The march of platitudes

THE word ‘platitude’ has been around since the early 19th century. Deriving from the French ‘plat’ (flat), ‘platitude’ refers often to a banal or boring truth that recurs. The trouble with platitudes is that they are neither interesting nor thought provoking. 

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Some times, platitudes function at a great remove from the truth itself. Take the instance of ‘pardon’(from medieval Latin: completely given). Officials of the Catholic Church sold ‘pardons’ to laymen. Pardons allowed repentance to be replaced by cash for misdemeanours or sin. They were viewed as legal tender, ostensibly acknowledged in the hereafter. The pardoner, who channelled the sale of pardons in Medieval England, was hated and much reviled in the poetry of Langland and Chaucer. The platitude that ‘money can condone (deliberately ignore) all manner of sins’ is a clichéd, albeit historical truth.

‘To pardon’ means to forgive or to excuse someone’s shortcomings or errors. People can also be ‘pardoned’  for treason. ‘I beg your pardon’ is an expression directed at a speaker whose utterance is either not heard or isunclear and meant to elicit a response.

A pardon is received by one lucky turkey every year in November in the US. All other ‘unpardonable’  turkeys are culled and eaten in a culture that offers thanks for vegetable and animal produce that is seen as bounty received from the land.  

Is there a moral truth enshrined here? Does the ‘pardoned’ turkey become a free inhabitant in a democratic nation? Can it found a colony with the ‘presidential pardon’ it has received, since forgiveness has been extended by none other than the American President? Will it be allowed to escape to a new life and a brand new identity? No, such privileges are allowed only to the few humans who work for the CIA in television soaps.  The turkey will probablybe allowed to die of old age, uncommon to the history of domesticated bird food.

Can we be pardoned for concluding that the ritual of granting one turkey freedom from the knife is  a ritual that no longer upholds any profound truth? Ritual symbolism in this instance only houses a platitude. The  pardoning of a solitary turkey and the commercialisation of Thanksgiving are well-documented facts.  So is news about Thanksgiving sales in malls offering goods at unbelievably low prices. Shopping bonanzas and opulent dinners with stuffed turkey alongside other delights and much bonhomie and laughter epitomises Thanksgiving in popular culture. Nowadays, online recipes also usher in   vegan Thanksgiving.

The origins of Thanksgiving  dates back to cultural practice originating in the American way of life in the 17th century. While harvest festivals form part ofolder cultural traditions worldwide, the pilgrim settlers observed Thanksgiving in 1623 when a drought ended. The civic order issued in this regard, extended the festival’s scope beyond the jurisdiction of the church. In the 18th century, national leaders such as Adams and Washington initiated Thanksgiving celebrations at different times of the year after good harvests, adoption of a state constitution or military victories. 

Since the middle of the civil war, Abraham Lincoln scheduled Thanksgiving as a national eventto be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of every November. In Modern America, Thanksgiving celebrations gloss over differing histories and lives while condoning factors that could not be co-opted as ‘manifest destiny’; the 19th century doctrine justifying US expansion throughout the American continents.