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Should we cancel Thanksgiving and the 4th of July?

Should we cancel Thanksgiving and the 4th of July?

  • Total voters
    58
Hard Truth said:
Its based on an astronomical event, so no religious belief is necessary to observe the beginning of the end of winter. Also, most religious holidays at that time of year probably derived from solstice celebrations.
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Personally, I like Beltane. :wink:

Both Christmas and Thanksgiving don't have a religious meaning for me, they are times of family gathering, that is what makes them a holiday for me.

Those who choose to celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, it's fine with me.
 
CanadaJohn said:
Get with the times - we mostly have the HST now - harmonized sales tax - it combines the old GST, goods and services tax at the federal level, with the various Province's PST, provincial sales tax.

And just for those who don't like the word tax, our wonderful politicians have started calling them "revenue enhancements" now - who wouldn't want to enhance revenue, right?
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Damn taxes.

 
I'm offended by Arbor day. I'm allergic to trees and I see them as my enemy. We are at war.

I'm offended by Columbus day, it improperly suggests that Columbus, and not Leif Ericson, discovered North America. It's offensive against people with a Norse background and gives too much credit to Spaniards and the Portuguese.

I'm offended, therefore these holidays should be removed and no one can celebrate them.
 
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Dapper Andy said:
Should the United States do away with Thanksgiving and the 4th of July as designated public holidays in favor of something more inline with changing demographics?

I chalk up most of my nephews political views to being college age but over a weekend BBQ they seemed pretty adamant that some of our public (federally recognized) holidays were insensitive to minorities in this country. They seemed to view Thanksgiving and July 4th as particularly offensive.
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Nah, it's probably fine. If they were really that upset with it, they wouldn't have moved here.
 
digsbe said:
It should be banned because it creates a state of national confusion in the projects :mrgreen:
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oh-snap.jpg
 
CanadaJohn said:
We're not yet that bad but we should be very thankful that Europe is going through a lot of the serious problems that we on this side of the Atlantic are only seeing in their infancy. We have the chance to wake up and correct things before it's too late - only question is, will we.
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Good evening, CJ. :2wave:

Forming the European Union wasn't well thought out, as we are witnessing. For one thing, we tend to think of ourselves as Americans, and not citizens of New York or Florida, or any other State. They tend to think of themselves as French or German or Italian first, for instance. One thing in our favor is that we don't have numerous forms of government here like they do in Europe. On the other hand, while our currency is the same for all the States, if the dollar should suffer a collapse, we don't have the option of reverting back to anything else, like the drachma, for instance. We'll all be destitute together if all you have is dollars. :shock:

The problem Europe seems to be experiencing is that the wealthier countries are financing the poorer countries. We have basically the same situation here in the U.S. with higher income states paying more in taxes than they receive back, and yet we don't hear the grousing that we hear in Europe.

So what should the EU do to correct their problem? They seem to be at a breaking point, so IMO, since there doesn't appear to be any easy solution, since they have already tried many different things that haven't worked, it will be interesting to watch what they eventually come up with! :argue:
 
Dapper Andy said:
I don't believe we should do away with either holiday but I guess the thought process is that we're essentially celebrating the actions of what is seen as a single ethnicity, white.
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*Gasp!* The nerve of some people.

:roll:

This is what happens when society has too much time on it's hands.
 
Deuce said:
Columbus Day is particularly weird because Columbus was objectively a failure in his efforts. The man thought he'd found The Indies because he grossly underestimated the size o the earth, despite the fact that th actual size of the earth was pretty well known by then.
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No, not really. This kind of point-of-view is just another example of diminishing the accomplishments of those who aren't trendy and politically correct.

Given the knowledge and limited technology of the time, he succeeded in proving the world was not flat. Just because he didn't hit his expected goal exactly doesn't diminish that. Whether it be scientific experiments or exploration, expanding the known knowledge of the day is always a step forward.
 
Dapper Andy said:
Should the United States do away with Thanksgiving and the 4th of July as designated public holidays in favor of something more inline with changing demographics?

I chalk up most of my nephews political views to being college age but over a weekend BBQ they seemed pretty adamant that some of our public (federally recognized) holidays were insensitive to minorities in this country. They seemed to view Thanksgiving and July 4th as particularly offensive.
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On the one hand, it is not my wish to malign relatives of yours.

On the other hand, I desperately want to say that what they really need is a boot in the ass and a lecture about how they've apparently paid good money for an indoctrination instead of an education.


Oops.... well now the cat is outta the bag....
 
radcen said:
*Gasp!* The nerve of some people.

:roll:

This is what happens when society has too much time on it's hands.
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Good evening, radcen. :2wave:

:agree:

Just when you think you've heard everything ridiculous, someone proves you wrong. :lamo:

This had to be tongue-in-cheek bait! I'd like to actually hear someone propose a law to cancel either of these Holidays! :eek:
 
AlabamaPaul said:
All the "groups" that helped in the Revolution are noted in history, but it is convenient to forget about that when one has an agenda to further. The Fourth, as it has been celebrated, has no mention of any particular group...
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For the longest time, no, not all of them were noted in the written histories. As I said earlier, it was a long-held tendency to isolate groups from the American narrative.
 
ReformCollege said:
I'm well aware that there is no substantial intellectual movement to remove the 4th of July. But I reserve the right to call anyone who does argue for the removal of the 4th of July an indoctrinated nutcase. :lol:
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But that's the thing that confuses me about the fourth of July. I have never come across such a thought in substantive amounts. You hear more about Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, and so forth. Discussion about the founding fathers being too celebrated, despite human rights abuses, okay. The founding documents having a sense of irony, okay. But not really anything negative about the fourth of July for contemporary accounts. The most I came across the was the effort to make sure that certain minorities could not identify themselves with the American tradition.
 
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Fiddytree said:
But that's the thing that confuses me about the fourth of July. I have never come across such a thought. Discussion about the founding fathers being too celebrated, despite human rights abuses, okay. The founding documents having a sense of irony, okay. But not really anything negative about the fourth of July. The most I came across the was the effort to make sure that certain minorities could not identify themselves with the American tradition.
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4th of July simply celebrates the date of our independence, as almost every country does, not anything we did afterward.
 
radcen said:
4th of July simply celebrates the date of our independence, as almost every country does, not anything we did afterward.
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It celebrates a lot more than that, but not necessarily what was done afterward.
 
Granted, our treatment of the Indians isn't exactly stellar overall, but Thanksgiving celebrates a better time and a better concept. Should we not celebrate the better ideals?
 
radcen said:
Granted, our treatment of the Indians isn't exactly stellar overall, but Thanksgiving celebrates a better time and a better concept. Should we not celebrate the better ideals?
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I can at least accept the rationale against it. Nevertheless, I am for nationalism, national mythos, and public celebration.
 
Dapper Andy said:
Should the United States do away with Thanksgiving and the 4th of July as designated public holidays in favor of something more inline with changing demographics?

I chalk up most of my nephews political views to being college age but over a weekend BBQ they seemed pretty adamant that some of our public (federally recognized) holidays were insensitive to minorities in this country. They seemed to view Thanksgiving and July 4th as particularly offensive.
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Dude, I went to Berkeley, and I've never heard anyone talk about the fourth of July as being offensive to minorities. Thanksgiving is another story, sure, but who gives a ****? It's turkey and stuffing. It's only as political as one makes it.
 
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