West Wing turkey pardon and thoughts on Thanksgiving
By LindaBeth
Happy thanksgiving to all, and as we give thanks, make a pledge to be honest about our history and to seek out ways to do something about it.
(Cross-posted to Smart Like Me)
I was a West Wing junkie, so I thought I'd share this charming scene from the episode Shibboleth:
On a less humorous note, I want to share a portion of an article from last year about our continual denial about American history when we celebrate our glossy version of "Thanksgiving Day." I quite like Robert Jensen's suggestion for a "National Day of Atonement"; his reasoning, via Alternet, and I suggest you read it in its entirety:
Of course people often struggle for control over the meaning of symbols and holidays, but typically we engage in such battles when we believe there is some positive aspect of the symbol or holiday worth fighting for.
[...]
But what is positive in the historical events that define Thanksgiving? What tradition are we trying to return to? I have no quarrel with designating a day (or days) that would allow people to take a break from our often manic work routines and appreciate the importance of community, encouraging all of us to be grateful for what we have. But if that is the goal, why yoke it to Thanksgiving Day and a history of celebrating European/white dominance and conquest?[...]After years of being constantly annoyed and often angry about the historical denial built into Thanksgiving Day, I published an essay in November 2005 suggesting we replace the feasting with fasting and create a National Day of Atonement to acknowledge the genocide of indigenous people that is central to the creation of the United States.
Happy thanksgiving to all, and as we give thanks, make a pledge to be honest about our history and to seek out ways to do something about it.
(Cross-posted to Smart Like Me)
Labels: pardons, Thanksgiving, Turkey, U.S. history, West Wing
posted by lindabeth at
8:00 AM
4 Comments:
Jensen's piece adequately explains why I do not do this holiday. I have my own Harvest Home kind of day earlier in the year; having Amerindian ancestors as well as European, I just cannot fight this inner battle on this day!
By
Anonymous, at 11:38 AM
I understand the reasons behind not wanting to celebrate the historical meaning behind Thanksgiving... but then if we must be so politically correct in this country, we should not celebrate any other holiday because it might possibly offend someone.
I just read an article about Carleton University in Canada. They decided to stop donating to a cystic fibrosis foundation because a study showed that white males were predominantly affected by cyctis fibrosis and apparently the disease was not INCLUSIVE enough.
Thanksgiving is an American tradition. It will not go away. Turkey farms bank on this holiday! Although its start occured at the ousting of another society... look at our country today. Have we really changed that much? (Yes, when it comes to political correctness and the liberal illuminati politicians desire to not offend ANYONE) But can you honestly say that the United States doesn't try to impose its beliefs on other nations? Can anyone say Iraq???
By
Unknown, at 3:54 PM
His suggestion is not based on that it offends anyone. This is not a PC thing.
It's based on the fact that we celebrate a historical tradition that isn't based on historical truth, that the day we take off to celebrate family, community, and our blessings was made possibly by tearing apart families, communities, and all but erasing entire populations of people from North America. And our lousy treaties and continued lousy support for Native Americans just adds insult to injury. It's about being honest about our past and making a concerted effort to do better.
We can have a national day of Thanks-nothing wrong with that-but to connect it to the Pilgrims and Natives living in harmonious cooperation is a flat-out national LIE. The suggestion he gives (if you read the actual article) is this: that we can begin by admitting that the story Thanksgiving is based on is a lie; that we should instead designate it as a day of Remembrance in recognition of our horrible deeds that founded the country; make a day of national day of Thanks separate from such Remembrance.
This isn't PC nor about offense-it's about being honesty and not using our national lies about the slaughter of others as the ground on which we give thanks.
By
lindabeth, at 4:38 PM
Lindabeth,
Ok, I see where you are coming from now. I might have read the article a bit too quickly. I think that this would be a great thing to do in theory... but like many other similar issues... the government will never do this because it is not convenient or really pressing in their eyes. Let's hope, then, that Obama, our president illuminati who preaches change, will see our desire to change things about our country such as these lies. From now on I will encourage my family to remember this holiday for what it really is.
What about reading the Thanksgiving story on Thanksgiving! Just like Christmas! haha :)
Thank you for opening my eyes to this :)
By
Unknown, at 12:04 AM
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