In the Rob Ford era Canadians can no longer smirk insufferably about the weird antics of American politicians. Or at least we have been chastened just a little.
Thankfully there is still plenty of fodder for passive aggressive superiority, and the Christmas season gives us some of our best material. Some of the meanest commentators and political wannabes such Bill O'Reilly and Sarah Palin are suddenly Jesus' best pal, doing their utmost to protect him. They are fighting the good fight against the supposed "War on Christmas." Palin has used the over-the-top language of "aborting" Jesus, obviously meant to win points with conservatives on a couple of fronts.
The CBC's Washington correspondent Neil MacDonald offered what I think was a very worthwhile perspective in which he notes that no one is prohibited from saying Merry Christmas, or worshipping as they choose in the United States. It is the vaunted separation of church and state which is the real issue. http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/news/story/1.2468105
Add to this the absolutely nonsensical blather about the fictional Santa Claus and the middle eastern Jesus being white. If folk want Santa to be a person of colour, who cares? And no, Jesus was not and is not the Caucasian guy in Sunday School papers from another era. Do apparently intelligent people voluntarily undergo lobotomies that allow them to make these claims? It says a lot that with all this, Mayor Ford still doesn't look good.
Does anyone else find this bizarre? What colour is your Santa? Are you okay with Jesus being a brown-skinned, first century peasant?
Racism at its worse, especially at this season of "peace on earth" - how do we combat these awful attitudes and get something good started?
ReplyDelete