The war against Christmas and the legacy Western culture it represents rages on. Here’s the news from the front.
The annual Santa Claus identity crisis: Back with a vengeance
Every Christmas season, we are treated to a nonstop siege on Santa’s intersectional identity.
Is Santa black?
Is Santa a tranny?
Is Santa autistic?
These are all apparently pertinent questions to probe for the sake of Diversity™, Equity™, and Inclusivity™.
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Up until the Cultural Revolution of the mid-2010s, which many hoped had come to a conclusion with the second coming of Trump, Santa Claus was universally recognized as a jolly fat white man with a big white beard.
This was not a matter of political controversy.
But everything is one now.
Nothing is sacred.
You might recall a pseudo-controversy a few years ago when Megyn Kelly emphatically argued that Santa Claus is white in response to a Social Justice™ thinkpiece claiming the opposite.
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If we must have the debate about the ethnicity of a mythical figure, what we know now as “Santa Claus,” was, in fact, an import from Dutch (read: “white”) culture in the 18th century.
Anyway, Brighton and Hove Museums in Keir Starmer’s UK upped the ante recently, demanding that Santa be “decolonised” (spelled with an “S” in the tradition of the Queen’s English) and that his “naughty or nice” list is a relic of a “Western binary” — and we know how much these people hate binaries.
“Don’t box me in, bro!” gender-queer Somali Santa in a polyamorous relationship with his harem of eunuch elves pleads, begging not to be pigeonholed by the White Patriarchy™.
Via Daily Mail (emphasis added):
Father Christmas has been dragged into the culture wars after a museum declared the festive icon is 'too white' and should stop sitting in judgment over children's behaviour.
In a startling intervention ahead of Christmas, Brighton and Hove Museums argued Father Christmas must be 'decolonised' in the name of diversity, claiming his traditional role reinforces damaging ideas about power, authority and Western superiority.
The claims appeared in a blog post published on the museum's website, which suggested Santa's familiar naughty-and-nice routine promotes a 'Western binary' and casts the bearded gift-giver as a global moral judge.
'For many children, the story of Santa Claus is as much a part of Christmas as gifts and Christmas dinner,' the post said.
'But the tale of a white, Western Santa who judges all children's behaviour has problems.'
Museum chiefs went further, questioning Santa's right to assess children across different cultures and traditions.
'As he visits each nation he determines if the children deserve presents based on being 'naughty' or 'nice',' the blog added.
'But who decided Santa should be the judge of children's behaviour in every community? How can he assess, for example, Indigenous children practising their own cultural traditions?
'Told like this, the story presents Santa as the ultimate authority of all societies. This asks us to accept colonial assumptions of cultural superiority.'
Parents, the museum urged, should actively 'challenge the colonial gaze' by abandoning the idea of Father Christmas 'rewarding children based on a Western binary of 'naughty/nice'.'
'Focus on bringing joy to kids of all backgrounds rather than judging them,' the post advised.
