A Fox News anchorwoman, Megyn Kelly, known for her limited interjection of opinion, at least compared to the shows her “Kelly Files” is sandwiched between, told her viewers that Santa Claus was white and touched off a debate about racism but should have touched off a debate about literature and the Common Core standards, which rely heavily on a strict interpretation of text, not on much deeper meaning.
Megyn Kelly (Fox News)
“For all you kids watching at home,” she said from her anchor desk Wednesday. “Santa just is white, but [a blogger on slate.com] is just arguing that maybe we should also have a black Santa. But Santa is what he is, and just so you know, we’re just debating this because someone wrote about it, kids.”
The original comment struck me as being rather humorous in the First Amendment sense of the word. It’s kind of like calling a politician “Bozo.” Nobody who hears the remark—well, no reasonable person—thinks the word means what it literally says. And then to bring on a panel of “experts” on Santa’s race just took it over the top. I fell off my chair in laughter.
The blogger on slate.com actually suggested using a penguin to represent Santa, which would be friendlier to children of all races and ethnic backgrounds. No reasonable person thinks Ms Kelly actually endorsed the idea that Santa Claus was either white or black, especially since she kept addressing her audience as “kids.”
It blows me away how we have lost the notion of listening critically to what people say. Comedians such as Jon Stewart added to the humor. He spoofed Ms Kelly’s segment by bringing in an expert on Christmas himself. It was just hilarious, but if we have lost the ability to read and hear things critically, we’re missing out on some great laughs.
Based on the over-reaction to Ms Kelly’s remarks, I predict for the people who think she actually endorsed the idea that Santa Claus even has a race, the next time they read George Orwell’s Animal Farm, they will think it’s a fairy tale about animals. “Dictatorship—what’s that? You’ve got some cute animals talking on a farm here,” they will be quoted on TV as saying.
And then spoofs will take it from there. And those of us who can’t appreciate good literature anymore and actually take this animal fairy tale thing seriously will pay money to read some of those spoofs, and Bill Gates and similar individuals, seeing a profit, will officially declare pigs can talk. That’s my prediction.
Finally, let’s take the opportunity to wish all our readers a happy holiday season!