And p.s. Yeah, ALL the Pilgrims were horrible people. Slavery existed all over the world, so it's not surprising it came here, too, and WE ended it. Our forefathers anticipated the end of it, if yo u don't think so read John Adams' tirades against it and the way they worded the constitution. John Adams is my cousin, both descended from Henry Adams of Braintree -- and he paid them and taught them and railed against it constantly on the senate floor. Washington and Jefferson made changes in the right direction. And just where were these wonderful people, the inherently wonderful ones? Just where did they come from? Indigenous Native Americans were violent as could be. Killed each other with abandon and owned slaves. Just where are these oh so wonderful people who were inherently good and never had to evolve into decent people? Give it a rest. So America is just so so. Whatever. NO people are great. They have all head to evolve and we did better than most. Too bad you can't be more thanksful for things.
yet another Pilgrim descendant chiming in to defend them. Yes, they were uptight and it's woke to make fun of them. But you and your fellow New England haters obsess about this prudery, which as you note is not that weird in the contest of the seventeenth century, and ignore a much more important contribution. The Pilgrims, who have morphed into today's Congregationalists and Unitarians, rejected all religious hierarchy and made the religion essentially democratic. So while the Catholic Church creaks on as a medieval relic, those cantankerous Pilgrims and their unique style of governance allowed their religion to adapt to the times. You'd be hard pressed to find more liberal denominations than the Congos and the Unitarians, which is a testament to just how flexible this religious structure was. And it's undeniable that New England, ruled by these churches through the nineteenth century, was responsible for the country's great universities, writers, philosophers, the Revolution and the abolition of slavery. All in all, it's a pretty good scorecard. Happy post Thanksgiving recovery everyone.
Wow- paid my 50 bucks and am treated to a truly low rent rant about the Detroit Lions and the Pilgrims? With all that's going on and we're served up such irrelevance?
Clarifying the history a little bit...the complement of truth being clarity and all.... The Puritans fled England and the Church to take refuge in the Netherlands, where religious tolerance was, more or less for the time, quite enlightened and accepting of alternate religions. The locals called them Puritans as an epithet, making fun of them because they thought they were more pure than anyone else. They did not flee religious intolerance as much as they wanted to get someplace where they could exercise their particularly intolerant and retentive ideas about their religion. IOW, America was founded by a strange religious cult, intent on forcing their brand of the Almighty down everyone’s throat. And, they still working on it.
The Taliban were the sons of the muhajadeed who stayed behind with the noses in the Koran while their daddies were off fighting the godless Soviets. The Taliban were a bunch of egghead bookworms who that they were qualified to tell everyone else how to run their lives
Thus the Anglo-saxon Taliban would be the faculty of Harvard. Elizabeth Warren, Austin Goolsby, Richard Summers, i.e. the previous administration.
Jesus, Matt! I think you're being a bit unfair to... well, everyone. Either you really need a drink, or you've had one too many. Would it help you to feel better if I sent you a picture of a puppy? With a hat on? : )
For those who are interested, "Albion's Seed" by David Hackett Fischer is an interesting social history of the very different British cultures which colonized different regions of North America. There was "East Anglia to Massachusetts," of course (and as Matt shows, these Puritans were a sort of "Anglo-Saxon Taliban"), but there was also "South of England to Virginia" (the Cavaliers and their indentured servants), "North Midlands to the Delaware Valley" (the Quakers), and "Borderlands to Backcountry" (the Scotch-Irish). The latter three groups were well aware that the Puritans were "horrible people."
