Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving

Better late than never! I've been having trouble with "malware again".

Our good friend Olmanriver sent me some information pointing out the fallacy of the “Thanksgiving” event, and the relationship between the white man and the Indian. I don’t think that he intended for it to be a controversy, so I will not include it here unless he wants to. I found it very interesting. He also wished me a happy Thanksgiving.

I was going to reply to him, but it got so long I thought that I would just put it here as a post!
Olmanriver
Happy thanksgiving to you also! Thank-you.

You forget that I know that there are usually many stories that lead away from a historical event. I usually say "at least five". Seldom will we be able to know the real truth of any event.

As to the fairness of the conduct between the Indian and the white guy, I think that I will plead "Human Nature". I don't think that "white guy" and "Indian" had much to do with anything. I sincerely think that what happened was simply human nature applying itself. You need look no further than Northern Ireland fighting England, the Protestants fighting the Catholics, the Muslims fighting the Jews, and the latest; North Korea and South Korea, to find that it is within human nature to be treacherous. Seldom does wars have to do with race… with a few rather remarkable exceptions.

If we refuse to take blame for what happened in the past, it becomes incumbent upon us to conduct ourselves in a civilized manner toward each other today. Therefore I sincerely wish each and everyone a peaceful and joyous thanksgiving in the manner that we have come to accept the day, and be truly thankful for our friends and relationships.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

16 comments:

olmanriver said...

Thanks, Ernie.
I sent about twenty history friends this Deconstructing the Myths of the First Thanksgiving link. I thought it was interesting too, wasn't trying to play Thanksgiving scrooge. I did get called a party pooper, but it was by a Canuck and they don't count, it isn't their holiday.
No, as you surmised,I wasn't trying to stir controversy, I just thought the Indian story should be told. It is remarkable how far the Thanksgiving narrative has strayed to create the myth. Now that is human nature.

This year I chose to decline to celebrate with my fun-loving family and its three pedigreed gourmet chefs, to join my ol' local hippie tribe... because they say "grace".
Before eating we stood in a circle and passed a rattle and stated what we were grateful for in our lives. It is a heartful fun ritual, and I so appreciate that these people feel and can express their gratitude, though many are poor and on the edge.
There were six or seven pies...did I mention I was feeling mighty grateful?!
Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Rose said...

I like the idea that what Thanksgiving stood for was the sharing of cultures, of bounty, of good will, of learning from each other and working together. In that spirit, Happy Thanksgiving, belatedly. You're on my list of things - people I am grateful to have met.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Thanks Rose, I share your ideals.

To me, Thankgiving is a time to be thankful.

I have to admit that I have tried to think about what America would be like today if the Indian people would have won. Unfortunately, I can't imagine a scenareo where that could have happened. The world would have been found out to be round sooner or later. The human condition is dynamic and it is always moving. Man's inhumanity toward men is as old as human history. I'm not sure that we are much better today.

Anonymous said...

I did a comment---more about the Grimes,-- Middleton Family. It's on the Nov. 5th 2010 Laytonville Middletons and Arizona Middletons are connected again. So go there if you want to read it.I put it there because it pertains to that blog.--Elsie--

Ernie Branscomb said...

Robin Shelley asked if we were related to Kate Middleton that is engaged to Prince Edward. Yes Robin, she is a relative! I am surprised that you didn't notice the family resemblance. I fully expect to be declared the Earl of South fork as soon as she is married.

\ said...

The world would have been found out to be round sooner or later.

-yes, but Suzy doesn't think that the world is really round as most people believe it to be. The world appears to be round just like it once appeared to be flat, and just like it is now seen to be not flat it will one day be looked at from a newly discovered perspective and seen not to be round. At that time it will be discovered that perceiving the world to be round was an illusion ... same as what happened when they debunked it's flatness. It's just a matter of time.

Ernie Branscomb said...

I have to do a little "laundry". I mistakenly had Kate Middleton marrying "Edward". In truth, she is marrying Prince William...

Suzy, Why are you always making me think?

Of course you are right, the world will someday be thought of as anything but round. I think in my clumsy way I was trying to point out how far we have come. As a female, you know that women tend to be more nurturing and spiritual than males, and males have a tendency to be more domineering and protective of their own people, and their own property. Most of the people in the Colony days were religious and Christian. The Bible says that “God gave man dominion over the Earth”. That seemed to be the only license that they needed to do whatever they thought that they needed to do to “dominate”.

