The time is at hand. I am going to war.
There are times in life when decisions must be made. This determination has been gnawing at me for some time and has led to a deep feeling of emptiness in my gut. There is only one way to extricate this feeling from my being. Only one way to fulfill the hunger pangs of my soul. I must go to war.
With fork and knife in hand, I will, on this very day, Thursday 11-22-2018, be attacking, turkey. Lying there, smug in its wonderful aroma, adorned in splendid golden brown armor, prodding me, nay, insisting that I cross the line of table demarcation and carve it into various balkanized sections of deliciousness. I will then devour and digest its very existence and adsorb it unto myself. It is there for my taking, it is destiny. For this I give thanks.
But, as with this time every year, I will also be going to war with myself.
The orgy of food will not relieve the gnawing of my conscience, as I know from experience, once full and slumbering into tryptophanic dream sequence, I will ponder the utter contradiction of this festive holiday upon which a false sense of superiority was heaped. The destruction of the indigenous peoples.
Promises broken, the willing genocide, the unwarranted claim of righteous destiny, apartheid, and the ultimate theft of a land rich in resources. I hang my head. I will not give thanks for this.
So I ask you, please today be mindful of the contradictory dichotomy of this holiday and the truth hidden beneath the veneer of superiority.
Note: This piece hopefully highlights the hypocrisy of this holiday that we've been taught to be thankful for, for all that was/is stolen in our name. Or as I like to think of it, a celebration of empire.
I put this video together several years ago for the folks at The Evening Blues. Although it's not about Thanksgiving specifically it does fit the theme.
Thanks for giving. Peace.
Comments
I think Lincoln had the best intentions for Thanksgiving
If we could just disassociate it from the stupid pilgrim story. I like a holiday where friends and family just get together and hopefully not fight. No pressure with presents etc. You don't really even have to follow any tradition. I think a lot of people are eating something else besides those poor turkeys who are raised in factory farms before mass slaughter. There's really no religion involved either (that can be added later) which I really like about it. Why can't we just give thanks and the heck with the pilgrims.
Beware the bullshit factories.
bing! exactly.
I don't get the Librul
hate for this holiday. I love it! Is my fave holiday of the year!
Who don't love turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, apple pie and football??
It don't get more 'murican than that! The quintessential 'murican Norman Rockwell holiday.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
A big part of the illusion that is this country.
Thanksgiving Day. When you think about it, maybe with a little reefer, it seems like a fairy tale. "Once upon a time the pilgrims and the Indians had dinner together and gave thanks for this great land we can all share." "Then the white people slaughtered the Indians and took their land".
Everybody knows this, it's amazing how we can't come to grips with it. Now, people don't want to talk about it, it's in the past and to them it has nothing to do with now. With that they're very wrong.
When I've brought it up, it just makes me sad.
People I like very much will say: "I didn't have anything to do with it. There's nothing I can do about it."
When I ask what they think about the land being taken, I get: "They weren't doing anything with the land. It was just sitting there." Mind you, this is coming from someone living in a mobile home park on land leased from the adjoining reservation.
I am determined to push back my own feelings about the situation. What's the point?
Meanwhile, pass me a slice of Ukraine and some of that Nazi stuffing. Yum.
Happy Gratitude Day.
Idiotic comment
If the Indians would have had an intact immigration system then their land wouldn't have been taken from them.
And yes the person who made this comment was serious. Maybe next time you're faced with this type of comment you can say that the least we can do is not celebrate the act and acknowledge that it happened.
A celebration of empire indeed.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
@snoopydawg Thanksgiving is not
Thanksgiving is not about empire. Thanksgiving commemorates a road not taken. It was the one time--at least the one time in recorded history--that white people didn't trick, backstab, cheat, and murder the indigenous people they came in contact with.
If white people had continued to deal with indigenous people the way they did on the first Thanksgiving, the history of this continent would have been a lot better.
