Thanksgiving is arguably the greatest American creation, despite being the one thing we have not tried to export. Around the world there are American outposts selling degeneracy of various sorts, along with the supposed ideals of the American empire, but you will never get a sales pitch on Thanksgiving. It speaks to the nature of the current ruling elite that gratitude is not something they think about when trying to change the minds of people abroad.
Regardless, the long holiday that is upon us is special. It is a long weekend of doing little more than giving thanks for the simple things. We do not give thanks to our overlords for anything. We do not give thanks for our stuff. We do not even give thanks for the great fortune of being an American. It is simpler than that. It is a time to look around and appreciate the little things that make life worth living. It is a time to remember the true purpose of life.
What makes the holiday better than most is that it is at least a four-day weekend and is slowly becoming a weeklong affair. Within living memory most people had to work Friday if they wanted to get paid for Thursday, but that is long gone. Most employers give their people Thursday and Friday off, except retailers, of course. Many offices now close early on Wednesday. All week offices are light on staff as people use their personal time to extend the holiday.
If we had any sense as a people, we would make the whole week a national holiday, maybe even shutter retail for a few days. Friday is the start of the Christmas shopping season, so giving the retail people a few days off in advance would be the decent thing to do, but our greed heads will never go for it. Big box retailers now force their staff in on Thursday night to get ready for Black Friday. After the revolution, the people doing this will be sent to a camp, a bad camp.
The funny thing about Thanksgiving is it does not celebrate any of the things that have come to define America. There is no soulless gift giving. Christmas has been turned into an orgy of material self-indulgence. It is reasonable to say that what goes on in this country around Christmas is grotesque. Our other holidays are civic affairs designed to celebrate the government or warmongering. Usually, they are on a Monday, so we get a long weekend, but they have no meaning.
Thanksgiving is unique in that it is about you as a person taking time to think about the good things in your life. The big traditional meal with friends and family focuses the mind on those human relationships. Even in these easy times, life is hard, so taking time to count your blessings is a gift you give yourself. Being grateful is one of those odd things that just makes you feel good. Having a long holiday to eat traditional foods and be grateful is an amazing thing we have created.
It is the gratitude part of it that gets to the heart of the current crisis. All around us are people doing nothing but showing their ingratitude. America is filling up with ingrates who do nothing but complain. One can possibly understand the ingratitude of black people, but the endless complaining from new arrivals is maddening. Even worse is seeing useless weirdos freeriding on society while complaining that the rest of us are not thanking them for being parasites.
Joe Sobran put it best. “The white man presents an image of superiority even when he isn’t conscious of it. And, superiority excites envy.” That is the heart of the matter and probably why we invented Thanksgiving. It is our nature to build and create, which is why we are naturally grateful for what we have. A people who built a great civilization out of nothing have a lot to be thankful for, so having a long holiday to take our time and be grateful makes a lot of sense.
Even now, with all that is going on, we have plenty of reasons to take the next few days to count our blessings. The Good Lord in his wisdom has provided us with enemies who possess none of the qualities we respect. They may have inherited power, but they lack the ability to wield it responsibly. Like men on death row, our betters walk around with an expiry date on them. It is a long struggle, but we know that in the end we will prevail and for that we must be thankful.
Of course, we also have the community of dissidents that is slowly forming up to provide fellowship and support as we struggle though this age. Those of you who were at AmRen last time certainly know what I mean. You come back from such things humbled and grateful, because you have been reminded of how fortunate you are to be alive in this time. To be blessed with a life of struggle, to have a reason to be better each day, is the greatest gift of all.
I want to thank everyone who comes to this site to read what I have written or listen to the Friday shows. Special thanks to the many people who fill up the comments every day with commentary that is often better than my posts. This is one of the best comment sections on the internet. It is something people often say to me. Posting will be light the next few days, but the comment section will be open as always. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and thank you for all that you do.
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Happy Thanksgiving to Z and all of the posters who come here regularly.
I can honestly say I have learned quite a bit since meandering over to this site. I didn’t realize how much I didn’t know or understand.
Frankly, I don’t know how you do it Z. Sometimes I can’t keep up with the reading; yet you produce content consistently.
Have a blessed holiday season everyone.
