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Thanksgiving stands at the core of American festivities, celebrated by millions across the nation as a day of gratitude and unity. The holiday traces back to the 1600s, commemorating a successful harvest between English pilgrims and members of the Wampanog tribe. This heartwarming story is instilled in students throughout America, expressing principles of gratitude through plays and storybooks. However, Thanksgiving has since lost its purpose, serving more as a censored commemoration of the so-called peaceful relationship between the Pilgrims and Native Americans. This widespread narrative is not only false but also overlooks the violent actuality endured by the Wampanog tribe. The Native Americans shared not a symbolic meal with the English, but a frantic investigation of three gunshots fired at the feast, followed by the continuation of brutality among the two groups. The problematic irony behind Thanksgiving poses the controversial question of whether the holiday was ever truly about gratitude.
Black Friday and Thanksgiving promotions deceive millions of Americans into falling for overpriced marketing traps that emphasize corporate profit over gratitude. Leading companies such as Target have spoken about their widely advertised discounts on traditional Thanksgiving necessities, claiming to offer affordable family togetherness. Enticed by such offers, Americans spend an average of $321 on toys and electronics during Thanksgiving weekend, for a collective total of $38 billion spent online alone. Despite discounted Thanksgiving prices, corporations continue to profit from these sales, often at the expense of product quality. Butterball, an American turkey company, was forced to recall over 14,000 pounds of turkey due to a contamination risk that posed a threat to the safety of countless American families. Furthermore, the corporation prioritizes high profit margins over the treatment and quality of their turkeys, making over $1.5 billion in net sales annually, with repeated reports of abuse against the animals. This greedy corporate behavior highlights the consumeristic tendencies of the holiday, heightening the prospect of profit over grateful and united ideals.
Furthermore, Thanksgiving has gradually become nothing more than a celebration of food over gratitude. The holiday is built on the ignorant oppression of Indigenous experience, focusing most prominently on silly traditions, like the Thanksgiving turkey and the Macy’s Day Parade, rather than the expression of genuine thankfulness for the blessings of the past year. Of the 91% of Americans who celebrate Thanksgiving, only 56% express what they are thankful for and say a blessing at dinner. The remainder partakes in the feast without explicitly conveying any gratitude. The focus of their holiday is an entertaining banquet rather than the complex historical commemoration of Thanksgiving.
Many argue that, despite the numerous flaws present in the celebration of Thanksgiving, the holiday remains a reminder of the gratitude individuals should exhibit every day. While the modern intentions behind Thanksgiving have shifted drastically, 74% of all Americans continue to unite with family on the special occasion. Of these individuals, 69% are thought to express their gratitude during Thanksgiving dinner. Despite the clear prompting of gratitude exemplified by the holiday, Thanksgiving continues to do more harm to the concept of gratitude than good, encouraging it to be expressed as nothing more than a temporary state of personality. Personality traits must be exemplified by an individual on a habitual basis, repeated consistently over the course of weeks. Thanksgiving, on the other hand, places an extreme emphasis on gratitude, so individuals feel more inclined to express thankfulness exclusively on the holiday. By declaring that appreciation must be expressed on Thanksgiving, the overwhelming majority of individuals feel obligated to demonstrate gratitude exclusively on the holiday, rather than incorporate it into their daily routines, thereby defeating the purpose of the holiday.
Thanksgiving, once a festive celebration of gratitude, has become a materialistic marketing strategy to further satisfy the greed of large corporations. The ironic nature of the holiday discounts the indigenous experience, valuing a meaningless feast above the very concept of gratitude. Counterintuitively, Thanksgiving works against the development of gratitude among the American population, idolizing it as a premeditated trait required from individuals for no more than one day per year. Therefore, Thanksgiving remains an offensive and unprogressive holiday, encouraging the idealization of basic morality through performative gratitude rather than genuine accountability.