In the Colony days, intelligent outspoken women, such as yourself, would have been burned at the stake as witches. I’m not suggesting that should happen, merely pointing out how far we have come. We also know that, at least for now, that the world isn’t flat, and on thanksgiving I am thankful for the progress we have made in so many, many directions.

Anonymous said...

Due to a slight flattening at the poles the earth is an oblate spheroid.
Anyone who tells you different is a round-earther.

\ said...

The Bible says that “God gave man dominion over the Earth”.

-i wouldn't want to have been a native american in the 16oos.

charlie two crows said...

I wander what it was like to be a native american on the south fork in the 1800's. Charlie two crows.

olmanriver said...

Probably pretty sweet to live along the South Fork before 1860.

When the road viewers came through in 1859 the ranching potential of the area was noted. Stockraising was a lucrative endeavor because of the needs of the miners, and shortages created by the Civil war.
The first wave of settlers here were largely lowlives, as was recorded by Lt. Lynn in 1861 when he came to investigate the revenge attack on the Sproul brothers.
Lt. Lynn didn't roust too many Indians in the early spring of 1861, the military couldn't cross the river to get to the west side where the attack occurred.
The military records for this early 1860's period have soldiers under Lovell operating in the Southfork area, and raids on Indian encampments 15 and 25 miles from the junction of the southfork and main Eel. These might be the rancherias at Miranda and Phillipsville.
Indian descendants of one of the early settlers have confirmed that he had slave/housekeepers. Later in 1861 that man was caught in the valley with children for sale from the Spruce Grove area. Lt. Lynn's report alluded to whippings and rape on the part of whites.
Pliny Goddard in the first decade of the 1900's interviewed Albert Smith who was a native of the Eastbranch. Smith named names of settlers who were involved in killing many of his kin, and rounding the survivors up to take them to the Smith Reservation up north.

The earliest depictions of Garberville have Indian homes mixed in with the few settlers homes, and the Garber children report nothing but kindness from the local Indians amongst them (post-1874). The record states that Mrs. Schumaker helped with a number of unwanted mixed breed babies.
The "taking" of Indian wives was quite common in this region, and many fine families today trace their lineage to these early mixes.

olmanriver said...

Ernie covered Lt. Lynn's military reports in detail in a previous post, so pardon my repetition.

online quotes said...

The most important thing On Thanksgiving is that we realize that it is the spirit of love, culture, goodwill and cooperation. Living in a simple yet happy life, making used of the power of smile thats the true spirit.

Joe said...

Interesting comments about the shape of our planet.... Yes, it is roughly spheroid, but it is not a "perfect" sphere. In addition to rough features like oceans and mountains, there are other distortions from the general spheroid shape. This has now become a matter of practical concern with regard to GPS mapping of locations. I ran into a guy awhile back at my barber's shop who flies all over the world documenting and refining GPS data. So, like so many things, what we think we know is not exactly so. We very often have to think in generalities, and few generalities (if any) are precisely true--and many generalities are 180 degrees from true. This leads me to feel it necessary to value evidence and recognize the need to grasp "truth" very gently, with the realization that what I currently think is true is subject to reconsideration and revision. While it is tempting to just make up the answers, or to accept the answers others have contrived, there can be no good substitute for carefully obtained evidence. We have devised extraordinary means of extending our natural senses to obtain objective evidence. What we think the evidence means is quite another matter. We have the freedom to speculate about what evidence means, and our subjective impressions of meaning and value are likely to differ very substantially. I enjoy the mixture here of memories and meaning that illuminate our appreciation of our past and present world--and the shape it is in.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Joe, I think.

Oregon

Mr. Nice said...

The Pequots got rolled yeah. They weren't so cooperative, I read the body pile took three lights to burn. Ain't the first of last gang of scandalous white boys.

It could be hate on a person of color day or klu klux klan day and I'd still be alright as long as pretty much all my family got the day off. I mean we tell kids stories like some dude is sitting in the clouds hooking up all this factory farm turkey, why not stretch genocide into a cooperative fun time story?

Should just forget the Plymouth rock think and rename it foodborne illness day.