A Comparison Of Three Newspapers' Thanksgiving Editorials

Various Newspapers | AnnaZ

[AnnaZ]

 

 

From the New York Post: Tradition, Patriotism, and The Almighty

 

FOR WHICH WE GIVE THANKS

---

November 25, 2004 -- The first Thanksgiving in the New World was celebrated in mid-October 1621, nearly one year after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. Much later, George Washington was the first of many American presidents for mally to proclaim a day of thanks. The following prayer was offered in 1789, in appreciation of the nation's hard-earned independence:

Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government, and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large.

And, finally that Thou wilt graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Amen.

Abraham Lincoln was notably a man of few words. And he was typically succinct when, on Oct. 3, 1863, he first established Thanksgiving as a holiday for a nation wracked by civil war:

I invite my fellow citizens to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent father who dwelleth in the heavens.

This month, it was President Bush's turn to issue the now-traditional Thanksgiving proclamation:

ALL across America, we gather this week with the people we love to give thanks to God for the blessings in our lives. We are grateful for our freedom, grateful for our families and friends, and grateful for the many gifts of America. On Thanksgiving Day, we acknowledge that all of these things, and life itself, come from the Almighty God.

Almost four centuries ago, the Pilgrims celebrated a harvest feast to thank God after suffering through a brutal winter. President George Washington proclaimed the first National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789, and President Lincoln revived the tradition during the Civil War, asking Americans to give thanks with "one heart and one voice." Since then, in times of war and in times of peace, Americans have gathered with family and friends and given thanks to God for our blessings.

Thanksgiving is also a time to share our blessings with those who are less fortunate. Americans this week will gather food and clothing for neighbors in need. Many young people will give part of their holiday to volunteer at homeless shelters and food pantries. On Thanksgiving, we remember that the true strength of America lies in the hearts and souls of the American people. By seeking out those who are hurting and by lending a hand, Americans touch the lives of their fellow citizens and help make our Nation and the world a better place.

THIS Thanksgiving, we express our gratitude to our dedicated firefighters and police officers who help keep our homeland safe. We are grateful to the homeland security and intelligence personnel who spend long hours on faithful watch. And we give thanks for the Americans in our Armed Forces who are serving around the world to secure our country and advance the cause of freedom. These brave men and women make our entire Nation proud, and we thank them and their families for their sacrifice.

On this Thanksgiving Day, we thank God for His blessings and ask Him to continue to guide and watch over our Nation.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 25, 2004, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage all Americans to gather together in their homes and places of worship to reinforce the ties of family and community and to express gratitude for the many blessings we enjoy.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-ninth.

GEORGE W. BUSH

 

From the New York Times: Guilt and Political Correctness

The Thanks We Give

Published: November 25, 2004

t's not the turkey alone we're grateful for. Not the cranberry sauce or the stuffing or even the pumpkin pie. Some of the people seated at the table are strangers - friends of friends, cousins of in-laws - and some are almost desperately familiar, faces we live and work with every day.

In any other week, today would merely be Thursday and the gathering of all these people - the cooking and serving and cleaning - a chore. But today it doesn't feel that way. The host - perhaps it's you - stands up and asks that we give thanks, and we do, each in our own way. And what we're thankful for is simply this, the food, the shelter, the company and, above all, the sense of belonging.

As holidays go, Thanksgiving is in some ways the most philosophical. Today we try not to take for granted the things we almost always take for granted. We try, if only in that brief pause before the eating begins, to see through the well-worn patterns of our lives to what lies behind them. In other words, we try to understand how very rich we are, whether we feel very rich or not. Today is one of the few times most Americans consciously set desire aside, if only because desire is incompatible with the gratitude - not to mention the abundance - that Thanksgiving summons.

It's tempting to think that one Thanksgiving is pretty much like another, except for differences in the guest list and the recipes. But it isn't true. This is always a feast about where we are now. Thanksgiving reflects the complexion of the year we're in. Some years it feels buoyant, almost jubilant in nature. Other years it seems marked by a conspicuous humility uncommon in the calendar of American emotions.