I really wish that people wouldn't take this tack about Thanksgiving, which is a holiday under assault and probably going to crumble as Halloween has been crumbling for years under a similar assault from different sources. It would be a good idea to remember the one time that a different path was taken.
If we're going to push back on the traditional Thanksgiving celebration, it should be by introducing MORE accurate history, not less. Just my take.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I'm quoting JtC
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
CStMS...
have a read.
@JtC I was talking
I was talking specifically about the first Thanksgiving, what led up to that, and what it led to, not about how the "Pilgrims" dealt with indigenous generally throughout their colonization attempt. I don't dispute the rest of the shitty things that they did which were correctly identified by that article.
As I said, it was That ONE Time White People Came Correct.
Emphasis on "one."
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Ok...
I'll give you that "One Time White People Came Correct Day", but even that is disputable.
It may be that that the first Thanksgiving was a noble event, but in the grand scope of what came before and followed, I will not honor it as such. Although I will partake in turkey with my family and give thanks for that.
Like I said, it's all in how it's presented.
In other words, it all depends on which history you tell. In the history you or I would tell, That One Time White People Came Correct could be celebrated as a better path not taken--or not celebrated, according to preference.
Given that a different history dominates our culture--one that neither you nor I would agree with--perhaps you're right in your choice.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Agreed...
I guess it also depends on who writes the histories.
I added a link to my comment above that was messed up when you read it, give it a look.
Peace, my friend.
I don't buy the
"celebration of empire" either.
It's way more a celebration of family. The one day of the year we all plan to get together at Gramma's. No Pilgrims, no Indians, no genocide, no empire, no politics, just turkey, football and pumpkin pie, asking the 9th grader what play she's doing in school this year.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Well, provided you have a grandmother
Or even a parent, or the remains of a family living closer than two or three states away.
I prefer yardwork and the same simple stuff I eat every day, especially if it's sunny.
Remember all too well those obligatory Denver thanksgivings in the 1950s at grandparents, with some western on the television, all conversation bleached gray of anything interesting, and no way to leave early.
Ha! I'm sure our teens
feel the same way.
Fortunately they bring some board games I've never heard of to keep them busy, while us geezers reminisce about T-days back in the day at our parents' home (where gramma and everyone gathered). If I wanted to escape I could just go to my room, but usually watched the game on tv. Today we meet in that same ol' house. Same as it ever was, except we're the old geezers now, parents and grandparents long off to that T-day dinner in the sky. I just remember the dining room being much bigger. "How did we ever squeeze everyone around this table??" And that was just the adults!
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
So, Happy Tisquantum Day.
Peace.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
100 million people lived in the Americas before Colombus
There's a pretty good series on PBS called Native America. This included a city of up to 40,000 people in present day Missouri.
Beware the bullshit factories.
@Pluto's Republic You mean That One Time
You mean That One Time White People Came Correct Day?
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I think it has been a trail of tears for all involved
(edited grammar mistake)
with the Native Americans' tears first and us being haunted by their tears til today making us silently cry.
But it is good to have family and to eat and make music together, no matter who, where and when.
So, be grateful for the family and sharing the food and music.
My son helps to feed the homeless and makes music for them. They always are grateful for that and it makes him feel better, forgetting the times he was homeless himself.
So, I am happy how he copes with Thanksgiving and therefore it is a Happy Thanksgiving.
https://www.euronews.com/live
and JtC, your title scared the shit out of me
my grandpa, whom I never got to know, because he died before I was born (1948) at the end of wwII, was the only one, who was an adult in wwI, in which he served. Of all in the family going into the Weimar Republic and into Nazi Germany, he was the only one who at least learned as much through the war to tell his teenage son, who joined the SS as a believer in the goodness of racist ideology, he, my grandpa was the only one to beg his son under tears to never accept any military order voluntarily, because ... it is always an order into a suicide mission and not worth anything.
