Thanksgiving: Your reaction to this article as americans

[Tobius]

http://www.alternet.org/news/148991/no_thanks_to_thanksgiving/?page=entire

I thought it was cool but I want to see your reaction.

Does this make you all butthurt and defensive or do you agree to some degree?

[MrSparkle001]

I laugh at people who just have to criticize everything.

Sounds like a bunch of whining by the losing side to me, to purposely put it bluntly.

[Samoht]

Fact: nobody alive today participated in killing the Indians under the premise of Manifest Destiny. Therefore, we cannot be held accountable for the actions of those that did.

Truthfully, the theme of this holiday is moving away from pilgrims and Indians, anyway.

Today, it's about family and tradition.

[EnnoiaII]

It's just another story proving the English (not Americans, because NO ONE from my family is from that cesspool of inbreeding and bad teeth, and I live in the US) are a bunch of power-hungry assholes.

Around here, Thanksgiving is a lot of screaming and arguing, and turkey.

[Jimes]

Not butthurt. The author sounds like one of those people that just likes to argue and will always jump at the chance to argue from a minority position. Besides, who gives a shit? Thanksgiving has about as much to do with Pilgrims and natives as Christmas has to do with the jeebus. It's just an excuse to see family.

[Uthgaard]

Not butthurt. The author sounds like one of those people that just likes to argue and will always jump at the chance to argue from a minority position. Besides, who gives a shit?

I was going to post this. Then I realized someone already had, in pretty much the exact words I would have used. Also for the record, I didn't even need to read the article. Once you've seen enough whiny bitches, they tend to get a bit predictable.

[vinx]

Fact: nobody alive today participated in killing the Indians under the premise of Manifest Destiny. Therefore, we cannot be held accountable for the actions of those that did.
True, and in this day and age i doubt many do
most take part in the thanksgiving holiday as just another american holiday
ie, like anyone else.. its an excuse for the day off and have a big meal with family

Truthfully, the theme of this holiday is moving away from pilgrims and Indians, anyway.

Today, it's about family and tradition and God.
Fixt
To me thanksgiving seems to be merging itself in closer to christmas year after year versus staying strictly an american holiday
1) you say grace before the meal
2) you give thanks to god for w/e
3) you dress up as if your going to church lol
4) xmas music starts!
Im suprised the church hasnt found a way in on this and put their spin on it yet

America has to many holidays imo, alot of people dont even understand or know exactly what half of them mean.. or even care
there is a holiday at least once a month and we practically have a holiday for everything under the sun eg, mothers day/fathers day and a flurry of others (international womens day really?)
then you also add in anniversaries/birthdays and everything family inbetween and its no wonder people are left with a vague idea of what holidays are about

imo, the ultimate goal is to: spend spend spend fuck relevance

Once you've seen enough whiny bitches, they tend to get a bit predictable.
imo, predictability can be flipped when discussing history
to quote the article as an example:
the world's great powers achieved "greatness" through criminal brutality on a grand scale is not news, of course. That those same societies are reluctant to highlight this history of barbarism also is predictable



Sounds like a bunch of whining by the losing side to me, to purposely put it bluntly.
I dont see anything in that article to indicate that Robert Jenson is native american

As a native american i dont really care
i dont hold or play the history card because of something that happened generations ago.
and under that same reasoning i dont expect people to play the apology card
or for anyone to feel the need to express remorse/shame/guilt
I will continue to celebrate thanksgiving under the premise of 2 parties sharing a meal. which is what i will be doing

I wont do anything for Columbus Day tho besides take the day off like everyone else
ya'll can celebrate that one and do whatever it is you do

[pickled_heretic]

i'm adopted, i don't know who my biological parents are or what their ethnicity is. i'm always frankly a bit insulted when someone tries to tack blame on me for something that my "ancestors" did when I don't even know who my "ancestors" are.

the whole concept of sharing responsibility (both good, and bad!) for what your e.g. parents, grandparents and so forth did before you even existed has frankly always felt a little preposterous to me.

it's the same kind of feeling i get when someone expresses pride in a sports team that they favor, or malice toward a team they don't favor. like when japan won the world cup and everyone on facebook was saying LOL WE STILL NUKED U AND WON etc. what a bunch of assclowns, you didn't win any wars, you didn't nuke anyone, not that turning tens of thousands of civilians into an obsidian basin is anything to take pride in. riding on coattails imo. rant is over now.

[pickled_heretic]

i get the same feeling about people from texas. everyone rides around in huge trucks w/ truck nuts and wears cowboy hats and talks about being self sufficient when in truth 98% of those people live in the city / suburbs and are completely reliant on the grid and social institutions for every convenience of their lives.

[Falisaty]

Fact: nobody alive today participated in killing the Indians under the premise of Manifest Destiny. Therefore, we cannot be held accountable for the actions of those that did.

Truthfully, the theme of this holiday is moving away from pilgrims and Indians, anyway.