And this year? We will probably remember this Thanksgiving as a banquet of mixed emotions. This is, after all, a profoundly American holiday. The undertow of business as usual seems especially strong this year. The shadow of a war and misgivings over the future loom in the minds of many of us. Most years we enjoy the privacy of Thanksgiving, but this year, somehow, the holiday feels like part of a public effort to remember and reclaim for ourselves what it means to be American.

That means giving thanks for some fundamental principles that should be honored every day of the year in the life of this nation - principles of generosity, tolerance and inclusion. This is a feast that no one should be turned away from. The abundance of the food piled on the table should signify that there is plenty for all, plenty to be shared. The welcome we feel makes sense only if we also extend it to others.

 

From the Los Angeles Times: Nothing

As in Not A Thing.

Nothing.

 

(Free Republic guidelines regarding use of profanity prevent me from commenting further.)

 

 

[AnnaZ]

As for me, I'm grateful to God for my life, and to Jesus of Nazareth for my life eternal.

 

I'm grateful for the wonderful and loving family with which He has blessed me abundantly.

 

I'm grateful for the privilege of living in the greatest country on Earth.

 

And I'm grateful to my FReeper family. Long have we toiled, and this year we have been blessed with the fruit of our labor. May each one of us recognize and appreciate all that we have been given.

 

 

Thank you so much for your FRiendship over these years. You rock!

[glock rocks]

I couldn't say it better than you did. I'm glad you're here.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving AnnaZ.

[AnnaZ]

Now that is a funny picture.

 

("Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!")

[VOA]

OK, it's not about newspaper editorials...but here are few links of Thanksgiving interest...

Thanksgiving Square (deep in the heart of Dallas, which of course is deep in the
heart of Texas...
http://www.thanksgiving.org/

And a Thnaksgiving stamp was premiered there by the US Postal Service...
http://www.usps.com/news/2001/philatelic/sr01_071.htm

[VOA]

http://www.thanksgiving.org/2quotes.html

a good, concise summary of historical quotes on Thanksgiving

[AnnaZ]

Thanks for the links!

 

But can you believe the Slimes avoided Thanksgiving altogether?

 

I mean, yes, we know they suck badly, but did we know how badly they really sucked?

 

(Okay, yes we did. Yet they still continue to surprise me with the abyss-like depths of their suckiness.)

[cgbg]

The Gray Whore--"tolerance and inclusion"

Surely they don't expect their readers to be tolerant to Conservatives--that would be asking the impossible. :-)

[silverleaf]

Perhaps you can share their Kwanzaa editorial when they publish it.

[AnnaZ]

Surely they don't expect their readers to be tolerant to Conservatives--that would be asking the impossible. :-)

Exactly. But don't you just love the pious word-mouthing?

 

(And they still were somehow better than my lo(So)cal rag. If ever there was a city in need of a secondary newspaper...)

[VOA]

But can you believe the Slimes avoided Thanksgiving altogether?

Would that this were so.
I think it was a caller to the Al Rantel show last night (Wed.) who noted that
the Los Angele Times had given some rave reviews to some book with a title like
"The Thanksgiving Ceremony".

Apparently this little tome is getting rave reviews from places like the LA Times
and from various Thanksgiving traditions experts like S. Spielberg and Alan Alda.

That's because it's a studious exercise in making Thanksgiving a totally-secularized
and b@$tardized pagan ritual.

It's all about being thankful to the vegetarian, tofu-munchin', pacifist Native Americans,
don'tcha know.

(Although Squantos and some kindly Native Americans did save the Pilgrams' bacon,
that's for sure!)

[AnnaZ]

Perhaps you can share their Kwanzaa editorial when they publish it.

I'll look out for it... tho' I'll reduce my search to what sections were left on a table in Starbucks -- I have demanded that my husband stop torturing me with his daily dumping of their crap on my coffe table ("I just buy it for the Sports and Classifieds, honey." [His compensation is that he now picks up the NYPost for me each morning.])

 

I think they should just go "Festivus". Oh, and Ramadan, of course.

[vetsvette]

Thanksgiving is, of course, a uniquely American holiday -- so, what else could we expect from Pravda East and Pravda West, who are both staffed by individuals that truly hate America, but insults reflective of their collective view.

