PDA

View Full Version : The Great Thanksgiving Hoax!




Reason
11-25-2010, 01:19 PM
http://mises.org/daily/336
The Great Thanksgiving Hoax

Each year at this time school children all over America are taught the official Thanksgiving story, and newspapers, radio, TV, and magazines devote vast amounts of time and space to it. It is all very colorful and fascinating.

It is also very deceiving. This official story is nothing like what really happened. It is a fairy tale, a whitewashed and sanitized collection of half-truths which divert attention away from Thanksgiving's real meaning.
The official story has the pilgrims boarding the Mayflower, coming to America and establishing the Plymouth colony (http://www.plimoth.org/Library/pc28-92.htm) in the winter of 1620-21. This first winter is hard, and half the colonists die. But the survivors are hard working and tenacious, and they learn new farming techniques from the Indians. The harvest of 1621 is bountiful. The Pilgrims hold a celebration, and give thanks to God. They are grateful for the wonderful new abundant land He has given them.

The official story then has the Pilgrims living more or less happily ever after, each year repeating the first Thanksgiving. Other early colonies also have hard times at first, but they soon prosper and adopt the annual tradition of giving thanks for this prosperous new land called America.
The problem with this official story is that the harvest of 1621 was not bountiful, nor were the colonists hardworking or tenacious. 1621 was a famine year and many of the colonists were lazy thieves.

In his 'History of Plymouth Plantation,' (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1650bradford.html) the governor of the colony, William Bradford, reported that the colonists went hungry for years, because they refused to work in the fields. They preferred instead to steal food. He says the colony was riddled with "corruption," and with "confusion and discontent." The crops were small because "much was stolen both by night and day, before it became scarce eatable."

In the harvest feasts of 1621 and 1622, "all had their hungry bellies filled," but only briefly. The prevailing condition during those years was not the abundance the official story claims, it was famine and death. The first "Thanksgiving" was not so much a celebration as it was the last meal of condemned men.

But in subsequent years something changes. The harvest of 1623 was different. Suddenly, "instead of famine now God gave them plenty," Bradford wrote, "and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many, for which they blessed God." Thereafter, he wrote, "any general want or famine hath not been amongst them since to this day." In fact, in 1624, so much food was produced that the colonists were able to begin exporting corn.

What happened?

After the poor harvest of 1622, writes Bradford, "they began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better crop." They began to question their form of economic organization.
This had required that "all profits & benefits that are got by trade, working, fishing, or any other means" were to be placed in the common stock of the colony, and that, "all such persons as are of this colony, are to have their meat, drink, apparel, and all provisions out of the common stock." A person was to put into the common stock all he could, and take out only what he needed.

This "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" was an early form of socialism, and it is why the Pilgrims were starving. Bradford writes that "young men that are most able and fit for labor and service" complained about being forced to "spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children." Also, "the strong, or man of parts, had no more in division of victuals and clothes, than he that was weak." So the young and strong refused to work and the total amount of food produced was never adequate.

To rectify this situation, in 1623 Bradford abolished socialism. He gave each household a parcel of land and told them they could keep what they produced, or trade it away as they saw fit. In other words, he replaced socialism with a free market, and that was the end of famines.
Many early groups of colonists set up socialist states, all with the same terrible results. At Jamestown, established in 1607, out of every shipload of settlers that arrived, less than half would survive their first twelve months in America. Most of the work was being done by only one-fifth of the men, the other four-fifths choosing to be parasites. In the winter of 1609-10, called "The Starving Time," the population fell from five-hundred to sixty.
Then the Jamestown colony was converted to a free market, and the results were every bit as dramatic as those at Plymouth. In 1614, Colony Secretary Ralph Hamor wrote that after the switch there was "plenty of food, which every man by his own industry may easily and doth procure." He said that when the socialist system had prevailed, "we reaped not so much corn from the labors of thirty men as three men have done for themselves now."

Before these free markets were established, the colonists had nothing for which to be thankful. They were in the same situation as Ethiopians are today, and for the same reasons. But after free markets were established, the resulting abundance was so dramatic that the annual Thanksgiving celebrations became common throughout the colonies, and in 1863, Thanksgiving became a national holiday.

Thus the real reason for Thanksgiving, deleted from the official story, is: Socialism does not work; the one and only source of abundance is free markets, and we thank God we live in a country where we can have them.

RonPaulwillWin
11-25-2010, 01:22 PM
Who gives a shit. TIME TO DRINK IN THE DAY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anti Federalist
11-25-2010, 01:24 PM
Those that cannot learn from history...

puppetmaster
11-25-2010, 01:50 PM
Those that cannot learn from history...

yep....but when do they realize they are being lied to

squarepusher
11-25-2010, 02:14 PM
wow, so our founding fathers were lazy leeches probably used to the Kings welfare in england!

