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Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Wednesday, November 22, 2017 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor MARISSA WILLIAMS Regional Advertising Director MARCY ROSENBERG Circulation Manager JANNA HEIMGARTNER Business Office Manager MIKE JENSEN Production Manager OUR VIEW Thanksgiving myths By VINCENT SCHILLING Indian Country Today Considering Indian Country Today has published its fair share of the true history of Thanksgiving, in which 90 Wampanoag shared provisions with the Pilgrims in 1621, we thought we would take a bit of time to delve into some of the most common misconceptions about the November holiday. The Thanksgiving Day celebrates a peaceful gathering In 1621, though Pilgrims celebrated a feast, it was not repeated in the years to follow. In 1636 a murdered white man was found in his boat and the Pequot were blamed. In retaliation settlers burned Pequot villages. Additionally, English Major John Mason rallied his troops to further burn Pequot wigwams and then attacked and killed hundreds more men, women and children. According to Mason’s reports of the massacre, “We must burn them! Such a dreadful terror let the Almighty fall upon their spirits that they would flee from us and run into the very flames. Thus did the Lord judge the heathen, filling the place with dead bodies.” The Governor of Plymouth William Bradford wrote: “Those that escaped the fire were slain with the sword; some hewed to pieces, AP Photo/Steven Senne others run through with their rapiers, In this Oct. 12 photo, a child in a combined pre-kindergarten and kindergarten Wampanoag so that they were language immersion class removes kernels from an quickly dispatched ear of corn at the Wampanoag Tribe Community and and very few Government Center, in Mashpee, Mass. escaped. It was conceived they thus destroyed about 400 at this time. It was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in the fire …horrible was the stink and scent thereof, but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and they gave the prayers thereof to God, who had wrought so wonderfully for them.” The day after the massacre, William Bradford, who was also the governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, wrote that from that day forth shall be a day of celebration and thanks giving for subduing the Pequots and “For the next 100 years, every Thanksgiving Day ordained by a Governor was in honor of the bloody victory, thanking God that the battle had been won.” Native Americans and the Pilgrims were “besties” The above statement is straight from the mouth of a fifth-grader at Long Elementary School in Ohio, who stated the Indians (Wampanoag) and Pilgrims were not “besties” or best friends. True to this statement, the pilgrims in Massachusetts were far from friendly. Soon after arriving in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Pilgrims went into Indians’ dwellings and cornfields and took whatever they wanted, leaving beads behind. But that isn’t the picture that is painted by many accounts of the first Thanksgiving. According to one colonist’s account in “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong” by James Loewen: “The next morning we found a place like a grave. We decided to dig it up. We found first a mat, and under that a fine bow… We also found bowls, trays, dishes, and things like that. We took several of the prettiest things to carry away with us, and covered the body up again.” The Pilgrims settled in an area that was once Patuxet, a Wampanoag village, but it had been abandoned four years prior because of a deadly outbreak of a plague brought by European traders. Before 1616, the Wampanoag numbered 50,000 to 100,000, occupying 69 villages scattered throughout southeastern Massachusetts and eastern Rhode Island. The plague, however, killed as many as two-thirds of them. Many also had been captured and sold as slaves. Native Americans and Pilgrims came together to give thanks and celebrate In 1621, when the Pilgrims were celebrating a successful harvest, they were shooting guns and cannons into the air. The Wampanoag chief and 90 warriors made their way to the settlement in full warrior mode — in response to the gunfire. As the Huffington Post’s Richard Schiffman puts it: “It remains an open question, however, whether the Wampanoag were actually invited, or if they crashed the party.” The Pilgrims were most likely nervous — the Wampanoag outnumbered the Pilgrims two to one, but it certainly wasn’t the happy picture put forth in many history books. According to Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Ramona Peters: “It was Abraham Lincoln who used the theme of Pilgrims and Indians eating happily together. He was trying to calm things down during the Civil War when people were divided. It was like a nice unity story.” They ate turkey, sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce at the first Thanksgiving According to many historical accounts, there is no proof of turkey gobbling at the 1621 meal, but there was wild fowl (most likely geese or duck). Sweet potatoes were not yet grown in North America and cranberries are not a likely dessert food because sugar was an unaffordable luxury. Other items on the table included such things as venison, pumpkin, succotash and Indian corn. Europeans appreciated Squanto’s help Many have heard the story of the friendly Indian Squanto who learned English from fishermen and later taught the Pilgrims how to plant corn and other vegetables. But what many history books don’t share is that Squanto was kidnapped as a boy and sold into slavery in Spain. After several years, Squanto struggled to get back to Cape Cod. When he returned to his village, he discovered he was the only member of his tribe that remained — the rest were either killed in battle or died of disease during his absence. Another myth here would be to note that Squanto did not learn English solely to help the colonists — it was a necessity to facilitate his escape so he could return home. Pilgrims taught Indians about Thanksgiving The Pilgrims did not introduce the sentiment of Thanksgiving to the Indians. According to Loewen, “Thanksgiving is full of embarrassing facts. The Pilgrims did not introduce the Native Americans to the tradition; Eastern Indians had observed autumnal harvest celebrations for centuries. Our modern celebrations date back only to 1863; not until the 1890s did the Pilgrims get included in the tradition; no one even called them ‘Pilgrims’ until the 1870s.” — This article was originally published by Indian Country Media in 2013. Reprinted with permission. Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of publisher Kathryn Brown, managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, and opinion page editor Tim Trainor. