Klarinet Archive - Posting 000730.txt from 2004/11

From: Tony Pay <tony.p@-----.org>
Subj: Re: [kl] Happy Thanksgiving
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 17:05:20 -0500

On 29 Nov, "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net> wrote:

> I'm happy to bash the USA when I think we deserve bashing (for re-electing
> Dumbya and for our invasion of Iraq, for instance), but people who figure
> out ways to bash Thanksgiving seem mean-spirited to me, and they seem to
> miss the whole point of the holiday as it's celebrated today.

I certainly don't think that the notion of 'Thanksgiving' itself is worth
bashing, as I hope my last post made plain. But it may still be worth
commenting that what your Thanksgiving means *in the present context*, unless
presented to the world in non-parochial terms, may all too readily generate
cynical responses.

The world is divided over this. 'Them and us' takes ever new turns.

> [...the holiday is] celebrated by many citizens who are not only
> non-Puritans but non-Christians,

...and, by the general posting of 'Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!', might
also be thought to be capable of celebration by non-Americans...

> ...including many who follow no religion at all, because taking a day to
> reflect on humility and gratitude seems like a good idea on its own merits.

Absolutely. And I would like to join with you and other citizens of the
world in reflecting on that.

You are an American, of course. But, I suggest, in your American celebration
characterised in such terms, you are *incidentally* an American, as I tried
to make clear in my second post -- about context -- on the subject.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd tony.p@-----.org
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE http://classicalplus.gmn.com/artists
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... Proceed with Caution - Twisted Mind Under Construction!

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