So, would you please not go to war, no matter if you believe in the good guy or the bad guy, it always turns out deadly and is just plain ... well, I don't have a good word for it, but it ain't worth nothing.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Glad I
deleted the post I was working on. I started it on nothing more then a random text exchange, and it went south from there. VERY similar sentiments, just not couched in such a gracious fashion. For this I give thanks.
Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .
Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .
If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march
TBandU...
I just sent you a private message and an email, please check it out. Thanks.
Got it
and HELL YEAH!
Check your pm.
Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .
Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .
If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march
I believe I wrote about this at some point.
There is no need to hang your head in shame on Thanksgiving, which should be more appropriately titled That One Time White People Came Correct Day.
Thanksgiving was practically unique in that nobody stabbed anybody in the back, the peace held, agreements were kept, and people ate together. Thanks primarily to Squanto, an indigenous guy whose name is, shamefully, rarely remembered.
Today could also be fruitfully renamed "Squanto Day," but I prefer "That One Time White People Came Correct Day."
I should find that essay, tweak it, retitle it, and release it every Turkey Day.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Hi CStMS...
this essay?
Christianity ....
Thanks for that essay. Funny how things haven't changed much over the centuries.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Yes...
The village was surrounded and burnt to the ground. Most, including women and children, perished in the inferno.
Mystic Massacre
A good example
of how those colonizers behaved most of the time.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Ha! hasn't stopped yet
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-wampanoag-reservation-thanksg...
Former slave helps pilgrims. Centuries later, no good deed goes unpunished.
@JtC I think that was one of
I think that was one of my sources. I wonder if I put the stuff I wrote about Thanksgiving into an OT? I'll have to look.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I thought that
Thanksgiving came about because it was originally a celebration of a harvest.
The notion that the participants of the first celebration had empire in their heads is just ridiculous.
I don't know that the notion of Thg as being uniquely American is correct. I've talked to foreigners who have told me that their countries have similar holidays to give thanks for blessings.
dfarrah
Thanksgiving is the specifically American variant
on a harvest home, with its own mythology. What JtC is doing here is questioning its mythology, and rightfully so--but what I'm saying is that it was what the "Pilgrims" and other Europeans did pretty much all the *rest* of the time that was the problem, not how they behaved at that harvest feast, leading immediately up to it, and following immediately upon it.
The real problem with the Thanksgiving myth, in my view, is that it's presented as an emblem of the way things ordinarily were, rather than a lone exception rising like a small island surrounded by a sea of blood.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
You are, of course, right
that having a feast with family and friends around the traditional time of harvest (late summer through late fall) is in no way limited to the United States.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
They may not...
have had empire on their minds at that specific time but certainly conquest was on their minds. Read some history and I mean history other than that what is offered at ZeroHedge or Drudge.
There is a direct line from conquest of the tribes to Manifest Destiny to our current empire which we are attempting to impose on as much of the planet as possible. If you reject that then I posit that it is you who is ridiculous.
Here's a little tip: implying that folks opinions are ridiculous will not go over well here.
I haven't read
drudge or zerohedge, so I may have to check them out.
I thought harvests were celebrated worldwide, across the ages, and across religions (of whatever type). After all, what does one do when so much of the world goes into hibernation and the winter hours are cold and dark? Eat and celebrate of course.
I'm sure there was some notion of some sort of enrichment by the greedy at the time. Like today, most of us object to empire and war, yet we are almost completely helpless against those in power. Do you think that the situation wasn't similar then?
To me, it is very objectionable that people would take a day of celebration for blessings, such as thanksgiving, and muck it up with all the bad that humans do.
Just think how different the world would be today if the endlessly greedy were thankful instead of forever grabbing and lusting for more, more, more.
dfarrah
Your comment states an impossibility
The endlessly greedy cannot help being endlessly greedy, no more than a hyena can stop being a hyena. It is in their misbegotten DNA in which empathy Does Not Apply.
