Every November, a predictable group of progressives stuff the
Thanksgiving turkey with guilt. They stuff it with the guilt borne
by perpetrators of the “Indian holocaust,” sadistic
animal killers and inconsiderate Ebenezer Scrooges.
Let’s first consider enemies of Thanksgiving’s
historical meaning. A shady-looking Internet newsmagazine, titled
“Free Internet Press,” contends that the holiday is a
carnival of conquest for the white man. “Yes, give thanks
today,” the Web site decrees. “Today marks the
beginning of the Indian holocaust. Celebrate it for what it is, a
day of mourning for a decimated civilization. Celebrate the
destruction of rich and ancient cultures.”
Yet Thanksgiving is not a celebration of the killing of innocent
Native Americans, for the simple reason that no American sees it as
such. The holiday itself might be rooted in dubious historical
ground, but its celebration is rooted in very real sentiments of
good will.
Even more unreasonable than those who slander the holiday are
self-described advocates who want to abolish its culinary
centerpoint, the turkey. Thus, we have multi-purpose celebrities
like Moby dicking around with organizations like the People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Recently, PETA announced that, “Fish are interesting,
intelligent animals who feel pain, use tools and have impressive
long-term memories and sophisticated social structures. Fish are
friends, not food!”
And their mission statement reads, “PETA believes that
animals deserve the most basic rights ““ consideration of
their own best interests regardless of whether they are useful to
humans. Like you, they are capable of suffering and have an
interest in leading their own lives.”
Now, the vegan Moby and PETA have teamed up against
“turkey-corpse seller” Butterball to send a strong
message this Thanksgiving: Environmentalists are nuts.
By taking the self-paved high road, the duo have insulted me and
countless other carnivores, who maintain with particular passion
that they like animals in a way vegans never could ““ roasted
and stuffed.
Finally, we have the most sensible detractors and perhaps the
most dangerous. Folks like my music professor, who spent a few
minutes of class on Monday talking about the starved families of
the world. He told the class that few, if any of us, had
experienced the feeling of starvation, of being ignored and
unwanted. He said we are the “haves” of society and we
should act to stop hunger.
He proceeded to ask for donations to be delivered to the Los
Angeles Mission, which will go toward feeding homeless Angelinos
tomorrow.
I confess (for that seems to be the right word here) that I
pitched in a couple of bucks myself. But I did it to help my fellow
man, not to feel less guilty about myself. The line between feeling
obligated to donate money and feeling good about it is perilously
thin, yet utterly crucial.
Capitalism is the only politico-economic system in which winners
do not imply losers, in which victors don’t have victims. It
is only in America that the cause of homelessness is inaction on
the part of the individual rather than negative action on the part
of others. Hence, there is no obligation. But there is a virtue in
caring for people less affluent than you and, occasionally, less
fortunate.
So what is Thanksgiving all about? It’s certainly not
about celebrating Indian massacres or killing animals or
discounting the homeless. But on the other hand, it’s not a
conscious celebration of the mythological mending of ties between
Native Americans and incoming Europeans either. Today, Thanksgiving
is simply a time to get together with friends and family and
rejoice.
That Thanksgiving has no commonly accepted definition, however,
does not suggest that it has no meaning.
The handsome traditional Thanksgiving table ““ brimming
with stuffed turkey, sweet potatoes and pie ““ is wholly
symbolic of America’s free economic system.
The table is the result of the harmonious interchange of the
several aspects of American society ““ farmers and delivery
trucks and stores and clerks and, in the end, the creative cook of
the holiday home.
Then it is the system that takes self-interested energies and
converts them into positive societal outcomes that is celebrated as
a monument of human flourishing. It is capitalism that we must
recognize on Thanksgiving Day.
So protestors can call me a genocidal maniac or an animal-hater
or an Ebenezer Scrooge. But in spite of those accusations and
indeed to spite them, I’ll be having an extra helping of
turkey this Thanksgiving.
Hovannisian is a second-year history and philosophy student.
E-mail him at ghovannisian@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to
viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.