MelissaWV
11-25-2010, 02:20 PM
Yep. I kept quiet and nodded in approval when my sister lamented that her daughter (my niece) was not being taught history in school. They actually wait until later grades to cover history, because they don't see the purpose in teaching the "PG" or "G" version of it to elementary school children, then saying "You know all that stuff about the ocean blue in 1492, and the happy pilgrims and indians, and Pocahontas being a slender supermodel who was most definitely not 14? Forget that." The earlier years, then, are focused on things that are pretty static. They learn their science, math, and reading basics. Once you get into middle school, it's time to really dive into history.

I really do like that kid's school.

brandon
11-25-2010, 02:26 PM
Who gives a shit. TIME TO DRINK IN THE DAY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FUCKING THIS!!!!!!l

Baptist
11-25-2010, 02:29 PM
When you don't celebrate any holiday you could care less about differing versions.

Nevertheless, even though I don't celebrate them I have found a use for them. While everyone else blows money I make it.

Gotta run. Back to making time and a half.

Reason
11-25-2010, 02:31 PM
When you don't celebrate any holiday you could care less about differing versions.

Nevertheless, even though I don't celebrate them I have found a use for them. While everyone else blows money I make it.

Gotta run. Back to making time and a half.

:D

angelatc
11-25-2010, 02:43 PM
Each year at this time, grown children all over the internet remind everybody why nobody likes them, by choosing to post the same tired rants against the traditional American holiday story,utilizing pre-written tantrums to fume about newspapers, radio, TV, and magazines devoting vast amounts of time and space to what they perceive to be an unacceptable fable. Apparently assuming their audience is ignorant of the truth, they choose one of America's favorite days and use it as a chance to further isolate themselves from society, under the same traditional chants of "I'm right. I'm smarter than you." While they consider themselves articulate, colorful and fascinating, in reality it is all very tiresome, decisive, and non-productive - a mission they continually excel at.

Cheers - Captain Morgan and coke is the tradition here, even though pirates didn't help with the harvest either.

Reason
11-25-2010, 03:31 PM
Each year at this time, grown children all over the internet remind everybody why nobody likes them, by choosing to post the same tired rants against the traditional American holiday story,utilizing pre-written tantrums to fume about newspapers, radio, TV, and magazines devoting vast amounts of time and space to what they perceive to be an unacceptable fable. Apparently assuming their audience is ignorant of the truth, they choose one of America's favorite days and use it as a chance to further isolate themselves from society, under the same traditional chants of "I'm right. I'm smarter than you." While they consider themselves articulate, colorful and fascinating, in reality it is all very tiresome, decisive, and non-productive - a mission they continually excel at.

Cheers - Captain Morgan and coke is the tradition here, even though pirates didn't help with the harvest either.

who pooped in your glass?

MelissaWV
11-25-2010, 06:05 PM
If you could care less, may we assume you care :)

Rael
11-25-2010, 11:36 PM
Yep. I kept quiet and nodded in approval when my sister lamented that her daughter (my niece) was not being taught history in school. They actually wait until later grades to cover history, because they don't see the purpose in teaching the "PG" or "G" version of it to elementary school children, then saying "You know all that stuff about the ocean blue in 1492, and the happy pilgrims and indians, and Pocahontas being a slender supermodel who was most definitely not 14? Forget that." The earlier years, then, are focused on things that are pretty static. They learn their science, math, and reading basics. Once you get into middle school, it's time to really dive into history.

I really do like that kid's school.

I have had to unlearn so much of what I was taught in public school.

jtstellar
11-26-2010, 01:05 AM
who pooped in your glass?


hey im interested in your avatar.. i know laozi was an early libertarian thinker, i'm just not sure what the diagram meant. did some researcher write those up there? individual rights states power etc


Each year at this time, grown children all over the internet remind everybody why nobody likes them, by choosing to post the same tired rants against the traditional American holiday story,utilizing pre-written tantrums to fume about newspapers, radio, TV, and magazines devoting vast amounts of time and space to what they perceive to be an unacceptable fable. Apparently assuming their audience is ignorant of the truth, they choose one of America's favorite days and use it as a chance to further isolate themselves from society, under the same traditional chants of "I'm right. I'm smarter than you." While they consider themselves articulate, colorful and fascinating, in reality it is all very tiresome, decisive, and non-productive - a mission they continually excel at.

Cheers - Captain Morgan and coke is the tradition here, even though pirates didn't help with the harvest either.


i talked about politics at the dinner table tonight and heaven forbid--our upcoming long years to eternity of economic turmoil. and they enjoyed it. so. depends on the intellectual level at the dinner table, i suppose. whether something turns up good.

jmdrake
11-26-2010, 08:05 AM
Props to the OP. To all the complainers, if you don't like "teachable moments" don't click on threads that have them.

acptulsa
11-28-2019, 12:48 PM
Cheers - Captain Morgan and coke is the tradition here, even though pirates didn't help with the harvest either.

http://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2015/11/10/09/johnny-depp.jpg

sam1952
11-28-2019, 02:51 PM
Who gives a shit. TIME TO DRINK IN THE DAY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!


^^This^^

Swordsmyth
11-28-2019, 04:22 PM
Those that cannot learn from history...
Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it.

Danke
11-28-2019, 05:06 PM
7242