The “godless tyranny” part did cause my eyebrows to twitch a little, but until I got to the very last paragraph, it really did not enter my mind that this might not have been written in 2011.
Rune C. Olwensays
First the god on the currency, then the pledge of allegiance, now Thanksgiving…
HOW MANY revered items of American culture are only as old as I am, or younger???
Thank you for pointing this out to an European, Jen.
davidctsays
Godless tyranny? Must be about the Chinese buying up our national debt. Will we best serve god by boycotting Black Friday and all those “godless” consumer goods. No — wouldn’t want to go that far. Off to Life, Liberty and pursuit of bargains if that makes you happy. Be thankful to the debt-merchants Visa and MC who will allow you to take part even if you don’t have the money now. Spend enough and you will discover a “Godless Tyranny” called debt – funny they don’t warn you about that in church.
When I was coming up (a long time ago) there was all this nostalgia for the 1950’s. What a strange decade to be longing for: the Red Scare, Jim Crow and a lot of really bad TV.
Paddysays
And yet, congress passed overwhelmingly that stupid bill reaffirming “In Gode We Trust” as our national motto, just a couple weeks ago.
So things of this nature ARE still being written.
The level of superstitious ignorance it takes to believe that THAT is an important topic for government to address makes me ill.
My tax dollars actually PAY these people to waste time on complete and utter nonsense.
What methods do you guys use, to deal with the frustration?
Otranregsays
I have always been amused how godlessness is a major trope in much of America-made propaganda aimed against that tyranny.
Two City of Seattle employees lose jobs for refusing to sign a loyalty oath on September 7, 1951.
…
Paul Robeson sings at the International Peace Arch on the border-crossing between the United States and Canada at Blaine on May 18, 1952.
…
Paul Robeson overcomes red-baiters to appear in Seattle Civic Auditorium on May 20, 1952.
…
Senator Joseph McCarthy visits Washington state from October 22-23, 1952.
..
Washington State Press Club members heckle Senator Joseph McCarthy on October 23, 1952.
…
Seattle’s KING-TV cancels Joseph McCarthy’s scheduled speech on October 23, 1952.
…
Seattle Women Act for Peace is founded in November 1961.
…
Former state representative John Goldmark wins $40,000 (later overturned) in a libel case in Okanogan County against four individuals and a newspaper that had called him a Communist “tool,” on January 22, 1964.
A/theistsays
I’m a theistic atheist or (atheistic theist) myself. Possible in Eastern religions like Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism.
Dual/non-dual reality stuff.
Gentrysays
When I was coming up (a long time ago) there was all this nostalgia for the 1950′s. What a strange decade to be longing for: the Red Scare, Jim Crow and a lot of really bad TV.
Speaking of really bad TV:
I was channel surfing and came across an episode of I Love Lucy and was floored. I still can’t believe that kind of egregious social dynamic was allowed, much less encouraged. It was appalling.
Ingsays
Check your definitions
Otranregsays
I wanted to reply with something poignant about morons and oxymorons and etymological dictionary atheists, but I thought why the hell shouldn’t making it as simple as:
You’re either a dimwit or a troll. Either way, fuck you.
A/theistsays
I Love Lucy? Oh come on, that’s a great show. What’s the egregious social dynamic in that?
Its just a comedy centered around 2 couples.
A/theistsays
“What a strange decade to be longing for: the Red Scare, Jim Crow”
Those who long for the 50s are white people who don’t remember Jim Crow because well, it never affected them, their family, friends or anyone in their social network.
Another group who long for the 50s are white people who actually think the Jim Crow Laws were a good idea.
So you’ve got 2 categories of people who long for the 50s, and both of them white.
It always cracks me up when they describe the 50s as “an innocent age”. Innocent for whom?
-I’m not sure you have a good understanding of theistic and atheistic. Perhaps you meant AGNOSTIC atheist (you don’t know if god exists and you don’t believe in god)
“godless tyranny” eh? I guess he prefers the “godful tyranny”?
Me, I prefer no fucking tyranny.
sailor1031says
Whereas the pilgrims, who are not my ancestors anyway, did no such thing. They did not set aside a day each year to be a day of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was celebrated in diverse places on diverse dates and in many places not at all. The date and status of it as a holiday were fixed many, many years later in 1863 by A. Lincoln.