Lovely piece. Happy Thanksgiving, Zman, and the commenters here. Other expats former or present will acknowledge this: any group of Americans, and I include even blacks here in this narrow sense, who are somewhere abroad will if at all possible celebrate Thanksgiving in some way. It is the one true national holiday and the essence of a people, as deracinated as they are. For the longest time a full-court press was made either to eliminate the holiday altogether or to make it indistinguishable from Christmas, but that ultimately failed spectacularly. I would submit the refusal to give up Thanksgiving is… Read more »
Yep. One of favorite Thanksgivings was in Germany. An English friend who had lived in the US loved the holiday and invited to his house to have dinner with his wife and a mix of Americans and Brits.
It was a great evening except for his hideous wife, who for some reason hated the US. She even said that there was “nothing to see in America.” The room broke out in laughter at her stupidity, after which she shut up. Fun time.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
I had a similar experience in Italy in the Navy decades ago. I did my best to go native without even realizing what I was doing, however I was/am American and Thanksgiving smokes out Americans of whatever hue or background. My place became a little America on that day filled with young Navy guys and an assortment of Italians who mostly had relatives in America. Of course the template was the story learned in elementary school of Pilgrims and Indian guests with the Italians playing the role of Indians. I remember their graciousness in putting up with our hobbled together… Read more »
So very true, Jack. I ceased patronizing McDonald’s lo about a dozen years again when they forbade employees from wishing customers a happy Thanksgiving. As Z said, a camp, a very bad camp indeed for scum such as this.
I’m very interested with comment. Was it an official attempt to eliminate Thanksgiving? Or is it a subtle attempt just to lump Thanksgiving and Christmas up into one big holiday?
It was primarily a commercial attempt to merge the holidays (when the national holiday was proclaimed FDR actually touted it in part to boost Christmas sales). In Z’s West Virginia, I think the ACLU sued several years back to prevent the governor from proclaiming it to have religious connotations, and similar state-adjacent efforts were made via the courts. For a period, some cities refused to acknowledge the holiday but those efforts faded away.
Happy Thanksgiving fromTGIFridays in Moscow, Russia. As Joe Biden says “not a joke”.
Moscow! Wow cool!
Are you at the TGIFridays in Gagarinsky Plaza? I remember it from my own days in Moscow.
Aviapark shopping mall near ЦСКА.
So hard to square that with my memories of Moscow 1981-1982. Now it’s AINO where I worry about being surveilled and/or arrested. Although, to be honest, other than hang-up phone calls and such, I wasn’t really bothered in Moscow.
First off, happy Thanksgiving to you, Z. I am eternally grateful for all that you do here and to all of the amazing scholars who post regularly on this site. You are all truly my people. One can possibly understand the ingratitude of black people, but the endless complaining from new arrivals is maddening Sorry but I can’t agree that blacks should be ungrateful. If it weren’t for us, they’d be drinking piss and mud water with bones in their noses, living in grass and mud huts that blow over from a stiff breeze. They should be more grateful than… Read more »
Holiday TV was inundated by the usual “see the poor starving big-eyed Biafran children, won’t you please open your hearts and give generously” ads, but unfortunately I am old enough to remember those same ads from the 1960’s, and if they haven’t learned how to be self sufficient and self governing in 60 years, to heck with them. That skinny black child you bleedin’ hearts feed will grow up to be the machete wielding wild eyed druggie murderer, who will leave behind yet more fatherless children for us to save. I am glad to be white, American, and educated.
Q. What do you get when you feed 500 starving Africans?
A. 5,000 starving Africans.
An uncharitable sentiment, perhaps, for a sacred day such as this, but I now reserve my charity for my own people and those who have some hope of profiting by it.
But it’s not an ungrateful comment. Misplaced charity created 4500 more unhappy people than there would otherwise have been. Like any other self-destructive behavior, they have to admit they have a problem and make a commitment to change for the better for outside help to have any chance of improving things.
I know, Steve. When Africa wins, Africans lose. And Africa is undefeated.
I still remember Mugabe’s 2000 pogrom against the productive White farmers who had made Zimbabwe the bread basket of Africa…after they left, the country collapsed. Now I see a lot of begging ads for Zimbabwe. Well, they should have stood up for their Whites!
Very eloquent, Z. Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving.
Killed an 8-point buck last night and am eating turkey today with the woman and the dog while the snow begins to fall, feeling very traditional ‘Murican today.
Thank you for the lovely mental image. The only thing I can add is a roaring fire.
We have the roaring fire in the woodstove, but the only turkey are the wild ones that wander around our cabin. Although my birthday is close to Thanksgiving, I’ve never cared for turkey – or pumpkin pie! So we’re having ham, and apple pie instead. Still the same sentiments – immensely thankful for God’s manifold blessings.
