Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Mrs. Buce Asks: Turkeys

"Why do we pardon Turkeys at Thanksgiving?  Shouldn't we be thankful for turkeys?"

She necessarily raises the question of what holiday is appropriate for pardoning.  Yom Kippur I suppose, although Yom Kippur has nothing to do with turkeys.  Unless, of course, the turkey is oneself. 


2 comments:

The New York Crank said...

We pardon turkeys to show that we are a kindly, empathetic, forgiving nation – even though we pepper spray students who are not a physical threat and send innocent people to their executions, and tax the poor to support the rich, and lie like hell in our advertising and have a growing population of citizens living near impoverishment and...oh the hell with it.

Yours very crankily,
The New York Crank

mike shupp said...

It's inverse scapegoating. Our High Priest -- er, President - periodically bestows the blessings of liberty on one randomly chosen beast while the rest of the animals in his category die for our gluttinous sins.

So. Religious tradition.