{"id":299609,"date":"2024-12-01T09:00:21","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T09:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=299609"},"modified":"2024-12-03T08:09:18","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T08:09:18","slug":"this-thanksgiving-in-the-new-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=299609","title":{"rendered":"This Thanksgiving in the New Normal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Off-Guardian \u2013 Nov 28, 2024<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Our successor to This Week in the Guardian<\/em>, This Week in the New Normal<\/a><\/em> is our weekly chart of the progress of autocracy, authoritarianism and economic restructuring around the world. This special Thursday edition marks Thanksgiving for our American friends<\/p>\n

Happy Turkey Day<\/p>\n

1. Grocery Gaslighting?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Have you noticed that groceries have been getting steadily more expensive for years?<\/p>\n

Well, you\u2019re wrong. They haven\u2019t.<\/p>\n

In fact, according to a report from NBC\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Thanksgiving dinner is historically affordable this year<\/p>\n

Apparently the cost of a family feast this holiday season is the lowest since 1984*.<\/p>\n

*After adjusting for inflation, and not including Covid-hit 2020.<\/p>\n

They cite a new report from the American Farm Bureau Federation<\/a>, which claims that the average price of a family dinner for ten people this Thanksgiving is $58<\/strong> (\u00a345). Just about 6 dollars per person.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s insane. You can maybe get a turkey for half that in the UK, if you go as cheap as possible.<\/p>\n

But it gets even dumber. To quote the report\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIf your dollar had the same overall purchasing power as a consumer in 1984 \u2026 this would be the least expensive Thanksgiving meal in the 39-year history of the AFBF Thanksgiving survey, other than the outlier of 2020,\u201d<\/p>\n

Which is technically true I suppose\u2026only, your dollar doesn\u2019t<\/em> have the same overall purchasing power as it did in 1984 does it?<\/p>\n

Its one of the few ways our current world doesn\u2019t<\/strong> resemble 1984<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The purchasing power of the dollar is what makes things cost what they cost. Food hasn\u2019t got more expensive because apples are rarer or turkeys have unionised and demanded fairer wages.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf food were cheaper dinner would cost less\u201d is up there with the dumbest sentences ever reported in the news.<\/p>\n

2. Bird Flu Season<\/strong><\/h2>\n

And while we\u2019re on the subject of food being expensive, let\u2019s discuss one of the reasons for that ever-increasing cost of living: Bird flu.<\/p>\n

Or rather, fake<\/em> bird flu pandemics trying to scare people into going vegan and massively inflating the cost of poultry and eggs. The terrifying H5N1 bird flu \u2013 which has infected fewer than 1000 people in the last 30 years<\/a> \u2013 is back in the news this week, just in time for the holidays.<\/p>\n

You can expect a longer-form piece on this in the coming week but, for now, let\u2019s limit ourselves to the Thanksgiving-related content.<\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee is asking<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n

Is it safe to eat turkey this Thanksgiving amid bird flu outbreak?<\/p>\n

\u2026before grudgingly answering \u201cyes\u201d after about 900 words on the danger of bird flu.<\/p>\n

The San Francisco Chronicle<\/a> goes the same way, headlining\u2026<\/p>\n

Bird flu is spreading in California. What does that mean for your Thanksgiving turkey?<\/p>\n

\u2026and again concluding, \u201cYeah it\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

WebMD<\/a> does the same thing<\/p>\n

There are a ton of these articles out there, and none of them need to exist. People don\u2019t need to ask these questions, it\u2019s just so much cultivated anxiety.<\/p>\n

It makes me sad. People just want to have a nice day, and they are being bombarded with fear porn for no reason at all.<\/p>\n

3. Divide and conquer<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Having successfully campaigned to divide society along race, gender, and orientation fault lines, the powers that be are moving to divide families along political lines.<\/p>\n

The trend on social media \u2013 especially among liberals \u2013 is to publicly declare that they are \u201ccutting off\u201d their wrong-side-voting family, and refusing to invite them to, or accept invitations from them, for thanksgiving dinner.<\/p>\n

Too many outlets to name are fueling this fire (here\u2019s one<\/a>, two<\/a>, three<\/a>, four<\/a>, five<\/a> for a start). It\u2019s a familiar method \u2013 this is not a trend being reported on, it\u2019s a trend being manufactured by pretending it already exists.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m old enough to remember 2021 and 2022 when the undesirables at Thanksgiving and Christmas weren\u2019t Trump voters, but the unvaccinated and \u201cCovid deniers\u201d.<\/p>\n

The messaging was the same, only the labels were different.<\/p>\n

Disagreements are final. No discussion. No agreeing to disagree. No compromises. Anyone who doesn\u2019t share your values and opinions to the last syllable is irredeemably evil.<\/p>\n

No happy families. Families are bad.<\/p>\n

BONUS: Cranberry Bye Bye<\/strong><\/h2>\n

An old story with a new Thanksgiving twist. we\u2019ve reported, many times, on programs in the UK and the US that pay farmers to \u201crewild\u201d farmland in the name of saving the environment.<\/p>\n

Well, this year the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is launching a scheme that will pay farmers millions in government grants to convert cranberry farms back into wetlands<\/a> in order to mitigate the \u201cclimate crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n

What We\u2019re Thankful for\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n

So, with all the bad stuff going on in the world, what is there to be thankful for?<\/p>\n

Personally, I\u2019m thankful for my cat. He\u2019s sleeping next to me as I type this with dumb little paws up in the air. I\u2019m thankful for the home that keeps me warm and the family that keeps me company.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thankful for memes that make us laugh:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

I\u2019m thankful for Kamala Harris\u2019 first video since losing the (s)election<\/a>, and I\u2019m thankful to the person who made this edit of it\u2026<\/p>\n

\n
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Kamala Harris finally breaks her silence after election loss \uf602\uf602<\/p>\n

pic.twitter.com\/hw25v3c1XY<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Sean (@Xcellent78) November 27, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n