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. OTHER VIEWS How evil is big tech? N ot long ago, tech was the conditions on content creators and coolest industry. Everybody smaller competitors. The political wanted to work at Google, assault on this front is gaining Facebook and Apple. But over the past steam. The left is attacking tech year the mood has shifted. companies because they are mammoth Some now believe tech is like the corporations; the right is attacking tobacco industry — corporations that them because they are culturally make billions of dollars peddling a progressive. Tech will have few destructive addiction. Some believe it defenders on the national scene. David is like the NFL — something millions Obviously, the smart play would Brooks of people love, but which everybody be for the tech industry to get out in Comment knows leaves a trail of human front and clean up its own pollution. wreckage in its wake. There are activists like Tristan Harris Surely the people in tech — who generally of Time Well Spent, who is trying to move the want to make the world a better place — tech world in the right directions. There are don’t want to go down this road. It will be even some good engineering responses. I use interesting to see if they can take the actions an app called Moment to track and control my necessary to prevent their companies from phone usage. becoming social pariahs. The big breakthrough There are three main will come when tech critiques of big tech. executives clearly The first is that it is acknowledge the central destroying the young. truth: Their technologies Social media promises are extremely useful for an end to loneliness but the tasks and pleasures that actually produces an require shallower forms increase in solitude and an of consciousness, but intense awareness of social they often crowd out and exclusion. Texting and destroy the deeper forms other technologies give of consciousness people you more control over your need to thrive. social interactions but also Online is a place for lead to thinner interactions human contact but not and less real engagement with the world. intimacy. Online is a place for information As Jean Twenge has demonstrated in book but not reflection. It gives you the first and essay, since the spread of the smartphone, stereotypical thought about a person or a teens are much less likely to hang out with situation, but it’s hard to carve out time and friends, they are less likely to date, they are space for the third, 15th and 43rd thought. less likely to work. Online is a place for exploration but Eighth-graders who spend 10 or more discourages cohesion. It grabs control of your hours a week on social media are 56 percent attention and scatters it across a vast range of more likely to say they are unhappy than those diverting things. But we are happiest when who spend less time. Eighth-graders who are we have brought our lives to a point, when we heavy users of social media increase their have focused attention and will on one thing, risk of depression by 27 percent. Teens who wholeheartedly with all our might. spend three or more hours a day on electronic Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote that devices are 35 percent more likely to have a we take a break from the distractions of the risk factor for suicide, like making a plan for world not as a rest to give us more strength how to do it. Girls, especially hard hit, have to dive back in, but as the climax of living. experienced a 50 percent rise in depressive “The seventh day is a palace in time which we symptoms. build. It is made of soul, joy and reticence,” The second critique of the tech industry he said. By cutting off work and technology is that it is causing this addiction on purpose, we enter a different state of consciousness, to make money. Tech companies understand a different dimension of time and a different what causes dopamine surges in the brain atmosphere, a “mine where the spirit’s and they lace their products with “hijacking precious metal can be found.” techniques” that lure us in and create Imagine if instead of claiming to offer us “compulsion loops.” the best things in life, tech merely saw itself as Snapchat has Snapstreak, which rewards providing efficiency devices. Its innovations friends who snap each other every day, thus can save us time on lower-level tasks so we encouraging addictive behavior. News feeds can get offline and there experience the best are structured as “bottomless bowls” so that things in life. one page view leads down to another and Imagine if tech pitched itself that way. That another and so on forever. Most social media would be an amazing show of realism and, sites create irregularly timed rewards; you especially, humility, which these days is the have to check your device compulsively ultimate and most disruptive technology. because you never know when a burst of ■ social affirmation from a Facebook like may David Brooks became a New York Times come. Op-Ed columnist in September 2003. He The third critique is that Apple, Amazon, has been a senior editor at The Weekly Google and Facebook are near monopolies Standard, a contributing editor at Newsweek that use their market power to invade the and the Atlantic Monthly, and is currently a private lives of their users and impose unfair commentator on PBS. Tech is like the tobacco industry or the NFL — something that leaves a trail of human wreckage in its wake. YOUR VIEWS Walden’s votes in Congress will cost him votes in election This letter is directed to my neighbors in Oregon’s Second Congressional District who, like me, have been supporters of our Representative Greg Walden. We all need to pay attention to Rep. Walden’s vote last week in support of the U.S. House tax restructuring bill. The truth is that this bill will harm many of us in order to pay for permanent, hefty tax cuts for the small handful of our Second District neighbors with very high income and/or net worth. It will do so in ways that we will notice, and that we will not like, such as: • Raising taxes outright for about a quarter of us; • Eliminating deductions for state and local taxes, medical expenses, child credits, adoptions, higher education tuition and interest on student loans; • Triggering automatic, deep cuts to Medicare; and • Relying on tens of thousands canceling their health insurance, which will raise premiums for the rest of us. Greg Walden voted for a radical, awful, unpopular bill which he helped ram through the House in two weeks without a hearing. He needs to hear from his constituents who will be hurt by it. Jim Appleton Mosier LETTERS POLICY The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.