter that reminds teachers "to understand that Thanksgiving is a 'time of mourning' for many Indian people, and a 'reminder of 500 years of betrayal.'" Amazing, right? Well, this type of political correctness is actually relatively common. They also reference a website that gives common "myths" of Thanksgiving, including the 11th myth that "Thanksgiving is a happy time."
I won't get into it right now, but there's millions of examples of this type of political correctness concerning Christmas too. But, that'll come later :-) However, I will show you this Lowes Ad:
Notice it says "Family Trees" instead of Christmas, but in their defense they changed it back to 'Christmas Tree' after an minor public outcry.
Gobble Gobble.
1 comments:
Not to be a party pooper on my first post on your new blog... but I'm holding you to this future rant. The Christmas rant comes but once a year... Thanksgiving rants are much more rare... kind of like a Clinton interested in men or a Bush that hasn't been president (1 out of 3 aint bad on both counts I suppose).
The Christmas issue is a little bit more complicated simply because it is a religious holiday... and I'll allow it that. However, Thanksgiving has no religion attached to it. It is a National Holiday created by Americans. There is no Thanksgiving in Canada, Mexico, or Zimbabwe. This is strictly an American holiday.
Just a few comments to touch upon in your rant (mere suggestions):
Nobody is mad about any European Nation living on the land that was once inhabited by the Greeks and the Romans. Didn't they take their land? What about Australia? Cuba? Mexicans speak friggin' SPANISH! Why? Because the SPANIARDS established themselves quite well there. People in Brazil speak PORTUGUESE! Why? Same as Mexico, but it was established by Portugal. These nations are very well established, and celebrate their nations history with a patriotic fervor rivaling that of any American, and hold their own national holidays free of complaint. Just like American's, they also have "the old ways" of the previous civilizations living in the midst of their boarders. Yet I hear no complaints on about the shift in the balance of power from the Mayans to the Spanish (who were just as, if not more, brutal in their treatment of the natives).
It's an entirely different story, but we weren't the only ones responsible for the deaths of Native Americans. They killed each other just as much, if not more, than we killed them. People seem to have this idea that before Europeans, there was the nation of Native Americans. Obviously this is not true. There were several different tribes, unique in so many ways, and many united in the desire to destroy one another. As far as they were concerned, Europeans (and eventually Americans) were regarded as another tribe encroaching on each tribes territory (with each tribe attempting to lay claim to all of it). The similarities between the Native Americans and the Sunni and Shiite tribes of the modern era are certainly not an overstatement. Which religion is responsible for the most deaths to Muslims? A.) Christians B.) Muslims Hint: It's not Christians.
I do not mean to assert that either Muslims or Native Americans are/were so bloodthirsty as to ensure their own destruction had Americans not intervened. Far from it. The "time of mourning" referred to is simply a point in which not only did Native Americans attack each other, but attacked settlers of American colonies as well... colonies that they traded with, lived alongside, and had previously helped to establish residence. America fought back... and, granted, committed it's own atrocities, but also (like the Native Americans) fought in the interest of it's own people. To assert lone blame upon the "imperialist" nation is to ignore the pages of history that make life so much more complicated than many would love to think it is.
It all seems so much simpler with the narrative of the kind and peaceful Indians, living of the land in harmony with mother nature, sharing their knowledge and heritage with the newcomers as though they were members of their own family; only to be uprooted by the invaders from an industrialized culture that swept in with guns, smoke, and pollution to lay waste to the land for their own settlements and spread disease at their leisure. It's so much more complicated than that.
Example: We all know the story of Thanksgiving, with Squanto teaching the new settlers how to fish and grow corn to eventually create the crops for the first Thanksgiving Feast. Know what happened to Squanto? He was poisoned by a local tribe who distrusted his interactions with the settlers.
It is interesting to note that the settlers had ordained in their charter (prior to landing in the new world) that the day of landing should be set aside as a day of thanks for a safe passage. The first Thanksgiving actually took place with no peace having occurred between settlers and natives. Two years later, at the site where the first Thanksgiving was held, the Powhaten tribe ripped through the area on it's way to attack Jamestown, the first successful English settlement in North America. When all was said and done, 347 people (men, women, AND children), one-third of the population of the settlement were killed.
So much for mourning... so much for simplicity...
Your thoughts.
-Jason
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