Another salvo has been fired in the general direction of Rush and Papa Bear O'Reilly.
We (liberals and academics) have (apparently) declared war on Thanksgiving.
Yes I know, one would think that the wholesale slaughter of turkeys was the first violent salvo of a war, but no it wasn't. The assault is in having the audacity to point out several things:
1) Pocahontas is not an historical documentary regarding Native/European relations
2) Native Americans didn't decide on their own to relocate to the West until the cavalry arrived in the 1860s.
and in more snarky notes that
a) Plymouth wasn't the first colony in North America (even the English beat that with Jamestown by a good margin)
b) Jamestown wasn't even the first colony in the present day states: Florida had been colonized for decades by the Spanish
c) even that wasn't the first colony in North America...did we forget about the 1520s and Cortes? Last I checked we hadn't kicked Mexico out of North America...
That said, I don't hate Thanksgiving. I find it a wonderful holiday to celebrate the years bounty/success with family. And yes, it should also mark the journey that got us here (as Europeans). It surely doesn't hurt us in any way to acknowledge that our past has been checkered with less than pleasant situations...
It was suggested to me that:
"
The historically correct version can wait until some 100 level history prof with a guilty conscience beats the cynicism into them with a 200 dollar textbook."
The staggering implications of that sentence are well...staggering. We should teach a false myth in school...despite ample evidence to the contrary (and no one really disagreeing with this information, unlike say creationism where despite how idiotic I think they are...people actually do think it).
The (admitted) true story is too depressing and so to mention it is cynical? What the hell...a desire to teach kids the truth is a "guilty conscience?" Shouldn't education be about teaching...you know...fact and not a knowing falsehood? There is surely a way to teach about the colonization of the Americas that doesn't discuss in every gory detail (grave robbing, rape, etc) but provides an accurate portrayal (and not an outright falsehood). Historical accuracy shouldn't take second chair to foolish pride. And at this point there is nothing but false and foolish pride that is being hurt by telling the truth, while the lie just lays the continuing foundation for the belief that the Native Americans were just sitting around being naked and savage eagerly awaiting Jesus, pants, and civilization.
Like this:
You would prefer we tell them that before their nation existed a bunch of hunter gatherers were here happily doing jack shiat with the place so we crushed them like ants and built a superpower? Yes. Exactly...I'm so irritated that the liberals would want to correct this totally fair and accurate portrayal of an entire people still mired in the consequences of their jack shit existence before they were given pants (and lets face it...they're all drunken welfare addicts who clearly haven't taken well to wearing pants like civilized people).
Fuck, I made myself mad again.
