Why were Megyn Kelly's comments on Santa so controversial?

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

The modern Santa is literally a combination of St. Nicholas and a Coke commercial.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Why were Fox New's Megyn Kelly's comments about Santa so freaking controversial? On some level I agree with her. You don't mess with a fictional character's canon just for the sake of political correctness. You can still celebrate Christmas in whichever way is best for you.

On another note, when she said Jesus was a white guy, it's a completely different story because Jesus was in all probability, a brown Middle Eastern man and she's just ignoring history.

Faux outrage  is growing increasingly irrational on the left.  Every word that comes out of someones mouth now that isn't PC is considered some secret systemic racism or something.

Your view here is common sense. 

It is refreshing to read a post like this. I'm so sick of political correctness that has gone berserk nowadays and the occasional accusations of racism.

Occasional accusations of racism! Oh no! What a nightmare!

[The Arizonan]

Ebowed, I'm not saying that minorities shouldn't dress up as Santa. This is a free country and you should be free to dress up as whichever fictional character you want. I don't care. If I went to the mall tomorrow and it was full of black Santas, I wouldn't care.

What I do care about is someone tampering with a fictional character's backstory by, say, changing him into a penguin for a petty reason.

Is it that hard to create a new character instead of tampering with an existing one?

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

What 'tampering'? What 'backstory'? It's [Inks]ing Santa Claus. This isn't a George R.R. Martin character with a five-page family tree we're talking about here, this is a completely public-domain, exists-by-popular-demand piece of folklore, a figure based on a figure who's based on a figure who's based on somebody who once decked a guy for denying that Christ had always existed. If somebody wants to make Santa a penguin, for any reason at all, they're within their rights to make Santa a penguin. And if the population of the United States was one-eighth penguins whose penguin children's Christmas spirits might be brightened a little by seeing Santas who looked vaguely like them, then I say that's more than enough reason for holiday movies and greeting card companies to start cranking out some damn penguin Santas.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Megyn Kelly mentioned that Santa is based off of St. Nicholas of Greece, whose facial reconstruction looked like this when created:



Obviously white.

Facial reconstruction works off of skeletal remains.  Hair style and pigmentation is based on comparison with modern populations, so this is probably just supposed to be representative of an old Greek person who has a deep tan from spending most of his life outside.

[Ebowed]

Ebowed, I'm not saying that minorities shouldn't dress up as Santa. This is a free country and you should be free to dress up as whichever fictional character you want. I don't care. If I went to the mall tomorrow and it was full of black Santas, I wouldn't care.

What I do care about is someone tampering with a fictional character's backstory by, say, changing him into a penguin for a petty reason.

Is it that hard to create a new character instead of tampering with an existing one?

You must hate the New Testament, then.

Look, I don't know how it's supposed to be controversial that people are rewriting fictional backstories for characters.  My parents didn't even say anything about Santa Claus, Christmas was a religious / family day.  So maybe I'm missing something.  Perhaps, if I had thought that Santa Claus was real for a time, I would be disappointed to hear that other people were giving their children a slightly different version of Santa Claus, but even that scenario actually makes no sense either.  So I'd give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you just have a weird thing for lame traditions, but as a brief look through your posting shows, you have a fixation on racial issues, especially "unfair" accusations of racism.  A word to the wise: people who don't say racist things don't get constantly "unfairly" called racist.

Ultimately, though, if the reason for changing Santa's origins is petty, as you say, isn't it just as petty to care about the change?

[The Mikado]

Can we somehow incorporate St. Nicholas beating the crap out of the Presbyter Arius into our Santa Claus canon?



This would be the best part of Christmas.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

The modern Santa is literally a combination of St. Nicholas and a Coke commercial.

HEY!

[The Arizonan]

Ebowed, I'm not saying that minorities shouldn't dress up as Santa. This is a free country and you should be free to dress up as whichever fictional character you want. I don't care. If I went to the mall tomorrow and it was full of black Santas, I wouldn't care.

What I do care about is someone tampering with a fictional character's backstory by, say, changing him into a penguin for a petty reason.

Is it that hard to create a new character instead of tampering with an existing one?

You must hate the New Testament, then.

Look, I don't know how it's supposed to be controversial that people are rewriting fictional backstories for characters.  My parents didn't even say anything about Santa Claus, Christmas was a religious / family day.  So maybe I'm missing something.  Perhaps, if I had thought that Santa Claus was real for a time, I would be disappointed to hear that other people were giving their children a slightly different version of Santa Claus, but even that scenario actually makes no sense either.  So I'd give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you just have a weird thing for lame traditions, but as a brief look through your posting shows, you have a fixation on racial issues, especially "unfair" accusations of racism.  A word to the wise: people who don't say racist things don't get constantly "unfairly" called racist.

Ultimately, though, if the reason for changing Santa's origins is petty, as you say, isn't it just as petty to care about the change?

I'll admit I had a weird fixation on racial issues in the past, but decided to ignore racial issues from now on.

I never understood why anyone needs a Santa that looks vaguely like them. I thought that he was supposed to represent all of mankind.

You do have a point that it's petty to care about any changes to Santa. If they changed Santa into a bearded giant made out of bronze (think a bronze, bearded version of Colossus) or something else that's badass, I might actually get behind it.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I never understood why anyone needs a Santa that looks vaguely like them.