True. Human nature
and all....
dfarrah
@dfarrah - Harvest Thanksgiving Day
In Germany it is called Harvest Thanksgiving Day (Ernte Dankfest). I remember having been surprised what that day was in the US when I came first to the US. It's also on another day, but I don't know which one it is here, because it's not celebrated at all unless you belong to the few people who attend the Lutheran Protestant church. In general these churches are embarrassing empty. I haven't been in one since decades. When I was a teenager, I remember the altar in the church was decorated with the harvested food products from the fields.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Yeah, I dated a guy
from Cameroon, and he said that the country celebrated, too.
dfarrah
exactly.
I think too many
Libruls believe T-day celebrants sit at the table praising the Pilgrims for starting it all, and becuz we sugarcoat the 250 years after that first Thanksgiving that the hypocrisy is glaring. whatevs...
For my family it's more a celebration of the previous year. If that makes us hypocrites... guilty.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Wonderful slide show in your video, JtC.
Peace and Love to you and yours. The same for all.
Since when do our holidays mean anything they once did?
Christmas is a shopping event. Thanksgiving is about family and food. Easter is a day to eat chocolate and celebrate bunnies. 4th of July is a beach holiday. Veterans Day is a day to celebrate war. Halloween is about communities passing laws to trick or treating a misdemeanor if you are 12 or older. Horde that fucking candy.
ON the way home last night, I asked my husband how many native Americans celebrate thanksgiving did he think?
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
@dkmich Being a holiday about
Being a holiday about family and food is kind of OK, in comparison with what's happened to the rest of the holidays. After all, it's really a harvest home.
It would be better if it were about food and a wider community, but, well...
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
There are towns that
hold community-wide
T-day dinners. They're few and far between, but I expect the trend grows.
I've mentioned it in my town to blank stares but I suspect it happens sooner rather than later, and from sea to shining sea. Yes, for 300 years we totally fucked the native population here. But almost nobody equates that experience with T-day today. Nor should they. That was a long time ago in a 'murica far far away. T-day just isn't about that today, if it ever was. It's more about the Norman Rockwell painting. We should not be ashamed to celebrate an American holiday simply becuz some associate it with Manifest Destiny, others the victim of Manifest Destiny. I'm just going to Gramma's for the real mashed potatoes & gravy and real apple pie. I'll leave the guilt to other Liberals.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
@Wink I believe in people
I believe in people sharing food. This is one of the few times of the year people deliberately sit down together and share food in a ritual way. And it's under assault, and might become unrecognizable during my lifetime. It's already halfway there, with "Black Friday" sales beginning at 3 or 4 pm on Thanksgiving Day, which means that everybody who works at those stores can't have Thanksgiving, and everybody who's desperate for affordable prices willingly foregoes Thanksgiving. And then there's how many people simply can't afford to have a turkey dinner.
On top of that, the assault on working people's time is such that I'm hearing more and more often how it's a waste of time to spend all day working on a meal just to spend an hour sitting and eating it. That sounds very sensible and practical, but what it amounts to is tossing aside one of the two times a year we still have a ritual requirement for most of society to stop while people share food with family or a larger community. What other people see as being too much trouble I see as civilization.
I think what people are objecting to is that there's a sentimental "pilgrims and indians" story surrounding Thanksgiving which is incongruous with the fact that we massacred them and lied to them for 300 years. I agree. But what I do next is go back to the specific history of that day, and I see that an indigenous person did a piece of good work, and for once, white people responded like human beings. I don't want to disregard his good work or view him as a patsy. Also, I think it's a good idea to remember what right response on the part of our ancestors might have looked like. For me, it's like the difference between original sin and committed sin, between a notion of essential evil and chosen evil. The "pilgrims'" actions on the "first thanksgiving" demonstrate clearly that they knew what right action was and were perfectly capable of engaging in it within their own cultural understanding. This makes the subsequent behavior of our ancestors more blameworthy, not less.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I agree. I'm just stunned
by the attack on thanksgiving.
I can assure all here that no thanksgiving event I attended has anyone ever mentioned being thankful over empire and the massacre of Indians.
It's a common celebration across many parts of the world, and those on the left side have to turn it into and ist and an ism.
