William S. Burroughs' Thanksgiving Card to America

This is a brilliant little polemic. It makes you cringe, and to wish what Burroughs says isn't true. But it all is. This is who we are as Americans, and who we have been, and not who we wish to be.

According to the YouTube summary, "...This is a short film by Gus Van Sant of Mr. Burroughs reading his poem called Thanksgiving Day Nov. 28, 1986." Here's the original video on YouTube.

There is also another more positive and hopeful side to America, of course. But I believe we cannot be who we want to be unless we accept the worst truths about ourselves. Burroughs lays it out, warts and worse, here.

We have certainly come face to face over the past few years with those parts of ourselves and of our society and our culture that we have preferred to lock away in secret cupboards. No doubt about that. All the crows are hanging about now and squawking, right in the open, from Bill O'Reilly to Mitch McConnell and Ann Coulter and the so-called Rev. James Dobson.

Pretend I'm Howard Beale for just one moment. I want you to get mad as hell. I want you to go to the window and open it and yell at all of those crows just like Terry Jones in Life of Brian. Repeat after me at the top of your voice (make sure you sound like an old British washerwoman now): "Go away!!"

Then take two Tylenol, but don't call me in the morning, please. Call your Senators and your Congressional Representative. Tell them what is on your mind. Be courteous. Their staff members are getting an earful right now on every subject. Please add yours to the mix.

Call the local Democratic candidate who is running in your district or state at whatever level and volunteer to work for them. Call your County Clerk's office and volunteer to work as a voting clerk or judge in the primaries next spring. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper and tell them what you see that bothers you and how you want to see us fix it as a community. And most of all, contribute, contribute, contribute as best you can with the means you have.

Whatever you do, don't just sit there. I'm serious.

First posted 12-18-07 on the original Whistling Dog.