Thanksgiving
Hypocrisy
By Stephen Lendman
16 November, 2007
Countercurrents.org
In
the US, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November
to give thanks for the year's blessings and bounty. At least that's
how it began. It's not, however, the current practice. Most people defile
the day's spirit in how they spend it over a full four day holiday weekend
- with overindulgent eating, parades, "can't miss" football
from Thursday through Sunday, and, key for merchants, the "official"
start of the Christmas holiday shopping season. It begins Thanksgiving
Friday, is now an orgy of holiday consumerism, continues through Christmas
eve, ebbs for a day, then builds again for a final celebratory new year's
welcome with more overindulgent eating, drinking, partying, and binge-shopping
for nonessentials.
This holiday, like all others,
is also replete with myths, and young minds are filled with them. They're
taught the Pilgrims invited Native Indians to share their bounty in
a show of brotherhood and friendship with an array of foods early settlers
never heard of that were indigenous to the Americas and introduced to
them by Native peoples. The Pilgrims had nothing to do with this tradition.
It began with Eastern Indians observing fall harvest celebrations centuries
before the first settlers arrived. After they did, there was no such
observance as "Thanksgiving."
While George Washington had
days for national thanksgiving, modern holiday celebrations date from
the Civil War in 1863 when Abraham Lincoln wanted a way to boost morale
and patriotic fervor of the Union Army. His idea was to proclaim a national
Thanksgiving holiday for the first time ever. It had nothing to do with
the Pilgrims nor were they ever mentioned until 1890, and the term Pilgrim
was never even used until the 1870s. So much for tradition and what
passes for history that, in fact, is pure myth.
The Thanksgiving holiday
is also a way to promote what Edward Herman calls our "indispensable
state," our innate goodness and the illusion of American exceptionalism,
moral and cultural superiority, and the belief that the Almighty made
us special the way ideological Zionists feel Jews are "the chosen
people." It's a short step from these views to judging others inferior,
especially those ranked low in the racial, religious, ethnic or cultural
pecking order - blacks, Latinos, and today's number one target of choice
for a nation at war and an enemy needed to justify it - Muslims hatefully
portrayed as "radicals, extremists, gunmen, insurgents," and
"Islamofascists."
Thanksgiving also serves
another purpose. It has special religious significance in a nation with
three-fourths of the population Christian, and the traditional separation
of church and state now weakened. The US was founded as a secular state,
and First Amendment constitutional law affirms it stay that way with
freedom of religion guaranteed. In 1802, Jefferson called for a "wall
of separation" between them, and earlier Supreme Courts agreed.
They ruled this separation is required to prohibit any state religion
and require government avoid undue religious involvement, its trappings
or expressions. That's now changed under radicalized right wing rule.
Today, the extremist Christian
Right jeopardizes religious freedom with frightening implications to
consider. Their movement became dominant in the Reagan 1980s and reemerged
even more virulently under George Bush. It's close to the seat of power
with ideologues like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell while he was living,
James Dobson, and radical Zionist Muslim hate-preacher John Hagee having
enormous influence on the administration and Congress.
Religious freedom was jeopardized
by the introduction of the "Constitution Restoration Act of 2004"
that was reintroduced in near-identical form in 2005. So far it's gone
nowhere, but if introduced again and adopted in the 110th or a later
Congress, it would turn the US into a de facto theocracy even though
its supporters deny that intent. Don't believe them.
Dominionists like Pat Robertson
and others support the bill as do influential sponsoring members of
both Houses. Their goal is simple, but they won't admit it - tear down
the sacred wall between between church and state so the US can be governed
by their extremist Christian dogma. It would make believers of other
faiths, or none at all, lawbreakers with their version of Christian
canon the new law of the land - a very scary prospect for about 75 million
non-Christians in the country and many of Christian faith who won't
go along.
If it's ever adopted, this
bill will prevent the Supreme Court from challenging the right of anyone
in or affiliated with federal, state or local government to affirm "God
as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government" - an extremist
Christian God, that is. Any judge at any level interpreting the law
otherwise would henceforth be subject to impeachment and prosecution
in the new USA ruled by the empowered Pat Robertson types in it. It
would also likely make Thanksgiving an obligatory Christian observance,
even for non-Christians, and make its religious overtones mandatory.
As it's now celebrated, Thanksgiving
is already shameful. While barely giving thanks, if at all, we forget
millions of poor, deprived and oppressed peoples everywhere and our
government's role in their condition. We also ignore the systematic
dismantling of our constitutional rights and denial of essential social
services to growing millions without them. And we're too distracted
by bread, circuses and overindulgence to oppose injustice and support
the rights and needs of people everywhere.
This day and others should
be times of reflection, thanks and much more. Blessings aren't given.
They're earned and just as easily lost when rogue leaders threaten our
freedoms, and democracy is an illusion. But it's not something new.
Our tradition is long and disturbing with conflict, violence, and our
framers design that the "supreme Law of the Land" give government
unlimited power, the Executive unchecked amounts of it, and "we
the people" meant only the privileged. It's pure fantasy thinking
we have limited government, constitutionally constrained and one of,
by and for the people. Look at the record.
Along with war, militarism,
expansionism and free market fundamentalism, we're a nation addicted
to privilege. It's always been this way despite our prevailing fiction
of an egalitarian country respecting everyone's rights. That's nonsense
in a nation glorifying wealth and power and those with it claiming a
divine right for more.
It's always been that way
and especially since WW II when the US emerged unchallenged as the world's
only superpower. Since then we've had imperial wars, CIA-instigated
coups, political assassinations, and disdain for the law to defend unfettered
capitalism from beneficial social change. On November 22, we should
do more than give thanks. We should ask for forgiveness and demand accountability.
Journalism Professor Robert
Jensen is right calling for a "No Thanks to Thanksgiving"
in his earlier writing. He suggests we'd be hugely uplifted by replacing
our overindulgent "white supremicist" Thanksgiving ritual
with a "National Day of Atonement" and have it include self-reflective
fasting for our forefathers' "original sin" no matter where
our own came from. Establishing that tradition would be an important
step forward - toward a day to give thanks every day in a land with
leaders resolved never to repeat the crimes of the past and equally
committed to public service instead of just for the elite part of it.
Stephen Lendman
lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].
Also visit his blog site
at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Steve Lendman
News and Information Hour on TheMicroEffect.com Mondays at noon US central
time.
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