NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING

I touched on this a few years ago on this blog. Thanksgiving is a bogus holiday. Many of us learned as adults that the feltboard version we were taught in grade school is totally false, a-historical. Just ask the Native Americans. They don’t honor or celebrate this day like we do. They mourn the loss of everything.

DAY OF MOURNING

There is a memorial plague set into a boulder and erected by the Town of Plymouth on behalf of the United American Indians of New England (see below). There is nothing to celebrate according to the Native Americans, whose land was stolen as was their knowledge of the soil and agriculture. That’s what most Americans celebrate tomorrow, right? The bountiful harvest of corn crops that we learned to cultivate from “the Indians.”

They have no reason to celebrate that the Europeans who invaded their continent broke every single treaty they made in good faith. They TRIED to tolerate us white folk. We lied and killed them for believing us, taking us at our word. Why would they celebrate that?

From the National Day website:

The organizers of this observance consider Thanksgiving Day as a continued reminder of the democide and suffering of Native American people. Since 1970, participants in the National Day of Mourning have honored Native ancestors and their struggles to survive today. Part of the mission behind the event is to educate Americans about the history of Thanksgiving.  

So while you’re choking down stuffing and mashed potatoes in mass quantities, just know that our native brothers and sisters are not. They are in mourning that we ever came to their land. They have every right and reason to be somber on Thursday. They are not thankful for the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock.

#NationalDayofMourning

All we like sheep

All we like sheep have gone astray...

I've already been seeing ads for "Black Friday" like the ones that promise all the great holiday deals NOW! Nice try, Madison Ave. It's not enough that you have people camping out to get the best "doorbuster deals" of the season. It's also not enough that your Christmas displays go up in August, retail America. No, we need our best Black Friday deals and we need them in like October!!!

I just read an account of a couple of Best Buy patrons in Texas who claimed their spot on the sidewalk LAST WEDNESDAY!!! We're talking November 5th for deals that don't start for at least 21 days! Is anything really worth that sort of a wait? So you're first in line...to spend your hard-earned money on something that will probably be obsolete, or on clearance, by early next year. KUDOS, idiots!!!

The doorbuster deals you get on a flatscreen tv this week will go for that same price every day of the week in about 6-10 months. Mark my words! But you have to have it NOW! Why? Because Madison Avenue and the American consumeristic mindset told you that it is this year's must-have. Stupid sheep!

WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!

There is no reason to camp out for three weeks for ANYTHING! I camped out 10 hours in the cold, once, for Rush concert tickets. I was 15 and the Internet wasn't even someone's fantasy yet. Now, that I have to work hard for every penny I earn and I respect the value of a dollar, I don't HAVE to have anything right now, except a warm meal and a place to sleep. Those are the real must-haves.

All we like sheep...are led around by the nose by Wall Street, telling us we have to have MORE and we have to have it NOW! Buy. Consume. Rinse. Repeat!

It saddens me, really. The fall holidays are supposed to be a time for families, sharing good times, comfort foods and happy memories. How did it ever come to this? People planning their Thanksgiving meals or cutting them short based on the sale ads from places like Wal-Mart and Best Buy. It's a sad statement on American culture.

My fondest childhood memories are of visiting my great-aunt's house in Vincennes or spending Christmases at grandma's house in Princeton. There was no getting up in the wee hours to stand in line in the cold while local news cameras capture our shivering and the cold stare of consumerism in our eyes. There were no news stories on the day after Thanksgiving of people being stabbed or crushed to death at the local department store. I'm not simply pining for the "good old days" I'm just saying look where we've come. It's not a better place...at all.