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Every November, a predictable group of progressives stuff the Thanksgiving turkey with guilt. They stuff it with the guilt borne by perpetrators of the “Indian holocaust,” sadistic animal killers and inconsiderate Ebenezer Scrooges.

Let’s first consider enemies of Thanksgiving’s historical meaning. A shady-looking Internet newsmagazine, titled “Free Internet Press,” contends that the holiday is a carnival of conquest for the white man. “Yes, give thanks today,” the Web site decrees. “Today marks the beginning of the Indian holocaust. Celebrate it for what it is, a day of mourning for a decimated civilization. Celebrate the destruction of rich and ancient cultures.”

Yet Thanksgiving is not a celebration of the killing of innocent Native Americans, for the simple reason that no American sees it as such. The holiday itself might be rooted in dubious historical ground, but its celebration is rooted in very real sentiments of good will.

Even more unreasonable than those who slander the holiday are self-described advocates who want to abolish its culinary centerpoint, the turkey. Thus, we have multi-purpose celebrities like Moby dicking around with organizations like the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Recently, PETA announced that, “Fish are interesting, intelligent animals who feel pain, use tools and have impressive long-term memories and sophisticated social structures. Fish are friends, not food!”

And their mission statement reads, “PETA believes that animals deserve the most basic rights – consideration of their own best interests regardless of whether they are useful to humans. Like you, they are capable of suffering and have an interest in leading their own lives.”

Now, the vegan Moby and PETA have teamed up against “turkey-corpse seller” Butterball to send a strong message this Thanksgiving: Environmentalists are nuts.

By taking the self-paved high road, the duo have insulted me and countless other carnivores, who maintain with particular passion that they like animals in a way vegans never could – roasted and stuffed.

Finally, we have the most sensible detractors and perhaps the most dangerous. Folks like my music professor, who spent a few minutes of class on Monday talking about the starved families of the world. He told the class that few, if any of us, had experienced the feeling of starvation, of being ignored and unwanted. He said we are the “haves” of society and we should act to stop hunger.

He proceeded to ask for donations to be delivered to the Los Angeles Mission, which will go toward feeding homeless Angelinos tomorrow.

I confess (for that seems to be the right word here) that I pitched in a couple of bucks myself. But I did it to help my fellow man, not to feel less guilty about myself. The line between feeling obligated to donate money and feeling good about it is perilously thin, yet utterly crucial.

Capitalism is the only politico-economic system in which winners do not imply losers, in which victors don’t have victims. It is only in America that the cause of homelessness is inaction on the part of the individual rather than negative action on the part of others. Hence, there is no obligation. But there is a virtue in caring for people less affluent than you and, occasionally, less fortunate.

So what is Thanksgiving all about? It’s certainly not about celebrating Indian massacres or killing animals or discounting the homeless. But on the other hand, it’s not a conscious celebration of the mythological mending of ties between Native Americans and incoming Europeans either. Today, Thanksgiving is simply a time to get together with friends and family and rejoice.

That Thanksgiving has no commonly accepted definition, however, does not suggest that it has no meaning.

The handsome traditional Thanksgiving table – brimming with stuffed turkey, sweet potatoes and pie – is wholly symbolic of America’s free economic system.

The table is the result of the harmonious interchange of the several aspects of American society – farmers and delivery trucks and stores and clerks and, in the end, the creative cook of the holiday home.

Then it is the system that takes self-interested energies and converts them into positive societal outcomes that is celebrated as a monument of human flourishing. It is capitalism that we must recognize on Thanksgiving Day.

So protestors can call me a genocidal maniac or an animal-hater or an Ebenezer Scrooge. But in spite of those accusations and indeed to spite them, I’ll be having an extra helping of turkey this Thanksgiving.

Hovannisian is a second-year history and philosophy student. E-mail him at ghovannisian@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.