Also the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness for which they crossed the ocean is just so much BS. They came to America to establish their own theocracy because they couldn’t force their religion on the english who didn’t want such a restrictive lifestyle. And it’s a lie that they were persecuted – although the english were glad to see them go.
And if the pilgrims had established thanksgiving as an annual holiday why would Governor Langlie have to do it again in 1951?
dunno if this is ok to post, but it helped me small biz
ParatrooperJJsays
In fact that’s exactly what Thanksgiving is about….
Jurjen S.says
Thank you for pointing that out so that I didn’t have to drag out my Alton Brown DVDs to look that up.
The Pilgrims were persecuted to some extent, though, in that they were Separatists who didn’t want to be part of the Church of England; but the Act of Uniformity of 1558 made it illegal to fail to attend official CoE services, and to conduct unofficial religious services, and a number of their leaders were put to death for sedition.
But the only sea they had to cross to get religious freedom was the North Sea, because they did okay in the Netherlands. The main reason the Pilgrims left Leiden was because they were worried about losing their cultural identity by being assimilated into the local population, and that loose Dutch morals were leading their children astray. Interestingly, contemporary Dutch authors remarked on the Pilgrim’s authoritarian methods of child-rearing, which only goes to show that this has been an issue on which English and Dutch attitudes have remained consistent relative to each other for 400 years at least.
Chrissays
Oh, for crying out loud! Who first started with the Langlie proclamation? I just heard the SkepticWire podcast from San Antonio, TX who seem to think Langlie is still the governor of Washington State! If he is, he would be 112 years old, and since he died 1n 1966 he would be a Zombie governor.
Okay everyone, remember your history: Post WWII Red Scare Era, when the Pledge of Allegiance had “under God” added, the US motto became “In God We Trust”, and many many lives were ruined by McCarthyism (and at the University of Washington by Albert Canwell).
The “godless tyranny” part did cause my eyebrows to twitch a little, but until I got to the very last paragraph, it really did not enter my mind that this might not have been written in 2011.
First the god on the currency, then the pledge of allegiance, now Thanksgiving…
HOW MANY revered items of American culture are only as old as I am, or younger???
Thank you for pointing this out to an European, Jen.
Godless tyranny? Must be about the Chinese buying up our national debt. Will we best serve god by boycotting Black Friday and all those “godless” consumer goods. No — wouldn’t want to go that far. Off to Life, Liberty and pursuit of bargains if that makes you happy. Be thankful to the debt-merchants Visa and MC who will allow you to take part even if you don’t have the money now. Spend enough and you will discover a “Godless Tyranny” called debt – funny they don’t warn you about that in church.
When I was coming up (a long time ago) there was all this nostalgia for the 1950’s. What a strange decade to be longing for: the Red Scare, Jim Crow and a lot of really bad TV.
And yet, congress passed overwhelmingly that stupid bill reaffirming “In Gode We Trust” as our national motto, just a couple weeks ago.
So things of this nature ARE still being written.
The level of superstitious ignorance it takes to believe that THAT is an important topic for government to address makes me ill.
My tax dollars actually PAY these people to waste time on complete and utter nonsense.
What methods do you guys use, to deal with the frustration?
I have always been amused how godlessness is a major trope in much of America-made propaganda aimed against that tyranny.
Juicy stuff like this always makes me laugh (three last pages summarise the whole comic):
http://www.authentichistory.com/1946-1960/4-cwhomefront/7-comics/tcgodless/This_Godless_Communism_1961.html
You can easily switch ‘Communist’ for ‘Atheist’ in many places, which makes it unsurprising why it’s such a naughty word today.
The US was founded on a principle of religious freedom, has very little and is ruled by capitalism.
Canada was founded on Capitalism (Hudson Bay Company), has lots of religious freedom and has a history of socialism
It has that kind of silly paranoia that changed the Pledge of Allegiance.
I remember the John Birch Society signs posted around Eastern Washington when we visited relatives in the 1960s.
So I did a check of HistoryLink, and noticed that there were some pretty interesting things happening in Washington State with the “Red Scare.” Looks like fun times. Check out:
http://historylink.org/?keyword=communism&DisplayPage=results.cfm&Submit=Go
Two City of Seattle employees lose jobs for refusing to sign a loyalty oath on September 7, 1951.
