4 ms·

Oddly enough, we just always called that Thanksgiving. Sometimes we visited family, sometimes family visited us, sometimes we just gathered with whoever was aro

by steverb 12y ago

Oddly enough, we just always called that Thanksgiving. Sometimes we visited family, sometimes family visited us, sometimes we just gathered with whoever was around. The need to create some sort of alternative label confuses me, but then again I grew up semi-nomadic.

justifier 12y ago
branding is a form of pithy yet effective value assertion honestly the tradition of thanksgiving is grounded in a a disgusting past that is branded as a beautiful time to give thanks the story goes :: a group of immigrants came to a strange country they felt was empty enough to set up a home for themselves but when winter came they were wholly unprepared for life in this new environment there they laid dying, starving, and the natives to the land came and shared all they had with these immigrants and showed them how and what to plant in winter soil the immigrants survived that winter and we now give thanks, but the following spring they used their regrown strengths to decimate the population of the natives in order to take their land fuck honoring that now if you want to say you like getting together with family and friends for big meals, but we are all so busy we need to designate at least once a year it must be on the third thursday of november i am all for it just call it something else so we can leave behind the baggage of the long since skewed bullshit that is thanksgiving and keep the stuff that it's really about: interacting over food friendsgiving? ok..? some friends and i began to grow busy in different directions so we organised a big group meal once a week, we always just called it our 'sunday destiny' . also, fuck columbus day too: " Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log: They ... brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned... . They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features.... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane... . They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want. ".. Howard Zinn, A People's History of the US .. http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinncol1.html http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinncol1.html
- viewer5 12y ago
  Without exaggeration nor sarcasm, I don't think a single person in the US past 5th grade is celebrating Thanksgiving to honor those events. You learn about the pilgrims in elementary school, and the origins of the holiday. Then, once you're a little older, you learn about all the horrible things that happened. And popular culture doesn't depict it as being about that, either; it's a time to give thanks, and be with friends and family, and eat lots of food, and go shopping soon, but I never see it depicted as even ostensibly being about the history of it. So in my experience, you're sort of preaching to the choir, and, to extend the metaphor, EVERYBODY is in the choir. If I'm mistaken, and someone reading this does celebrate Thanksgiving to honor the history of it, I'd be interested to hear from you.
  - soylentcola 12y ago
    Not to mention that a harvest feast is common to a lot of cultures and time periods this time of year. Even though modern agriculture had made seasonal harvests less of an issue for people in the relatively wealthy part of the world I live in, I have no problem with having a holiday centered around eating, drinking, spending time with friends, and celebrating the things we have with small gifts and generosity among those I care about.
    - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
      ...and call it Festivus! Everybody gather around the Festivus pole!
  - justifier 12y ago
    I was addressing the question regarding the compulsion to rebrand > The need to create some sort of alternative label confuses me Also, I work in a hostel and these past weeks I have seen innumerable 20+ year staff members tell the classic pilgrim and indian story to many foreigners questions of 'what is thanksgiving' So perhaps my personal experience struck me sensitive this morning, but I also feel the standard menu, which seriously requires a revisit, also continues to tell this story on many tables every thanksgiving across the states How many of us have heard heckled from the pews this year, or thought themselves, when a suggestion to change a traditional staple: 'how can you call it thanksgiving without turkey'potatoes'pumpkin pie'whatever'; which is a direct effect of the history and personal traditions of the holiday

by steverb 12y ago

justifier 12y ago

branding is a form of pithy yet effective value assertion honestly the tradition of thanksgiving is grounded in a a disgusting past that is branded as a beautiful time to give thanks the story goes :: a group of immigrants came to a strange country they felt was empty enough to set up a home for themselves but when winter came they were wholly unprepared for life in this new environment there they laid dying, starving, and the natives to the land came and shared all they had with these immigrants and showed them how and what to plant in winter soil the immigrants survived that winter and we now give thanks, but the following spring they used their regrown strengths to decimate the population of the natives in order to take their land fuck honoring that now if you want to say you like getting together with family and friends for big meals, but we are all so busy we need to designate at least once a year it must be on the third thursday of november i am all for it just call it something else so we can leave behind the baggage of the long since skewed bullshit that is thanksgiving and keep the stuff that it's really about: interacting over food friendsgiving? ok..? some friends and i began to grow busy in different directions so we organised a big group meal once a week, we always just called it our 'sunday destiny' . also, fuck columbus day too: " Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log: They ... brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned... . They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features.... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane... . They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want. ".. Howard Zinn, A People's History of the US .. http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinncol1.html http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinncol1.html

viewer5 12y ago
Without exaggeration nor sarcasm, I don't think a single person in the US past 5th grade is celebrating Thanksgiving to honor those events. You learn about the pilgrims in elementary school, and the origins of the holiday. Then, once you're a little older, you learn about all the horrible things that happened. And popular culture doesn't depict it as being about that, either; it's a time to give thanks, and be with friends and family, and eat lots of food, and go shopping soon, but I never see it depicted as even ostensibly being about the history of it. So in my experience, you're sort of preaching to the choir, and, to extend the metaphor, EVERYBODY is in the choir. If I'm mistaken, and someone reading this does celebrate Thanksgiving to honor the history of it, I'd be interested to hear from you.
- soylentcola 12y ago
  Not to mention that a harvest feast is common to a lot of cultures and time periods this time of year. Even though modern agriculture had made seasonal harvests less of an issue for people in the relatively wealthy part of the world I live in, I have no problem with having a holiday centered around eating, drinking, spending time with friends, and celebrating the things we have with small gifts and generosity among those I care about.
  - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
    ...and call it Festivus! Everybody gather around the Festivus pole!
- justifier 12y ago
  I was addressing the question regarding the compulsion to rebrand > The need to create some sort of alternative label confuses me Also, I work in a hostel and these past weeks I have seen innumerable 20+ year staff members tell the classic pilgrim and indian story to many foreigners questions of 'what is thanksgiving' So perhaps my personal experience struck me sensitive this morning, but I also feel the standard menu, which seriously requires a revisit, also continues to tell this story on many tables every thanksgiving across the states How many of us have heard heckled from the pews this year, or thought themselves, when a suggestion to change a traditional staple: 'how can you call it thanksgiving without turkey'potatoes'pumpkin pie'whatever'; which is a direct effect of the history and personal traditions of the holiday