[newsgatherer]

Each day I see the wisdom of our Publisher at Christian-news-in-maine.com clearer and clearer.

He absolutley refuses to let us sue the NYT's as a source. His qoute: "They (the NYT's staff) are a lying bunch of Christ hating, Republic hating, homosexual and communist fronts, and will not be featured in CNIM!"

[Bars4Bill]

That means giving thanks for some fundamental principles that should be honored every day of the year in the life of this nation - principles of generosity, tolerance and inclusion. This is a feast that no one should be turned away from. The abundance of the food piled on the table should signify that there is plenty for all, plenty to be shared. The welcome we feel makes sense only if we also extend it to others.

Knowing the NY Times' overall theme, it's safe to guess that by "others," they mean GLBT.

[Jim Robinson]

We have much to be thankful for.

Thank you, AnnaZ.

May you have a Blessed Thanksgiving!

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

It's all about being thankful to the vegetarian, tofu-munchin', pacifist Native Americans, don'tcha know.

Oh please tell me that they didn't. That is a < censored > insult!

Didn't they used to flog people for slander? Can't we bring that back?

[Tony in Hawaii]

Sweetie, who the heck reads the L.A. Times anyway? :D

Happy Thanksgiving!

[facedown]

The welcome we feel makes sense only if we also extend it to others.

How profoundly sophomoric.

Somehow I picture Dan Aykroyd in drag as a beauty queen contestant saying something like that.

<falsetto>Oh how prehhhhhhcious!</falsetto>

[AnnaZ]

Sweetie, who the heck reads the L.A. Times anyway? :D

Me? So that you don't have to?

 

: |

[AnnaZ]

We have much to be thankful for.

Do we ever.

 

Abundant blessings, and gratitude, to you and yours as well. It has been a darned fine year to be an American, a Republican, and a FReeper.

 

smooch!

[Howlin]

Same to you, Anna.

What would we do without each other?

[Straight Vermonter]

I think one line is very telling about the world some people in the MSM imagine we all live in.

Some of the people seated at the table are strangers - friends of friends, cousins of in-laws - and some are almost desperately familiar

I'd love to be a relative of this guy. Not.

[AnnaZ]

so, what else could we expect from Pravda East and Pravda West

Of course you're right. But every once in a while, like a fool, I hold out a little hope.

 

: /

[Bullish]

The L.A. times does well to keep their anti-American, anti-Christian mouths shut.

[AnnaZ]

"They (the NYT's staff) are a lying bunch of Christ hating, Republic hating, homosexual and communist fronts, and will not be featured in CNIM!"

And yet, somehow, the LAT is worse. This might actually be a statistical anomaly.

[AnnaZ]

Knowing the NY Times' overall theme, it's safe to guess that by "others," they mean GLBT.

It's certainly safe to say that they mean something subversively anti-traditional.

 

*sigh!*

[Gabz]

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, and may God continue in his Blessings for you.

I was truly amazed when the leftwing rag I read on line every morning only had one editorial (they usually have 2) and it was the President's Thanksgiving message. This same paper, in typical Gannett fashion skewered the President from every side for his entire first term.

I like to think there is actually some good in all people, and little things like that tell, maybe I'm not too overly optimistic.

[Calvin Locke]

From the Los Angeles Times: Nothing

Give Michael Kinsley a call and axe him "whatsup?"

Or, give Michael Kinsely a call and say "Clymer" and hang up.

[AnnaZ]

How profoundly sophomoric.

It makes me think of the Christopher Hitchens quote: "Can you eat enough to vomit enough?"

 

Wait a minute... there's the holiday-weight-gain-avoidance we've all been searching for! Read the two-coasts' Slimes before sitting down to dinner!

[AnnaZ]

What would we do without each other?

Absolutely, positively go mad.

 

Bless you and yours, Howlin. Happy Thanksgiving!

[RaceBannon]

I am grateful that you plan on returning to FR radio soon...right?

[facedown]

Read the two-coasts' Slimes before sitting down to dinner!

Honest to Pete, I'd be with Hitchens on this one. Bulimia would be preferable than reading either of those fishwraps.

[facedown]

than = to, but you knew that!

