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Thanksgiving Dinner: History Designed It, And Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio Critiques It

Long Read via Fast Company Design

Forget what your kindergarten teacher taught you; there’s no such thing as the original Thanksgiving. “It’s a nice myth that was created in 1841,” says Andrew Smith, contributor to The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, referencing the story we all know so well. “The Puritans—the pilgrims—they’d celebrate days of thanksgiving, but it was a day you spent in church thanking God for a bountiful harvest, or maybe a victory over the Indians. What you didn’t do was sit down and eat. That would be a frivolous activity.”

So where did Thanksgiving come from? Why are we eating this meal with our inlaws and second cousins?

…More

Posted on Wednesday, November 21st 2012

Tags History Thanksgiving Top Chef Food Foodie Health Tradition America

A thought-provoking read on Gun Violence in America and an analysis of the factors usually presumed to be reasons. One interesting regional factor not often looked at is the “culture of honor” as defined by social psychologist Richard Nesbitt:  ”In “Violence and Regional Culture,” published in American Psychologist in 1993, Nisbett examined the higher rate of violence in the U.S. south. After considering possible explanations having to do with poverty, the legacy of slavery, and even the region’s hotter climate, he found a different answer in a cultural vestige of pastoralism: a deep “culture of honor” in which residents place an extraordinary value on personal reputation, family, and property. Threats to these things provoke aggressive reactions, leading to higher rates of murder and domestic violence. A more recent study by Ryan P. Brown, Lindsey Osterman, and Collin Barnes of the University of Oklahoma, published in Psychological Science in 2009, reinforces Nisbett’s findings and suggests that a culture of honor plays a particularly significant role in high school violence. The study found a culture of honor to be significantly associated with two indices of school violence: the percentage of high school students who reported having brought a weapon to school during the past month; and the prevalence of actual school shootings over a 20 year period.”  (via)

A thought-provoking read on Gun Violence in America and an analysis of the factors usually presumed to be reasons. One interesting regional factor not often looked at is the “culture of honor” as defined by social psychologist Richard Nesbitt:

 ”In “Violence and Regional Culture,” published in American Psychologist in 1993, Nisbett examined the higher rate of violence in the U.S. south. After considering possible explanations having to do with poverty, the legacy of slavery, and even the region’s hotter climate, he found a different answer in a cultural vestige of pastoralism: a deep “culture of honor” in which residents place an extraordinary value on personal reputation, family, and property. Threats to these things provoke aggressive reactions, leading to higher rates of murder and domestic violence.

A more recent study by Ryan P. Brown, Lindsey Osterman, and Collin Barnes of the University of Oklahoma, published in Psychological Science in 2009, reinforces Nisbett’s findings and suggests that a culture of honor plays a particularly significant role in high school violence. The study found a culture of honor to be significantly associated with two indices of school violence: the percentage of high school students who reported having brought a weapon to school during the past month; and the prevalence of actual school shootings over a 20 year period.” 

(via)

Posted on Saturday, July 21st 2012

Tags Guns Violence Psychology America Colorado