…
Paul Robeson sings at the International Peace Arch on the border-crossing between the United States and Canada at Blaine on May 18, 1952.
…
Paul Robeson overcomes red-baiters to appear in Seattle Civic Auditorium on May 20, 1952.
…
Senator Joseph McCarthy visits Washington state from October 22-23, 1952.
..
Washington State Press Club members heckle Senator Joseph McCarthy on October 23, 1952.
…
Seattle’s KING-TV cancels Joseph McCarthy’s scheduled speech on October 23, 1952.
…
Seattle Women Act for Peace is founded in November 1961.
…
Former state representative John Goldmark wins $40,000 (later overturned) in a libel case in Okanogan County against four individuals and a newspaper that had called him a Communist “tool,” on January 22, 1964.
I’m a theistic atheist or (atheistic theist) myself. Possible in Eastern religions like Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism.
Dual/non-dual reality stuff.
Speaking of really bad TV:
I was channel surfing and came across an episode of I Love Lucy and was floored. I still can’t believe that kind of egregious social dynamic was allowed, much less encouraged. It was appalling.
Check your definitions
I wanted to reply with something poignant about morons and oxymorons and etymological dictionary atheists, but I thought why the hell shouldn’t making it as simple as:
You’re either a dimwit or a troll. Either way, fuck you.
I Love Lucy? Oh come on, that’s a great show. What’s the egregious social dynamic in that?
Its just a comedy centered around 2 couples.
“What a strange decade to be longing for: the Red Scare, Jim Crow”
Those who long for the 50s are white people who don’t remember Jim Crow because well, it never affected them, their family, friends or anyone in their social network.
Another group who long for the 50s are white people who actually think the Jim Crow Laws were a good idea.
So you’ve got 2 categories of people who long for the 50s, and both of them white.
It always cracks me up when they describe the 50s as “an innocent age”. Innocent for whom?
THEISTIC:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/theistic
-I’m not sure you have a good understanding of theistic and atheistic. Perhaps you meant AGNOSTIC atheist (you don’t know if god exists and you don’t believe in god)
Tony
“godless tyranny” eh? I guess he prefers the “godful tyranny”?
Me, I prefer no fucking tyranny.
Whereas the pilgrims, who are not my ancestors anyway, did no such thing. They did not set aside a day each year to be a day of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was celebrated in diverse places on diverse dates and in many places not at all. The date and status of it as a holiday were fixed many, many years later in 1863 by A. Lincoln.
Also the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness for which they crossed the ocean is just so much BS. They came to America to establish their own theocracy because they couldn’t force their religion on the english who didn’t want such a restrictive lifestyle. And it’s a lie that they were persecuted – although the english were glad to see them go.
And if the pilgrims had established thanksgiving as an annual holiday why would Governor Langlie have to do it again in 1951?
dunno if this is ok to post, but it helped me small biz
In fact that’s exactly what Thanksgiving is about….
Thank you for pointing that out so that I didn’t have to drag out my Alton Brown DVDs to look that up.
The Pilgrims were persecuted to some extent, though, in that they were Separatists who didn’t want to be part of the Church of England; but the Act of Uniformity of 1558 made it illegal to fail to attend official CoE services, and to conduct unofficial religious services, and a number of their leaders were put to death for sedition.
But the only sea they had to cross to get religious freedom was the North Sea, because they did okay in the Netherlands. The main reason the Pilgrims left Leiden was because they were worried about losing their cultural identity by being assimilated into the local population, and that loose Dutch morals were leading their children astray. Interestingly, contemporary Dutch authors remarked on the Pilgrim’s authoritarian methods of child-rearing, which only goes to show that this has been an issue on which English and Dutch attitudes have remained consistent relative to each other for 400 years at least.
Oh, for crying out loud! Who first started with the Langlie proclamation? I just heard the SkepticWire podcast from San Antonio, TX who seem to think Langlie is still the governor of Washington State! If he is, he would be 112 years old, and since he died 1n 1966 he would be a Zombie governor.
Okay everyone, remember your history: Post WWII Red Scare Era, when the Pledge of Allegiance had “under God” added, the US motto became “In God We Trust”, and many many lives were ruined by McCarthyism (and at the University of Washington by Albert Canwell).