Thank you for that remarkable review of the ever-evolving story of “Thanksgiving“.
It reminds me that every cultural and ethnic group just loves to have “origin“ stories.
And fascinating to see, with the presidential proclamation record, the saga of PR efforts, rebranding and efforts to reconcile inherent cognitive dissonance and to obscure the historical lies.
And thank you to those who expressed their thoughts and reactions to this annual celebration that does seem to afford reflection on where we are at.
For me personally, I have trouble with that part of the American experiment which embraced and still celebrates empire.
Bradford’s 1737 proclamation of Thanksgiving for the Pequot massacre certainly hijacks the concept and establishes a genocidal meme!
When we do our celebration tomorrow, we will try and do it with reflection and aspirational humility and gratitude. (this article and discussion reminds me that we should also come up with something age-appropriate for my grandkids! (I will have to negotiate that one with my daughter🫤))
Empires always seem to be built on blood and trails of tears and PTSD on all sides; that is, no one really wins a war.
My Thanksgiving will include appreciation for the past as a lamp guiding us to a kinder and more empathic future.
What to do when your 10 year old child comes home to do their homework of decorating and writing up a Thanksgiving card for other children (here in Bethlehem, CT) and you strongly oppose it and they fight you over it no matter how many different ways I have calmly explained to her that it is in fact not a day to celebrate and honor us as Original\native peoples to this continent of so-called present day North, Central, and South America?
Helena - I'll have to post this reply in parts. It's too long for a single comment.
A most important question.... Public schools are the carriers of standard narratives in all fields, including history... a major part of their failure to produce active, aware citizens... This is a major advantage of homeschooling...
I encourage you not to get stuck to this tar-baby (a story that wokism has banned, to the detriment of our understanding of inter-personal rivalries; Joel Chandler likely turns over in his grave whenever the epithet 'racist' knocks his story out of another library)... If you fight the school-teachers, you put your child in an untenable position, caught between the 'official authority' and the authority of the parents.
I suggest you lay the ground for a conversation -- whenever the time feels right -- by bringing other information to light. My substack is but a tiny part of the wealth of materials that are available on the history of colonialism. Some of these are 'radical', some have a 'reasonable' tone. You can choose what you think your child will most likely read.
Keep in mind that your introduction of new ideas has to be done for its own sake and not as a tit-for-tat to the school. Move carefully. This is only one subject about which you will want to be sure your child learns more than / other than the schoolbook narrative.
You can do these things even in the midst of preparing a special meal of togetherness. Gathering to celebrate around food need not -- ought not -- to be sacrificed for the sake of some kind of political / social 'purity'.
but, as @mankh says in his T-day post: "Personally, this traveler has pleasant memories of family gatherings for Thanksgiving yet now knows that the holiday reinforces a false narrative, perpetuating ignorance and repression of Native ways; an example of Nationalism Social-Status, a form of NotSee." https://substack.com/home/post/p-151977335
I take this to mean we can gather in our own ways despite and in the face of the domination....
Ura ( thank you) always, Peter, for your evidentiary clarity on the American mythology of TurkeyDay & the use of the english language to obfuscate the ongoing lies.
Thanks, Peter, i'll link your article in my upcoming post about the topic/day, as you provide far more historical and verbal swordmanship, and i provide some other bits not mentioned e.g. the modern meal image patterned after a 1927 book "Northwood; A Tale of New England" by Sarah Josepha Buell Hale; an epigraph in that book attests to the settler-colonial ignore-ance of the Original Peoples, “He who loves not his country, can love nothing.”
Such timely and appropriate revelations, Peter, for those who still embrace the cynical and intentionally manufactured myth - blatant lies and depraved hypocrisy - regarding our so-called "Thanksgiving" celebrations. So typical of the amerikkkan approach to "history."
Thank you, Peter, for delineating just some of the specific outrages, including (especially?) the backhanded 'compliments' that are rife in many cultural discussions; 'natural athlete' and 'natural rhythm' come to mind. The Empire's 'day of reckoning' fast approaches. Hopefully, some of our species will survive its collapse.
A history of lying countered by sobering truths.
yes, lying actually names it...
Museum quality exposure of English’s inbred exceptionalism masking genocide by democracy’s settler colonial presidents and court appointments.
Museum quality! Wow. Thank you
Thank you. Will the Native Americans ever forgive us
Peter,
Thank you for that remarkable review of the ever-evolving story of “Thanksgiving“.
