The origin of Thanksgiving

[aileron]

This article is silly.  While there's no denying that the European settlers to North and South America conducted a large number of atrocities against the indigenous population, the origin of Thanksgiving is actually not from the pilgrims from the Mayflower at all.  

Thanksgiving in the USA has its roots in Spanish settlement in North America, and continued in the Virginia Company's Jamestown settlement.  All of this took place decades before the events the article describes in Massachusetts, so it's nonsense to say that it's the origin of Thanksgiving.  In fact, there's no single event that could be said to be its origin at all, it was just a tradition that sprang up over the span of a few decades.

[Shiranu]

I was going to say, I thought it was partly associated with Onate's expedition into New Mexico and being aided by the locals.

[GalacticBusDriver]

Russell Means agreed with the premise, if not the details in his book "Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiography of Russell Means." Great book, but to be taken with a grain of salt. There is (of course) a slant toward "Native Americans" (a term Means found offensive) and there is some woo factor stuff about medical science being bad for unborn children and native chanting fixing all that's wrong. Still, much of what he presents can be corroborated and gives a person pause at times, especially when considering some of the tales taught as fact about the American expansion.

Personally, I think the truth of the claims about Thanksgiving will never be sorted out unless someone builds a time machine and we go back to determine what actually happened. Were there people who thought we should have feasts of thanksgiving over the slaughter of the indigenous peoples of the North American continent? Probably. Were there counterparts among the indigenous peoples? Again, probably. To the victor go the spoils, and the ability to write the history books and certainly there are other claims for the reason behind the holiday. Some founded, others not no much. Still, it makes me thankful that we live in a society, no matter how biased, racist or discriminatory that would not currently condone the type of behavior described, whether it actually happened or not.

Some would call it "White Man Guilt," though I deny the concept as I have done nothing (as most people haven't) to be guilty of in this context, but I do feel some compassion, not only for the "Native Americans" but also for the "African Americans" and what was done to them. It's sad that this nation, founded as a "Melting Pot" had to start with two of the most egregious crimes against humanity, slavery and genocide.