Today, it's about family and tradition.

this is exactly what i was going to say

[MrSparkle001]

I dont see anything in that article to indicate that Robert Jenson is native american

As a native american i dont really care
i dont hold or play the history card because of something that happened generations ago.
and under that same reasoning i dont expect people to play the apology card
or for anyone to feel the need to express remorse/shame/guilt
I will continue to celebrate thanksgiving under the premise of 2 parties sharing a meal. which is what i will be doing

I wont do anything for Columbus Day tho besides take the day off like everyone else
ya'll can celebrate that one and do whatever it is you do

I should clarify what I meant: He sounds like he's using the whining of those who like to bring up past atrocities (typically those of native american descent) in order to perpetuate the anti-american sentiment that's become all too popular.

Have you seen this guy's other articles? He's the kind of professor that quite frankly scares me. Young people are listening to him and believing him. College kids have a scary tendency to believe every word of their professors, and this guy seems to be one of those far-left anti-american professors I greatly dislike and who I think do way more harm than good.

http://www.alternet.org/authors/4690/

Look at some of those other articles. Wtf. I really feel bad for any students that have to put up with him.

[Hasbinbad]

Frame shifting doesn't change absolute philosophy.

Today's "far left" professors are yesteryear's "moderate conservatives."

Just because the hardline christian right says a moderate is a pinko commie bastard doesn't make it so.

That guy is about as "far left" as Mr. Rogers.

You people are terribad.

[Softcore PK]

Hmm the past has passed and I don't think this sort of thing is all that important anymore. We should teach the real (complete) history of Thanksgiving, but there are more pressing MODERN matters.

Like animal genocide as a thanksgiving tradition.

[Truth]

animals were designed by god to be mass produced slaughtered eaten and turned into gator boots

[MrSparkle001]

Frame shifting doesn't change absolute philosophy.

Today's "far left" professors are yesteryear's "moderate conservatives."

Just because the hardline christian right says a moderate is a pinko commie bastard doesn't make it so.

That guy is about as "far left" as Mr. Rogers.

You people are terribad.

Is he one of those people that keeps apologizing for america and history, and constantly bringing up race? He seems to, and that's far-left.

I mean wtf, he's criticizing Thanksgiving!

[Truth]

Every moving thing that liveth shall be food for you; As the green herb have I given you all.
http://bible.cc/genesis/9-3.htm

[SearyxTZ]

My reaction is I'm rolling my eyes, stopped reading about a paragraph in, and don't really give a fuck.


Thanksgiving is a day where I don't have to work and I can gorge and play Everquest till I lapse into a food coma. I don't give a fuck about how many people died 400 years ago and can just take the holiday at surface value of being grateful for the fact that I can eat a delicious turkey dinner instead of starving to death in a third world country.

[SearyxTZ]

also this reminds me of this swedish guy I know who is really into viking death metal and talks about how THE DAMN CHRISTIANS TOOK HIS LAND AND KILLED HIS VIKING ANCESTORS (hundreds of years ago)


When you cite something that deep into the past as justification for your annoying crappy attitude and whining, then you need a reality check. No one cares in 2011.

[azeth]

http://www.alternet.org/news/148991/no_thanks_to_thanksgiving/?page=entire

I thought it was cool but I want to see your reaction.

Does this make you all butthurt and defensive or do you agree to some degree?

the only reason i disagree with the article is because we, including myself, do not intentionally celebrate the events the article is condemning. the holiday may have originated in that fashion, but americans are only celebrating family time and a day off from work.

[Messianic]

the only reason i disagree with the article is because we, including myself, do not intentionally celebrate the events the article is condemning. the holiday may have originated in that fashion, but americans are only celebrating family time and a day off from work.

Yeah - it's funny when people think they're making some poignant, intellectual point by pointing out that some tradition has some dark associations and therefore somehow it's 100% integrated into that dark association.


"Remember, when you're just eating Turkey and hugging your family that you haven't seen since last Christmas, you're actually drinking the blood of the natives of the land and spitting on their graves. Americans should change the holiday into a day of mourning where everyone cuts themselves and weeps over how horrible they are because their ancestors did something evil."

I think the problem is the author just has an extra large stick up his butt.

That guy is about as "far left" as Mr. Rogers.

That's a bit of a misstatement - he's definitely left-leaning, but not all that much. It's just viewing history within a certain scope without putting blinders on or idealizing historical figures. Some of his #'s are off, though.

Plenty of Libertarians also think Abe Lincoln was one of the worst presidents in history. I'm sympathetic to the view because when you really dig at all the expanses of power Abe used - most without the real intent of "freeing the slaves" or enhancing liberty. He just wanted to maintain the union, even if by force. Hitler praised Lincoln for recognizing, as he believed, that the Union was the Father and the States were its children and therefore subject to it - not vice versa. Lincoln was a very early Fascist in a tremendous amount of ways. And he paved the road for so many after him...