I see no reason to change its name - IMO, people should ponder their blessing and be thankful. Even now, there is some sort of a general social effort to encourage gratitude.
dfarrah
exactly. n/t
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Maybe becuz I had nuthin'
but great experiences
on T-days growing up, moving from the kids table to the grownups table, the incredible food - and then having only a chance to make it home 1/3 times, 1/4 times during my working years (working shift work, including holidays), I've always had an appreciation, fondness for the big Turkey Day. Dunno, but now that I'm old and retired I seem to appreciate it that much more. I'm glad we (my siblings) keep doing it in the same old house it's been going on for over 60 years. And hopefully the teens continue the tradition in their homes long after we're gone! I mean, what would it be without the story of the stovetop grease fire started by aunt (Sue) that Uncle Wink came to the rescue and put out with a wet towel back at gramma's old house back in 2018?? Thems was the days!
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
bing! n/t
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
I guess it kind of
depends on whether you are a Christian or not, when you are talking about Christmas and Easter.
There are quite a few Christians nowadays who object to the commercialization of these days. I really don't know how celebrations on these days have changed over the centuries (I should know, but I don't).
I though Easter came about partly because of celebrations when spring came.
dfarrah
It did.
It was a pagan holiday first. When the Christians took it, they made the really weird decision to have the celebration of birth at midwinter and the celebration of death...at the beginning of spring?
I can get my head around celebrating the birth of the god on the winter solstice, because that's one way of saying "The light and warmth are returning, and here is where it begins." But I simply don't get why, or how, you would make the spring ritual about death.
As Eddie Izzard once said:
So, the Pagan religion had very big festivals, remember, on Easter and Christmas. Christian religion came along and had very big festivals at Easter and Christmas. Jesus died on one and was born on the other. Hm hm hm hm?! Cuz, Jesus, I do think, did exist, you know, and, he, uh, was, uh, a guy I think had interesting ideas in the Ghandi type area in the, um, Nelson Mandela type area. You know, relaxed and groovy. And, uh, the Romans thought, "Relaxed and groovy. No no no no no!" Um, so they murdered him. And then kids eat chocolate eggs because of the color of the chocolate and the color of the wood on the cross . . . well, you tell me! It's got nothing to do with it, has it?!
You got people going, "Remember kids," the kids are eating the chocolate eggs, going, "Remember kids, Jesus died for your sins."
"Yeah, I know, it's great!"
"No, no. It's bad! It's bad!"
"It's bad, it's very bad! It's terrible! Whatever you want. I mean, just keep giving me these eggs."
And the bunny rabbits! Where do they come into the crucifixion? There were no bunny rabbits up on the hill going, "Hey, ya gonna put these crosses in our warrens? We live below this hill, alright?" Bunny rabbits are for shagging, eggs are for fertility! It's a festival, it's the spring festival!
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Let me explain.
"But I simply don't get why, or how, you would make the spring ritual about death."
It was because of Jesus' death and rising from the dead. He was re-born.
dfarrah
I get that he was reborn.
I'm just saying that in my tradition, we don't exactly celebrate the death of the god and the rebirth of the god at the same time--and if we were going to celebrate it at the same time, it would be on Winter Solstice. At Winter Solstice, it's the darkest, coldest time of year...but then the light is reborn.
That way, people could celebrate Jesus' earthly birth round about the same time the Bible suggests it must have happened. The shepherds were watching their flocks by night. They did that when the ewes were pregnant. There's no way ewes are in lamb in the middle of winter, so it's likely Jesus was born in the springtime. Celebrating his birth in the spring, which is when the Bible says it happened, would then allow one to celebrate his death (symbolized by darkness and cold) and rebirth (symbolized by the beginning of growing light).
I'm not offended by the way these holidays are, and I intend to continue celebrating them as long as a vestige of civilization and ritual still survive around here--but viewed from the outside, they don't make a lot of sense to me.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
yes, we humans
don't make much sense anyway.
dfarrah