[Petronski]

Don't forget the Wall Street Journal:



The Desolate Wilderness

Here beginneth the chronicle of those memorable circumstances of the year 1620, as recorded by Nathaniel Morton, keeper of the records of Plymouth Colony, based on the account of William Bradford, sometime governor thereof:

So they left that goodly and pleasant city of Leyden, which had been their resting-place for above eleven years, but they knew that they were pilgrims and strangers here below, and looked not much on these things, but lifted up their eyes to Heaven, their dearest country, where God hath prepared for them a city (Heb. XI, 16), and therein quieted their spirits.

When they came to Delfs-Haven they found the ship and all things ready, and such of their friends as could not come with them followed after them, and sundry came from Amsterdam to see them shipt, and to take their leaves of them. One night was spent with little sleep with the most, but with friendly entertainment and Christian discourse, and other real expressions of true Christian love.

The next day they went on board, and their friends with them, where truly doleful was the sight of that sad and mournful parting, to hear what sighs and sobs and prayers did sound amongst them; what tears did gush from every eye, and pithy speeches pierced each other's heart, that sundry of the Dutch strangers that stood on the Key as spectators could not refrain from tears. But the tide (which stays for no man) calling them away, that were thus loath to depart, their Reverend Pastor, falling down on his knees, and they all with him, with watery cheeks commended them with the most fervent prayers unto the Lord and His blessing; and then with mutual embraces and many tears they took their leaves one of another, which proved to be the last leave to many of them.

Being now passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before them in expectations, they had now no friends to welcome them, no inns to entertain or refresh them, no houses, or much less towns, to repair unto to seek for succour; and for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of the country know them to be sharp and violent, subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search unknown coasts.

Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wilde beasts and wilde men? and what multitudes of them there were, they then knew not: for which way soever they turned their eyes (save upward to Heaven) they could have but little solace or content in respect of any outward object; for summer being ended, all things stand in appearance with a weatherbeaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hew.

If they looked behind them, there was a mighty ocean which they had passed, and was now as a main bar or gulph to separate them from all the civil parts of the world.

The Wall Street Journal has published this editorial annually since 1961.



And the Fair Land

Anyone whose labors take him into the far reaches of the country, as ours lately have done, is bound to mark how the years have made the land grow fruitful.

This is indeed a big country, a rich country, in a way no array of figures can measure and so in a way past belief of those who have not seen it. Even those who journey through its Northeastern complex, into the Southern lands, across the central plains and to its Western slopes can only glimpse a measure of the bounty of America.

And a traveler cannot but be struck on his journey by the thought that this country, one day, can be even greater. America, though many know it not, is one of the great underdeveloped countries of the world; what it reaches for exceeds by far what it has grasped.

So the visitor returns thankful for much of what he has seen, and, in spite of everything, an optimist about what his country might be. Yet the visitor, if he is to make an honest report, must also note the air of unease that hangs everywhere.

For the traveler, as travelers have been always, is as much questioned as questioning. And for all the abundance he sees, he finds the questions put to him ask where men may repair for succor from the troubles that beset them.

His countrymen cannot forget the savage face of war. Too often they have been asked to fight in strange and distant places, for no clear purpose they could see and for no accomplishment they can measure. Their spirits are not quieted by the thought that the good and pleasant bounty that surrounds them can be destroyed in an instant by a single bomb. Yet they find no escape, for their survival and comfort now depend on unpredictable strangers in far-off corners of the globe.

How can they turn from melancholy when at home they see young arrayed against old, black against white, neighbor against neighbor, so that they stand in peril of social discord. Or not despair when they see that the cities and countryside are in need of repair, yet find themselves threatened by scarcities of the resources that sustain their way of life. Or when, in the face of these challenges, they turn for leadership to men in high places--only to find those men as frail as any others.

So sometimes the traveler is asked whence will come their succor. What is to preserve their abundance, or even their civility? How can they pass on to their children a nation as strong and free as the one they inherited from their forefathers? How is their country to endure these cruel storms that beset it from without and from within?

Of course the stranger cannot quiet their spirits. For it is true that everywhere men turn their eyes today much of the world has a truly wild and savage hue. No man, if he be truthful, can say that the specter of war is banished. Nor can he say that when men or communities are put upon their own resources they are sure of solace; nor be sure that men of diverse kinds and diverse views can live peaceably together in a time of troubles.