Ham? Turkey? Yes!
Not a fan o’ punkin pie, though. The wife makes a sweet pertata pie, however, that is larrupin.
I’m the only one in the family who likes and eats sweet potatoes, so I don’t cook any of my multiple sweet potato casserole recipes on Thanksgiving any more. Now I’m limited to baking myself one when I make my husband a regular baked potato.
I had a giant piece of quiche Lorraine made by a great chef and good French buddy of mine. It had chunks of ham inside and was as good a Thanksgiving meal as I’ve consumed in a long while. Went down beautifully with a bottle of Syrah.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all and many thanks for the wonderfully enlightened articles, Z. And thanks to all of you for the stimulating comment threads. Some have been mind bending.
We ditch everyone for nearly this whole week and make it my wife and me and the kids. We spend time around the house together, making breakfast and listening to 1930s and 1940s jazz standards. You know, the good, easy stuff. No rush, no cares. Perfecting that overstuffed omelet, snatching fresh blueberries from the bowl before they get dropped into pancake batter, watching the kids sing and dance in the living room. If you aren’t doing it … we slow eat every meal together. No devices allowed. Makes a world of difference in our lives. Thanksgiving has become a week… Read more »
We don’t celebrate this in the old world, but a very happy Thanksgiving to all the great american people on this site.
Gratitude and thankfulness is not in our nature. It is a design flaw that our Maker deliberately put into us to deal with and overcome. Gratitude and thankfulness are not mere “social constructs” or an “invention” or whatever the degenerate fake intellectuals want to write it off as in order to dismiss it. It is, however, a key cornerstone in the foundation of the Christian faith. It is one of the tools we have been given to improve ourselves, create serenity and peace for ourselves, and maybe give to others as a show of our gratitude – and give them… Read more »
Happy Thanksgiving, Zman! Your impressive comment section is a testament to the consistent insight you provide. Hope you and all of your readers/listeners have a swell holiday.
Thank you for the daily postings and the Friday show. You’ve changed a lot of minds and created a very good community here. Have a good thanksgiving.
I am thankful for Zman, who brings a measure of sanity to our politics.
Me too. Z starts my day with a bit of sanity, and usually a little humor, to deal with the coming insanity.
That’s how I read Z-man. When I first get up and get through my email spam I’ll read Z’s essay and the start of the comments. It’s a good way to start the day. This blog is definitely one of the things I’m thankful for! So, many thanks to all of you and to Z!
Unfortunately I work at a bank, required by federal law to never be closed more than one day. Remember Goys, interest never sleeps!
Yes, for the little yet big things I am thankful: for the roof above my head; for the clothes on my back; for the food on my table; but thankful most of all for the wisdom, justice, and forgiveness of God our Father through the mercy of His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Ghost. Happy Thanksgiving!
A humble and pleasant article, Z.
You say:
Are you sure you haven’t been reading the works of the Holy Fathers and The Gospel?!
Happy Thanksgiving to our host and all here, whose thoughts I read almost every day. I don’t often comment, but I was thinking about the story of the Spartan Paedaretus not being selected as one of the Three Hundred and going home quite glad, knowing that there were 300 better men than him in Sparta. Just so, I am thankful that there are so many better commenters than I here. Cheers to all!
Happy Thanksgiving to Z-man and the commenter community from this ex-pat. The United States may not have exported Thanksgiving, but, oh Lord, has it exported Black Friday. I’ve been traveling from France to Croatia and there are week-long Black Friday sales. Not sure what to make of it, since I’ll wager that 95% of Europeans don’t know the origin of the term Black Friday.
The extent to which the world has become Americanized is truly depressing.
Thanksgiving celebrates the America that was built by love of family, neighbors and friends…Happy Thanksgiving to all!
In other words,an America that no longer exists. Thanksgiving, therefore, is the ultimate exercise in nostalgia. Nothing at all wrong with that.
Thank you for this site, thank you for the comments that both help alleviate the feeling that the world has gone mad. And happy Thanksgiving to all
We stand on the shoulders of our forebears, who arrived in this country with little-to-nothing and encountered the blessing of true natural hardship. We are descended from the survivors of that gauntlet and now thereby possess those genetic traits that enable us to persists against long odds. And I am genuinely grateful for that gift of resilience and robustness which both sustains me and obligates my actions in defense of my heritage and future generations. And I am grateful that I can and will make a tangible difference when the time is right and the clarion calls. Thanks to all… Read more »
A people who built a great civilization out of nothing have a lot to be thankful for, so having a long holiday to take our time and be grateful makes a lot of sense.” I was traveling through rural western Canada a long time ago, and watched an hour of Canadian television in hotel. There was show on, relating the experiences of their early western settlers, building civilization where there was nothing. They had brought metal tools, nails, seeds, and supplies enough to last them until they could instill a white pattern up on the land, to extract calories to… Read more »
Well said.
