So, it is almost Thanksgiving, yet again.
Yay. *sarcasm*
I swear, Thanksgiving is almost as bad as Christmas as far as Holidays go. Yes, I'm one of THOSE people who dislike Holidays, mainly because I work in retail and I hate having to deal with that crap.
Either way...
Since Thanksgiving is almost here, I guess it is Thanksgiving's turn to get the "Holiday Rant". lol.
Anyways, here goes...
What exactly _are_ we celebrating here?
For those of you who do not live in the USA and/or are not familiar with USA Holidays/Culture/etc, I'll explain what Thanksgiving is Supposed to be.
The Pilgrims came to North American, and the Native Americans (which Columbus incorrectly labeled, 'Indians' because he thought he was in India) decided to help him out, seeing that his hapless party was tired from the long voyage and very ill-prepared for what they knew was coming -- a hard, long and cold winter.
So they taught him and his crew how to grow corn, how to hunt turkey and deer, and other such things. With the Native Americans' help, they survived the winter after their landing.
So, every year to this day, we cook up a huge turkey, stuff ourselves on food to give thanks and to celebrate a good harvest. Heck, even in games such as Istaria, we have a similar celebration (though we didn't this year, because of the devs being taxed, which is OK).
So, where's the rant in all of this?
Well, remember the Pilgrims?
Fast-forward about 100-200 years.
Native Americans are being slaughtered left and right, and sent off to Prison Ca.... errr... they called them Reservations, my bad. The US Army at the time was killing Native Americans in droves, and sweeping across the land, wiping out an entire race of people (gee, wasn't someone ELSE doing the SAME thing a hundred or so years later? I'll get to that later). What a nice way to say "Thanks for saving our Ancestors' Lives! Here, have a bullet in the face!".
I happen to be one-quarter Native American myself, so maybe that makes me a little biased on the subject, but I can't help but to have a lack of enthusiasm over the one Holiday in the year that (for me) represents one of the largest betrayals of recent human history.
Remember when I mentioned 'Someone ELSE doing the SAME thing'?
Here's an analogy for you...
The US Army, led by a singular person, sweeps across the land wiping out a whole race of people, killing thousands, and sending survivors off to Reservations. Said race of people were there first, so it was their land really.
Compare that to...
The Nazis, led by a singular person, sweeps across Europe, wiping out a whole group of people of a particular religion, killing thousands, and sending survivors off to death camps.
Everyone thinks the Holocaust is so horrible (hey, I agree. It WAS horrible), but yet so few people even blink an eye at the wholesale slaughter of the Native Americans... I'm willing to bet more Native Americans died at the hands of the US Army, than Jews died at the hands of the Nazis. But yet, somehow, the killing of "Indians" goes unnoticed by most, while the Holocaust is still talked about, and remembered?
I'm not quite getting it. Is it because the Holocaust was for a religious reason while the events in the USA were not?
Anyways, this is not meant to be a Religious debate, nor a Political one... this is meant to remind everyone what Thanksgiving is Truly about, and to remind everyone what _else_ happened after 1492 that they should think about the next time they sit down to eat a huge turkey on Turkey Day, remember that there are still "Indian Resevations" to this day out in the middle of the desert where Native Americans continue to half-starve to this very day.
Edit/Disclaimer: There are more than just 1 nation that celebrates Thanksgiving. I'm referring to the common USA/American one, especially in Northeastern America. Most people in said NE America, will tell you that Thanksgiving is a celebration of the Pilgrims' harvest during their first winter after landing, in which the Native Americans helped them.