Nov 22 2007
Thanksgiving Day Myths
Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers. I am off to see my family and eat turkey.
In skeptical fashion, I will leave you with some Thanksgiving day myths, courtesy of the History Channel.
7 Responses to “Thanksgiving Day Myths”
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An additional myth that is widely misunderstood is the notion that the pilgrims had purely noble reasons to be thankful. As noted on History.com, “a thanksgiving was a religious holiday in which they would go to church and thank God for a specific event.” The History Channel neglects to tell us that the primary reason for their gratitude was plague.
For the next century, preachers could be heard praising their god for sending disease to clear the lands of the savages. The intensely pious pilgrims believed that divine intervention exerminated what they viewed as vermin. This fact doesn’t support our sociocentric mindset and is therefore conveniently neglected.
For this and many other reasons, the pilgrims are not worthy of our adoration. They weren’t the first people here, or even the first Europeans. Spaniards beat them by a long shot. They are just the most praised.
Source: “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong” (Paperback)
by James W. Loewen
Happy Thanksgiving, Steve. To you and all the Novellas.
Happy Thanksgiving from Australia everyone.
Ahh the turkey. In the wild, one of the most wily and hard to hunt of landbound birds. Domesticated, one of the biggest, fattest short- lived of fowl.
Medically speaking, is one day of rampant overeating a year bad for you ? I wonder. From an evolutionary standpoint, overeating is not unusual in northern climates around this time of year, because available foodstuffs tend to dwindle during the winter.
I wonder if anyone’s ever done studies on the subject.
Probably, but I’m feeling lazy today and don’t feel like looking.
Happy Thanksgiving!
While walking in an open area consisting of very tall grass next to a
stand of forest last summer, I spooked 4 turkeys. I never saw them and
they didn’t hear me until I was just upon them. Turkeys prefer
running, but they’ll fly if startled. They have terrific eyesight and
are extremely wary. Well, I startled them, as they didn’t see me in
the tall grass and they flew straight up as they do when shaken, just
like a helicopter. Their powerful wings lifted them above my head. I
felt a strong rush of wind as I watched them lift 50 feet
vertically, then they paused, redirected and flew horizontally over the trees
to safety. I’m sorry I disturbed them, yet it gave me an even greater
appreciation of their power.
It’s just one of the reasons I don’t eat turkey. Here’s another:
http://www.huffingt onpost.com/ bill-maher/ george-bush- pardon-all- t_b_73574. html
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving.
Love the blog.
Sorry.
Hope this link works:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/george-bush-pardon-all-t_b_73574.html