Reply #11: Same here. It'll never happen.

[Berry Cool]

And it's not just because "people are lemmings" or any of that. It's because, shy of some religious rituals, holidays are about CELEBRATIONS--not about rending your garments and wearing sackcloth and ashes over the evils done by people who lived long before you were ever alive.

This guy is also assuming there is a "collective cultural definition of Thanksgiving" that is somehow evil. I would disagree. I think the "collective cultural definition of Thanksgiving" is quite different now from what he may think it is. It really HAS become a day to acknowledge and be thankful for (or at least attempt to be thankful for) the good things in one's life with one's family. That is not just a "create our own meaning in private" thing. It has happened in public. In a way, you could say it is as a result of the collective action of people in private, whether or not he thinks such a thing is possible. Honestly, when's the last time you heard someone, personally or in the media, say "Thanksgiving is the day we set aside to celebrate white people's conquest of America, yea hurray"? Does anybody celebrate it for that reason...even conservatives?

No one is engaging in "holocaust denial" by celebrating Thanksgiving. What they are doing is saying "I am grateful for my life the way it is now. I am not denying anything bad in the past that may have somehow served to shape life on this particular continent unfairly for my benefit. But that is not what this day is about."

In short, nobody can accuse you of celebrating something evil if evil is not what you are celebrating. And rejecting any celebration because you are accusing other people of celebrating evil, or of "holocaust denial," will spark controversy even among liberals when you yourself are a humorless stick-up-the-butt liberal.

It's quite simple, really. People tend to be resentful of being told that their celebrations, holidays and traditions are inherently evil. And they will need a far better explanation of why they should give them up than this guy has to offer. As for replacing it with an "atonement holiday"? Good luck with that.