Question: “Bart […] may I know what you think of the significance of Thanksgiving when some feel it is a reminder of the genocide and continued suffering of the Native Americans?“

Bart Ehrman: “I have to admit, I never think about the historical origins of the tradition when I celebrate Thanksgiving.” (1)

Thank god, we don’t have to. Nobody does. Oh, wait. Every time I pick up a cigarette and light it, I stop and wonder about the creation of the racial caste system in the tobacco-growing regions of southern slave society. (2)

Bart Ehrman: “The origins are horrible, and obviously I shun them completely.“

If you purposely stay away from someone, you shun that person. A sensitive baker may ask why you are shunning her cookies. (3)

Or a teacher may ask the black six-year boy why he is shunning to write “blatant racial discrimination” on the board.

Bart Ehrman: “In a sense, I guess, I’ve completely reimagined the holiday, not to be about pilgrims but about today.“

Me too. I am no longer able to function or participate in regular everyday life. But I am not deluded. Or schizophrenic.

Bart Ehrman: “It’s a time to give thanks (even if there’s no one to thank) for our good things.“

Once you understand the feeling of gratitude is empty of meaning, you will start feeling grateful for everything. And since complaining disappears, also misery disappears. 

Is Bart a sophist? 

Bart Ehrman: “That too is complicated, though, since, of course, in America, many of us have good things only because of awful things our predecessors did to others.“

“Check your white privilege,” seems the mantra handled to us by activists. Do they mean socioeconomic privileges or intellectual privileges?  

Sorry, Bart. I have checked my privileges. And I apologize for nothing.

Bart Ehrman: “Maybe I/we should use the day for more reflection about the pain in the world instead of congratulating ourselves for our good things.“

At what point is an individual accountable for involvement in an action that he believes to be immoral?

Bart Ehrman: “Especially since most of our bounty continues to be built on the suffering of others. We live in a massively complicated world, and I’m afraid we’re all complicit. As it turns out, that’s what I think about most of the time.“

Moral Complicity requires at least a few factors to be assessed. The first is proximity. And, possibly the most important one is intent.

Further, you go, less morally responsible you are.

Everything out of scope is non-existential.

Bart Ehrman: “On Thanksgiving, I just think about turkey, family, and friends. But I’m open to thinking that’s not right…“

Ok. But if you don’t play the game don’t make the rules.

(1) ** you do not have permission to see this link **

(2)

(3) ** you do not have permission to see this link **