Fact Check: Santa is Real. Insert his/her race here ____________.
Vocabulary check (From Huff Post Live video)
Megyn Kelly's argument is delusional (or salty in WVHS vernacular). Zach Carter is polemic in his critique of the Fox anchor's Soap Box position.
Huffpost Live on Santa, Jesus, Race and Media
10 comments:
This video was extremely hilarious. Kelly was just exhibiting another example of the typical excellent quality of FOX news reporting. Once again Wolak, you have used the term "salty" incorrectly however. The only person who would seems to be both salty and polemical in tone is Carter who rightfully verbally attacked Kelly's obtuse statement. Santa is fake so he could be purple for the sake of the argument. Jesus was middle eastern so I don't even think the phrase "Jesus was white" is factually accurate. Kelly just appeared to be delusional and misguided.
Factually speaking, Kelly's statement was certainly quite incorrect. As a Levantine, Jesus's skin colour could have been anything from fairly light to fairly dark - the regions is known for its diversity in terms of complexion. One can perhaps make an argument that Santa should be "white", since Santa is loosely based on the historical figure of Nikolaos of Myra, aka Saint Nicholas, who was a Greek Anatolian - ignoring the fact that Greeks themselves don't easily fit into one category of skin colour. Nonetheless, Santa has about as much in common with Nikolaos of Myra as the USS Enterprise from Star Trek has with the WWII Yorktown-class aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) - that is to say, the similarities don't go much deeper than the name.
However, all of this information is largely irrelevant. Megyn Kelly's role in society is not to provide accurate information, so she can hardly be criticized for providing just the opposite of that. Kelly is a demagogue. Like her coworkers, she is paid to be a demagogue. To borrow a phrase from Karl Marx and improve it by changing its fundamental meaning (sorry, Marx, avoid massive historical oversimplifications and perhaps I will respect you a bit more), demagoguery is the opiate of the masses. We live in a society wherein the right to hold an opinion is prioritized over the correctness of said opinions, and demagogues are a natural byproduct of this society. If you are involved in the television industry, employing demagogues is a good way to attract attention to your networks. FOX knows that. FOX will keep on employing demagogues, and those demagogues will keep on spouting nonsense, until the demand for nonsense subsides. That probably won't happen. Well, the demand for nonsense in the form of television may subside, as people move towards new media, of course, but as someone who spends an unhealthy and inordinate amount of time on the Internet, I can attest to the fact that the new media has its fair share of demagogues as well.
One can try to fight against this system, of course - and many people do just that. They spend their lives waging a war upon demagoguery. I prefer to sit back, relax, and feel superior to society. Not involving oneself in the affairs of the masses is quite an energy-saving lifestyle, and there is comfort to be found in the ability to look down upon them.
Oh my goodness this was so funny, Fox News continues to be THE biggest joke on the planet. First of all, JESUS WAS NOT A WHITE MAN LIKE LITERALLY THAT IS THE ONE THING EVERY ABRAHAMIC RELIGION AGREES ON. Also, does SHE know that Santa isn't an actual thing? Like Jon Stewart said, who is she actually talking to when driving home the fact that Santa is in fact white? I hate to reinforce the dumb blonde stereotype, but honestly this video might be the most stereotypically "white girl" thing I have ever heard anyone say on the news.
Ok, so salty by my definition would be Carter, who was certainly polemic. But my son and a couple of others at WV have told me that the Warrior version of "salty" is a synonym for stupid....so somebody pepper me with a post on the correct use of "salty."
Way to use the phrase pepper me and salty in the same sentence. That was good.
I watched this the night it was on his show and didn't stop laughing. I don't know what else to do other than laugh anymore because at times it seems like there isn't a single other sane human person that does anything with journalism anymore. It used to be an immensely respected field but now saying that you're a reporter gets you laughed at.
It is sad to me that people buy into this stuff. (like my poor senile Grammy) but I digress. What is wrong with people when every year it's a war on Christmas? Why does everything have to be a War? is there no such thing as middle ground anywhere? I know we have abandoned that concept in Congress but why are we letting it spread to our daily lives? If Christians personally feel that Christmas is being victimized, the best thing to do is shut up and don't let the comments get to you.
Also on that subject, Christmas is not getting victimized by any stretch of the word. Good old White Christians are having a hard time accepting that other religions exist and now can exist in America.
Well once again, Fox news is literally handing over material for the Daily Show to make fun of… If you're trying to assert the race of Santa, a fictional character, and you have nothing better to talk about, that's when you know you're a terrible journalist. Part of me feels bad for any kids who saw Carter's rant about Santa being fake, but to be honest I feel worse for the kids who had to hear that women say "HEY KIDDIES, SANTA IS WHITE." (paraphrased) ;)
I found this post to be extremely ignorant. The fact that she outright states to CHILDREN that Santa is white is just unacceptable. How would children of any other race feel after getting that rude comment smacked in their face? Santa is a huge representation in our country of Christmas for kids and they should be able to visualize whatever kind of Santa they want. Especially because Santa isn't even real in the first place.
I cant believe someone would say something like this on national television. By saying that Santa "is just white" gives children the impression that white is the best race since one of their favorite, most highly anticipated person (Santa) is white. Her comments could fuel racism in children and would belittle children of other races and make them feel inferior. For these reasons, what Megyn Kelly said was very immature and she deserves being made fun of by the daily show for her comments although it may have been what fox news hired her for.
I don't really know how to respond to this. I mean really, you call yourself a journalist and you spend your time clarifying the race of fictional character? Really? Is that what our news has become today?
On another note, shame on her for planting racist ideas into children's heads. At the age that children are at when they still believe in Santa they are most easily influenced by outsider's ideas. By this one thoughtless and ignorant comment, she has quite possibly just created a whole new generation of racism that will have to be overcome, and without even skipping a beat. Shame on her.
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