Why would anyone want Andrew Jackson on the currency?

Because their parents [like their parents before them] thought that patriotic feel-goodery was more important than intellectual honesty and integrity in education and the teaching of history.

The message of Thanksgiving that people want to teach children, a "tale of two factions setting aside their differences to give thanks over a shared meal?" is a good story with an emotionally satisfying message. But its variance from the historical record is so stark it travels all the way through absurd to border on the realm of criminal propaganda. We don't need to lie to our children to convince them of the goodness of Thanksgiving. Every time we do, we accept through mental bumbling and furtive evasion the guilt that people like Raheja assign to Americans in general. That guilt and sense of moral uncertainty is the only reason she matters, and insipid nonsense in the public schools is 90% of the reason it exists.

seek nothing less than the complete destruction of the enemy, which is of course white American racist imperialism.

And you're against this because . . . ?

You really can't defend dressing kids up in feathers and fake paper headbands and having them "act like Indians" as not a cartoonish stereotype, or the "let's all be friends" version of Thanksgiving as anything other than a fantasy whitewash. As the "activists" you despise so much have pointed out, and as you seem not to notice, having kids dress up as any other ethnic minority and act out a sugar-coated fantasy pageant that calculatedly evades any reference to historically documented oppression, war, or genocide would be the grossest offense. But it seems perfectly OK to you in this context. That is what needs explaining - not why some parents would prefer their kids to learn history that is true and doesn't require them to perform the equivalent of blackface minstrelsy while doing so.

I have to agree with Drew and Kevin. Andrew Jackson ought to be taken off the currency, as he isn't worthy of admiration. And kids shouldn't be dressing up as racial stereotypes.

Dressing up as Indians is not only fun, it's as patriotic as the Boston Tea Party, and as much an individual right as cross dressing.

If you think it's "the grossest offense" well, I can think of worse offenses...

I was going to bring it up myself, but Drew beat me to it. I also have a problem with the line describing Thanksgiving as a "tale of two factions setting aside their differences to give thanks over a shared meal"

Two factions setting aside their differences? No, they were two groups with extensive connections of cooperation celebrating a harvest together. In fact, tensions between settlers and Indians didn't arise for generations.

And what is wrong with remembering a positive historically factual event? Frankly, the children with their craypaper costumes are more in tune with what happened than Raheja and some of the commenters here. Yeah, we should spend our entire lives beating ourselves over the bad and ignoring the good as though it never happened. Now there's a proscription for cultural health!

Kevin wants to know what's wrong with it?!? What's wrong with it is it is a shamelessly dishonest and unfair phrase that slanders millions of good people.

And how come no one is complaining about the unfair stereotyping of the Pilgrims? The tall hats and white collars were not worn by the people who celebrated the first Thanksgiving!

http://uspilgrims.wordpress.com/category/background/

Why people aren't more outraged by this crude stereotyping, I don't know.

White men like Ward Churchill shouldn't be dressing up as racial stereotypes!

"as you seem not to notice, having kids dress up as any other ethnic minority and act out a sugar-coated fantasy pageant that calculatedly evades any reference to historically documented oppression, war, or genocide would be the grossest offense"

I agree. Michelle Raheja's Seneca ancestors took great pride in gunning down and slaughtering minority tribes in wars of conquest. Lets make sure they aren't confused with Squanto who assisted the Pilgrims.

And how come no one is complaining about the unfair stereotyping of the Pilgrims? The tall hats and white collars were not worn by the people who celebrated the first Thanksgiving!

There's no outrage because the costumes aren't used to DENIGRATE the pilgrims, any more than the ahistorical use of kilts in Braveheart were used to diminish Scots. It's not just the wrong part, it's the deprecation of a whole race that matters.

having kids dress up as any other ethnic minority and act out a sugar-coated fantasy pageant that calculatedly evades any reference to historically documented oppression, war, or genocide would be the grossest offense"

Offense? You just described the state-mandated junior-high "social studies" unit on Islam in California.

Hrm, I tried to post a link, but it appears to have been scrubbed.

http://www.academia.org/campus_reports/2003/cr_islamic_studies.html

Re: Islam social studies

To begin with, that unit - goofy as it sounds - appears to be intended to convey actual facts, and to give the children real insight into another culture. It doesn't appear to be intended to deliberately falsify particular historical events, or to mask oppression. And the exercises do not appear to be weird and false mockeries of the culture in question (though some of them may come close). (From the few context-less quotes this right-wing Website gives, the program does sound like it could be objectionable in parts - but it also sounds perfectly reasonable in parts, and obviously intended to convey real knowledge, not distortion. That puts it far ahead of the traditional Thanksgiving dress-up propaganda.)

I also notice that, in this case, a parent objected and was taken seriously, both by the school principal and by the same sort of shrieking wingnuts who are so up in arms about the idea of taking Native Americans seriously in American schools.

Of course, what that parent was complaining about was the idea of treating other cultures with respect, not the fact that the school was not doing so. I guess that makes all the difference.

The Indians are denigrated by a stylized children's play costume???

What sense does it make to tarnish the Harvest Festival that Thanksgiving celebrates by associating it with events happening 100s of years later?

Should we not celebrate at all because we do it without being historically accurate?

Are all those whining about native Americans and Englishmen starting out living peacefully together going to give up their pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce this year? No mashed potatoes for you either!

And what about the whitewash of the behavior later on of various native tribes? They were no more angels than the white men were. Every tribe had a somewhat different culture, so surely we're going to line them up from "bad" to "good" and point out how some were unfortunately no better than the white man.

Go read some history books. The pages of the book are black and white, but the story surely is not.

Dressing up like Jews? We could use the favorable publicity.

And Jews and Nazis? Better yet. This time we send THEM to the camps.

==

What is wrong with those people? Kids like to play act. Cops and robbers. Cowboys and Indians. Very popular when I was a kid. The Indian team was always smaller. They hated losing. Cops and Robbers was more evenly divided. Sometimes the robbers won.

==

Dona B.,

Some were better, some no worse, and some definitely worse. And of course there were the better white men and the worse.

I read a while back about a Jewish trader who was made an honorary member of the tribe he traded with.

BTW the real message of Thanksgiving is that socialism doesn't work.

Try teaching that lesson. :-)

No kidding, my friend M. Simon. The Pilgrims' discovery of the tragedy of the commons has been grossly neglected :-)

John and Ken (KFI) are in their usual outrage mode (outrage brings ratings, a sad radio fact) but do cover it. Podcast page here indexes it.

I mention them because you might like outrage; and because in whimsy mode, rather than outrage mode, they're an entertaining program.

The leftist illuminati doesn't realize that by taking the color and traditions out of American culture, they are not only taking fun activities away from children, but teaching them that it's alright to be afraid about everything that's different.

The leftist illuminati doesn't realize that by taking the color and traditions out of American culture, they are not only taking fun activities away from children, but teaching them that it's alright to be afraid about everything that's different.

The First Thanksgiving

In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast which is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. This harvest meal has become a symbol of cooperation and interaction between English colonists and Native Americans. Although this feast is considered by many to the very first Thanksgiving celebration, it was actually in keeping with a long tradition of celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops. Native American groups throughout the Americas, including the Pueblo, Cherokee, Creek and many others organized harvest festivals, ceremonial dances, and other celebrations of thanks for centuries before the arrival of Europeans in North America.

DO YOU SEE THE SENECA TRIBE ANYWHERE??????? Since when does an immigrant dictate our history and celebrations...?

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