But we can all remind ourselves that the richness of this country was not born in the resources of the earth, though they be plentiful, but in the men that took its measure. For that reminder is everywhere--in the cities, towns, farms, roads, factories, homes, hospitals, schools that spread everywhere over that wilderness.

We can remind ourselves that for all our social discord we yet remain the longest enduring society of free men governing themselves without benefit of kings or dictators. Being so, we are the marvel and the mystery of the world, for that enduring liberty is no less a blessing than the abundance of the earth.

And we might remind ourselves also, that if those men setting out from Delftshaven had been daunted by the troubles they saw around them, then we could not this autumn be thankful for a fair land.

The Wall Street Journal has published this editorial annually since 1961.

[dansangel]

((((((AnnaZ)))))))

No, *you* ROCK! :-)

I am thankful that Jesus Christ sacrificed His life for me, a lowly sinner, to show how much He loves me.

I am thankful for the best husband I could ever ask for.

I am thankful for our troops and the sacrifices they and their families make to ensure my freedom.

I am thankful for Free Republic and for FReeper FRiends that I have made over the years.

I am also thankful that I live in the greatest country on Earth and that President Bush will be our leader for the next 4 years.

[HangFire]

It has been a darned fine year to be an American, a Republican, and a FReeper.

Hear hear, excellent point Anna and thank you for all that you do;-)

[AnnaZ]

That was beautiful. Thank you so much for gracing this thread with it.

[AnnaZ]

I'd love to be a relative of this guy. Not.

LOL! Tell me about it. There's more than one Clymer employed by those people.

[AnnaZ]

The L.A. times does well to keep their anti-American, anti-Christian mouths shut.

Hmmm... you have a point there...

 

(But, really, they should at least be thankful I haven't blown up their building yet.)

 

=: o

[AnnaZ]

I was truly amazed when the leftwing rag I read on line every morning only had one editorial (they usually have 2) and it was the President's Thanksgiving message.

And what a lovely, un-PC message it was. Jut the "in the year of our Lord" part must have sent a bunch of Rats screaming and scurrying.

 

(At the dinner table tonight, as we went around giving our thanks, I couldn't help but stray from the usual "for health, family, and friends" to, once again, praising the good Lord for the election results.)

[AnnaZ]

Give Michael Kinsley a call and axe him "whatsup?"

Or, give Michael Kinsely a call and say "Clymer" and hang up.

 

What to do, what to do...

 

And anyway, it was quite recently that I called them and congratulated them on their new status as Al Jazeera, West.

[Gabz]

My comment was....4 more years........

[AnnaZ]

I am grateful that you plan on returning to FR radio soon...right?

Don't go starting rumors, Race. (LOL)

 

= )

 

Happy Thanksgiving, love. God bless!

[AnnaZ]

My comment was....4 more years........

LOL!!! Here's hoping it was well-received.

 

Abundant blessings, sweetie!

[Bullish]

Hehehe....

[SteveH]

From the New York Times: Guilt and Political Correctness

See also (and also from the NYT) a politically correct, revisionist look at origin and history of Thanksgiving:

Unnatural Abundance [NYT takes a (pc) look at the origin and history of Thanksgiving]

[AnnaZ]

Honest to Pete, I'd be with Hitchens on this one. Bulimia would be preferable than reading either of those fishwraps.

True.

 

I, uh, do it, uh... it's, uh... public service! Yeah, that's the ticket.

 

: /

[Petronski]

Every Thanksgiving for twenty years the WSJ has graced me with those words...since the first time I read the WSJ.

[Gabz]

Abundant blessings back to you my FRiend.

Of course it was well-received. It was only the 3 of us and our 6 year old started the round of thanks....and she impishly added at the end, "and President Bush kept his job."

The grin on her face let me know she had remembered hubby and I talking earlier about some of the threads here the past few days, and what different people were thankful for, and of course the 4 more years came up more than once.

During many of the discussions up to the election, one of the explanations about skerrry to her was that he wanted to take away President Bush's job, and we wanted him to keep it for 4 more years.