It reminds me that every cultural and ethnic group just loves to have “origin“ stories.
And fascinating to see, with the presidential proclamation record, the saga of PR efforts, rebranding and efforts to reconcile inherent cognitive dissonance and to obscure the historical lies.
And thank you to those who expressed their thoughts and reactions to this annual celebration that does seem to afford reflection on where we are at.
For me personally, I have trouble with that part of the American experiment which embraced and still celebrates empire.
Bradford’s 1737 proclamation of Thanksgiving for the Pequot massacre certainly hijacks the concept and establishes a genocidal meme!
When we do our celebration tomorrow, we will try and do it with reflection and aspirational humility and gratitude. (this article and discussion reminds me that we should also come up with something age-appropriate for my grandkids! (I will have to negotiate that one with my daughter🫤))
Empires always seem to be built on blood and trails of tears and PTSD on all sides; that is, no one really wins a war.
My Thanksgiving will include appreciation for the past as a lamp guiding us to a kinder and more empathic future.
And Thank You All,
as good company on this journey.
Thanks, Graeme... see my multiple replies to Helena...
Oops, “Bradford’s 1637…”
What to do when your 10 year old child comes home to do their homework of decorating and writing up a Thanksgiving card for other children (here in Bethlehem, CT) and you strongly oppose it and they fight you over it no matter how many different ways I have calmly explained to her that it is in fact not a day to celebrate and honor us as Original\native peoples to this continent of so-called present day North, Central, and South America?
Helena - I'll have to post this reply in parts. It's too long for a single comment.
A most important question.... Public schools are the carriers of standard narratives in all fields, including history... a major part of their failure to produce active, aware citizens... This is a major advantage of homeschooling...
I encourage you not to get stuck to this tar-baby (a story that wokism has banned, to the detriment of our understanding of inter-personal rivalries; Joel Chandler likely turns over in his grave whenever the epithet 'racist' knocks his story out of another library)... If you fight the school-teachers, you put your child in an untenable position, caught between the 'official authority' and the authority of the parents.
There's a long history of statist undermining of families, not only in the US. In fact, I see this as a key piece of the domination of Native Peoples.
I suggest you lay the ground for a conversation -- whenever the time feels right -- by bringing other information to light. My substack is but a tiny part of the wealth of materials that are available on the history of colonialism. Some of these are 'radical', some have a 'reasonable' tone. You can choose what you think your child will most likely read.
Keep in mind that your introduction of new ideas has to be done for its own sake and not as a tit-for-tat to the school. Move carefully. This is only one subject about which you will want to be sure your child learns more than / other than the schoolbook narrative.
You can do these things even in the midst of preparing a special meal of togetherness. Gathering to celebrate around food need not -- ought not -- to be sacrificed for the sake of some kind of political / social 'purity'.
I can no longer recognize/celebrate Thanksgiving.
but, as @mankh says in his T-day post: "Personally, this traveler has pleasant memories of family gatherings for Thanksgiving yet now knows that the holiday reinforces a false narrative, perpetuating ignorance and repression of Native ways; an example of Nationalism Social-Status, a form of NotSee." https://substack.com/home/post/p-151977335
I take this to mean we can gather in our own ways despite and in the face of the domination....
thanks for your note...
Ura ( thank you) always, Peter, for your evidentiary clarity on the American mythology of TurkeyDay & the use of the english language to obfuscate the ongoing lies.
Thanks, Peter, i'll link your article in my upcoming post about the topic/day, as you provide far more historical and verbal swordmanship, and i provide some other bits not mentioned e.g. the modern meal image patterned after a 1927 book "Northwood; A Tale of New England" by Sarah Josepha Buell Hale; an epigraph in that book attests to the settler-colonial ignore-ance of the Original Peoples, “He who loves not his country, can love nothing.”
i look forward to your post!
Thx, Peter!
Such timely and appropriate revelations, Peter, for those who still embrace the cynical and intentionally manufactured myth - blatant lies and depraved hypocrisy - regarding our so-called "Thanksgiving" celebrations. So typical of the amerikkkan approach to "history."
Thank you, Peter, for delineating just some of the specific outrages, including (especially?) the backhanded 'compliments' that are rife in many cultural discussions; 'natural athlete' and 'natural rhythm' come to mind. The Empire's 'day of reckoning' fast approaches. Hopefully, some of our species will survive its collapse.