Is it really that hard for you to put yourself in someone else's shoes and see things from their perspective?

[justfollowingtheelections]

I never understood why anyone needs a Santa that looks vaguely like them. I thought that he was supposed to represent all of mankind.

Why do you need a Santa that looks vaguely like you?

[MurrayBannerman]

Megyn Kelly mentioned that Santa is based off of St. Nicholas of Greece, whose facial reconstruction looked like this when created:



Obviously white.

Do you even know anyone from the Balkans heritage wise? I'm Serbian/Croatian and have that skin tone in the summer. No one ever confuses me with anything else.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Do you even know anyone from the Balkans heritage wise? I'm Serbian/Croatian and have that skin tone in the summer. No one ever confuses me with anything else.

Did your sarcasm detectors fail you or am I missing something?

[The Arizonan]

I never understood why anyone needs a Santa that looks vaguely like them. I thought that he was supposed to represent all of mankind.

Why do you need a Santa that looks vaguely like you?

He doesn't look like me aside from being male and I don't care.

What are you getting at?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Do you even know anyone from the Balkans heritage wise? I'm Serbian/Croatian and have that skin tone in the summer. No one ever confuses me with anything else.

Did your sarcasm detectors fail you or am I missing something?

Maybe need to work on that sarcasm generator.

[Nichlemn]

Is there any evidence anywhere of a little boy having his faith in Santa lessened because of the existence of black Santas? If the kid believes in Santa, he probably doesn't have the keenest eye for racial consistency. Just say it's magic if he ever asks.

[Badger]

I'll admit I had a weird fixation on racial issues in the past, but decided to ignore racial issues from now on.

Yes, your weird fixation on race is clearly behind you.

[CountryClassSF]

I just find it sad that as a society we have to walk on eggshells to be politically correct.  You had people comparing the Santa thing to Jim Crow, it's extremely offensive to people who have actually experienced racism in those days.

Whether folks on the left want to believe it or not, a color-blind society has been a long-time goal of the American Right - it's a mainstream viewpoint and best for a truly equal people

[Badger]

I just find it sad that as a society we have to walk on eggshells to be politically correct.  You had people comparing the Santa thing to Jim Crow,

Who, outside internet comments sections has ever compared the disdain for black Santas to Jim Crow?

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Whether folks on the left want to believe it or not, a color-blind society has been a long-time goal of the American Right - it's a mainstream viewpoint and best for a truly equal people

Okay see the problem is the tendency to pretend that a color-blind society already exists when it manifestly doesn't.

[The Mikado]

Can we somehow incorporate St. Nicholas beating the crap out of the Presbyter Arius into our Santa Claus canon?



This would be the best part of Christmas.

Quoting myself because this is an important point that somehow got lost in this discussion. I seriously want to see St. Nicholas pimp-slapping Arius as a key part of Christmas. "You think that God the Son is inferior to God the Father? Well, your face is inferior to my palm!"

[CountryClassSF]

I just find it sad that as a society we have to walk on eggshells to be politically correct.  You had people comparing the Santa thing to Jim Crow,

Who, outside internet comments sections has ever compared the disdain for black Santas to Jim Crow?

I'm not sure anyone would have any disdain for a black Santa - but it would be difficult to explain to children

You must be logged in to read this quote.

But how so? What rights are being denied to black Americans  in 2014? White privilege isn't a thing because the NYT editorial page says it is.

Prejudice will always exist, because some people are ignorant.  But I'm not sure why we have to see instances of racism and prejudice where they simply don't exist.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

I just find it sad that as a society we have to walk on eggshells to be politically correct.  You had people comparing the Santa thing to Jim Crow,

Who, outside internet comments sections has ever compared the disdain for black Santas to Jim Crow?

I'm not sure anyone would have any disdain for a black Santa - but it would be difficult to explain to children

Yes, this is the one thing that makes Santa unbelievable.

[The Arizonan]

I am in agreement with you CountryClassSF, political correctness has gone too far and become quite annoying. I've seen someone compare the Santa thing to slavery. It's not slavery or Selma, AL or even Ferguson, MO in a metaphorical sense.

Whatever happened to the good old days when people never called a Christmas tree a "holiday tree" and people didn't make Santa Claus's race into an issue? If the current form of Santa is good enough for me, it should be good enough for everyone else. Nowadays, anything goes, like removing religious references from as many places as possible.

I'll admit I had a weird fixation on racial issues in the past, but decided to ignore racial issues from now on.

Yes, your weird fixation on race is clearly behind you.

Caring a lot less about race is definitely going to be my New Year's resolution.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Can we somehow incorporate St. Nicholas beating the crap out of the Presbyter Arius into our Santa Claus canon?



This would be the best part of Christmas.

Quoting myself because this is an important point that somehow got lost in this discussion. I seriously want to see St. Nicholas pimp-slapping Arius as a key part of Christmas. "You think that God the Son is inferior to God the Father? Well, your face is inferior to my palm!"

Yes! People had better RESPECT the Christ Child and not claim He's inferior to anyone, or Santa will open up a can of whoop-ass down your chimney.