Ah yes, Santa. I suppose that before long Santa will
only be a seasonal tenant of ATM screens, but for now
we still have a living, farting image to contemplate.
Sometime in the early Sixties a black militant told me
that Santa was an institutional reinforcer of white
racism. "In what way?," I asked, already believing it.
"How does that old white guy go up and down millions of
chimneys every year _without getting black_; can you
tell me that?!"
Pretty good, and I don't know whether that was an early
common perception, a late ideological issue, or both
serially.
Would that conundrum have a subliminal effect on both
black and white children? What effect does it have on
you as decanted at this moment? 20-point essay, class.
In Holland, where even today more is allowed to legally
hang out, Santa has had a helper named Black Peter
all this time; perhaps an early cover story for
the chimney riddle. Rob?
valis
-- All lies have the same pedigree --