Gratitude to God and to those that have helped me along is a regular part of my life. Lack of gratitude for one’s blessings is pathological.
Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving Z!
And blessings on you Zman. I seldom comment here, but I seldom miss the comments, and never miss your posts. Indeed, we all of us have been very richly blessed, and there ain’t nothin’ like gratitude to ensure happiness. To all, have a wonderful day, and let us keep faith that better times are ahead.
JWM
I’m thankful for dissidents like Z-man who have weathered the storms of the past 10 or so and have stayed the course, kept the content flowing, and the troops motivated, and now in late 2024 we are stronger than ever. The country is not lost quite yet. There is hope, which is what we should be most thankful for.
Grateful everyday to be born white, and for this, my favorite bar, with my favorite barhounds. Happy Thanksgiving, and thank you for such a wonderful posting!
Great metaphor! A huge second to all you post
“All around us are people doing nothing but showing their ingratitude. America is filling up with ingrates who do nothing but complain. One can possibly understand the ingratitude of black people, but the endless complaining from new arrivals is maddening.”
Excellent point.
blacks get no more good will from me. White civilization fed, clothed, housed, educated, kept them occupied , protected them and brought them Christianity. We made them political equals They have shown they are incapable of living as political equals with us. Their bellyaching will never end as long as we live near them. They deserve nothing from us but a boat ride home.
I like the weeklong national holiday idea. I drove by Big Lots and they had lawn signs everywhere proclaiming they are open on Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
A Happy Thanksgiving to Z and the excellent commentariat at this site!
Thanks to the timezone difference, it’s a joy to begin each day with coffee, a fresh Z essay, and a huge scroll down of commentary with all the attendant joys of learning new things and just occasionally the opportunity for sperging out majorly when some reprobate is WRONG. My cup runneth over and I am most grateful.
Well done Z-Man. The commentariat is as good as it gets (although no thanks to me)
In no small measure because of you, amigo.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks to you, Z.
You’ve created a nice little corner of the internet where I always feel at home, even when I’m1/4 of the way around the world.
May God bless you, Z, and may all of the pals in the commentariat enjoy a serene and deeply gratifying Thanksgiving. Budet zdorovie!
Many thanks for all YOU do, Z. The quality and amount of content you put out, day in and day out is amazing. All the best to you and all the fellow commenters and everyone else who frequents this site.
Happy Thanksgiving to Z Man and all of the folks here. You are the most based people on the net.
Thank you Z! You’re the first one I wake up to every morning!
But … but … but … Where’s Alice ?!?!?
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Zman. And thanks for the always-interesting, ever-thoughtful, day-in and day-out written and audio commentary.
will the cats be getting any turkey?
“One can possibly understand the ingratitude of black people. . .”
Really now?
The annual Berkeley religious ceremony was performed as a result of specific instructions given by the London Company to do so, it was almost two years before the Massachusetts celebration, which was a one time event based upon the recommendation of Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford and was not held because of any official proclamation from England. They held several Thanksgiving’s after that, but not on a regular basis. Massachusetts didn’t even publish a proclamation ordaining such a thanksgiving observance until 1633, 12 years after their first celebration. The Massachusetts event was a harvest feast with their Native American friends, whereas… Read more »
Happy Thanksgiving Zman and to all the consistently intelligent, insightful commenters who frequent this site!
Enjoy your families and friends on this Norman Rockwell looking day.
Happy thanksgiving sir
Happy Thanksgiving Z man and the rest who fill the comments section.
Happy Thanksgiving Z. It’s probably the best holiday of the year, even if it’s the only day of the year I watch football on purpose.
a little seasonal tuneage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRNpc-hFkCs&ab_channel=60otaku4
in a word: smooth
perfect for me.
Happy Thanksgiving Z Man.
thank you zman and commenters, happy thanksgiving to all. i daily look forward to the insight of this website in entries and comments. i am grateful for what’s left of the information highway and look forward to future mind bending exercises.
“Like men on death row, our betters walk around with an expiry date on them.”
grateful cup of joe
Happy Thanksgiving Zman!