And p.s. Yeah, ALL the Pilgrims were horrible people. Slavery existed all over the world, so it's not surprising it came here, too, and WE ended it. Our forefathers anticipated the end of it, if yo u don't think so read John Adams' tirades against it and the way they worded the constitution. John Adams is my cousin, both descended from Henry Adams of Braintree -- and he paid them and taught them and railed against it constantly on the senate floor. Washington and Jefferson made changes in the right direction. And just where were these wonderful people, the inherently wonderful ones? Just where did they come from? Indigenous Native Americans were violent as could be. Killed each other with abandon and owned slaves. Just where are these oh so wonderful people who were inherently good and never had to evolve into decent people? Give it a rest. So America is just so so. Whatever. NO people are great. They have all head to evolve and we did better than most. Too bad you can't be more thanksful for things.
yet another Pilgrim descendant chiming in to defend them. Yes, they were uptight and it's woke to make fun of them. But you and your fellow New England haters obsess about this prudery, which as you note is not that weird in the contest of the seventeenth century, and ignore a much more important contribution. The Pilgrims, who have morphed into today's Congregationalists and Unitarians, rejected all religious hierarchy and made the religion essentially democratic. So while the Catholic Church creaks on as a medieval relic, those cantankerous Pilgrims and their unique style of governance allowed their religion to adapt to the times. You'd be hard pressed to find more liberal denominations than the Congos and the Unitarians, which is a testament to just how flexible this religious structure was. And it's undeniable that New England, ruled by these churches through the nineteenth century, was responsible for the country's great universities, writers, philosophers, the Revolution and the abolition of slavery. All in all, it's a pretty good scorecard. Happy post Thanksgiving recovery everyone.
Hey, buzz off, Matt. The Lions have won 6 out of the last 10 Thanksgiving games, two of them against the Packers. One against the Patriots.
Wow- paid my 50 bucks and am treated to a truly low rent rant about the Detroit Lions and the Pilgrims? With all that's going on and we're served up such irrelevance?
Clarifying the history a little bit...the complement of truth being clarity and all.... The Puritans fled England and the Church to take refuge in the Netherlands, where religious tolerance was, more or less for the time, quite enlightened and accepting of alternate religions. The locals called them Puritans as an epithet, making fun of them because they thought they were more pure than anyone else. They did not flee religious intolerance as much as they wanted to get someplace where they could exercise their particularly intolerant and retentive ideas about their religion. IOW, America was founded by a strange religious cult, intent on forcing their brand of the Almighty down everyone’s throat. And, they still working on it.
Thanks for featuring the Detroit Lions, America's foremost basket of deplorables.
At one time, Detroit was one of a small number of richest cities in the world and the arsenal of democracy. Now, not so much.
Funny shit, Matt, even if it is just the latest screed of an increasingly grumpy aging male.
The Lions were great in the 50s - Bobby Layne! And good in the early 60s - Alex Karras.
Their fortunes fell along with those of the Ford Motor Company.
Sorry.
The Taliban were the sons of the muhajadeed who stayed behind with the noses in the Koran while their daddies were off fighting the godless Soviets. The Taliban were a bunch of egghead bookworms who that they were qualified to tell everyone else how to run their lives
Thus the Anglo-saxon Taliban would be the faculty of Harvard. Elizabeth Warren, Austin Goolsby, Richard Summers, i.e. the previous administration.
I really dig the "New Today" segment.
Here's a trip for you: figuring out which direction the insane leaders are steering us only requires a factual telling.
We can draw our own deductions, and when we do... we figure it out. Guardrails today, re-education tomorrow. None of it seems good or just.
I’m thankful for this article. It had everything you could want:
1. The Lions
2. Henry VIII
3. The Puritans
This is why I read you. Like the old Pope dying piece you wrote long ago. Never change!
Jesus, Matt! I think you're being a bit unfair to... well, everyone. Either you really need a drink, or you've had one too many. Would it help you to feel better if I sent you a picture of a puppy? With a hat on? : )
What about Barry Sanders?
For those who are interested, "Albion's Seed" by David Hackett Fischer is an interesting social history of the very different British cultures which colonized different regions of North America. There was "East Anglia to Massachusetts," of course (and as Matt shows, these Puritans were a sort of "Anglo-Saxon Taliban"), but there was also "South of England to Virginia" (the Cavaliers and their indentured servants), "North Midlands to the Delaware Valley" (the Quakers), and "Borderlands to Backcountry" (the Scotch-Irish). The latter three groups were well aware that the Puritans were "horrible people."
I think I first saw that Eddie Izzard special on a Thanksgiving, interestingly enough! Soooo good.