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December 27, 2008

The Most Offensive Christmas Songs of All Time

It's times like these when I'm in NJ for Christmas and spend it sitting around at home and not going any further than downtown Morristown that I realize that I am one of the laziest people ever. Basically, I've been enjoying the time off sitting around, drinking coffee, and reading. Mostly this is because I feel like I spent most of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in a car. But while I was driving up to NJ on Christmas Eve, the radio had some Christmas music playing, and on came Bob Gedolf's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" which was a song written and sold to raise money for those facing famine in Ethiopia. And, listening to it, I realized how offensive the lyrics are. You can even start with the second stanza:

Pray for the other ones
At Christmastime it's hard, but when you're having fun
There's a world outside your window
And it's a world of dread and fear
Where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging
chimes of doom
Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you

Seriously, the message of this song is, "better you than me?" Thank God that they're the ones suffering, not us? What was this guy thinking? Wait, wait, it gets better:

And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life
(Oooh) Where nothing ever grows
No rain nor rivers flow
Do they know it's Christmastime at all?

He's saying that they might not know it's Christmastime because there's no snow? Now, he might be forgiven for not having heard of St. Frumentius who, in the 4th century, brought Christianity to Ethiopia ensuring that, yes, they do know it's Christmastime, but did it ever dawn on him that in much of the world, particularly the Middle East, snow is not exactly a prime feature of Christmas and not something that is an indicator of Christmastime? Does Gedolf assume we are all northern Europeans?

But that pales in comparison to "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," and I can't come up with any better commentary than what has already been provided by Tris McCall:

"Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" is usually taught as inspirational verse and a statement against prejudice and mockery: Rudolph is visibly marked and consequently discriminated against, yet he rises above the catcalls to achieve fame and success. Sounds great, right? Let's look a little closer. Rudolph's moment of redemption comes not as the cause of any consciousness-raising, but because his difference (superficial as it is) is shown to have utility to the corporate body. He is accepted by his peers not for his own merits, but because circumstances conspired to harness his idiosyncrasy and turn it into profit for his employers. What is the real lesson we take from the fable of Rudolph, boys and girls? ***Difference will be tolerated and celebrated only if it can be put to the service of the power structure.*** Otherwise, you're just a wacko, and you can forget about those reindeer games for good. Once again, Santa Claus is portrayed here as an unfeeling, self-absorbed cad -- he makes no intervention in Rudolph's persecution until he needs to save his own ass (at least the TV special got that part right). But does Rudolph get his moment to tell the boss to screw himself; that his hypocrisy won't be tolerated? No, he's the first one tethered to the sled, happy to take the whip of his former oppressor as long as he can feel both useful to the corporation and validated by his peers.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Posted by Dean at 11:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack