He may have saved the day for Santa by guiding his sleigh on an overly snowy Christmas evening, but some liberal news outlets are calling Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer “seriously problematic” this holiday season.
In what seems to be a thinly veiled attempt to stir up outrage at the stop motion holiday classic, the Huffington Post recently ran a story about the “homophobic, racist” tale of a deer who saves the day.
“Viewers are noticing the tale may not be so jolly after all,” the outlet’s video said about the holiday classic. “And they’re sharing their observations online.”
So…what’s wrong with Rudolph? Quite a bit, apparently. The long-running television classic is not really about Christmas at all, according to the piece, but instead packed full of abuse, racism and outright homophobia. Santa himself is named as the biggest offender, and called both abusive and bigoted.
“Yearly reminder that #Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a parable on racism & homophobia w/Santa as a bigoted exploitative prick,” one comment on the video reads. “Santa’s operation is an HR nightmare and in serious need of diversity and inclusion training,” reads another. Aside from the title, the Huffington Post piece never really mentions how reindeer can be racist at all, or how racism applies to the holiday classic.
The comments on the piece suggest that even Huffington’s usually outrage happy readers see the “Santa as Racist” comparison as a stretch. While there are some scattered comments in support of the piece (primarily the part pointing out that finding the missing Rudolph was “man’s work”), most are questioning or outright mocking the piece itself.
So, why is Rudolph seen as not a holiday classic the family can actually watch together, but as racist and bigoted filth? Both Santa and several adult reindeer do mock Rudolph or feel he can’t complete the ultimate reindeer job — but the entire story is about acceptance. The reindeer and mean Santa who prevent Rudolph from performing or think he can’t do the job actually learn a lesson by the time the story concludes and Rudolph and his nose save the day.
Rudolph, whose nose lights up, making him different from “all of the other reindeer” is treated poorly by the herd, his teacher and even Santa himself because of his differences. Rudolph’s difference or disability is what makes his parents want to protect him and makes the other characters initially exclude him. Those characters do learn a lesson about acceptance over the course of the hour — and while the show may be dated, the lesson of accepting others who are different from ourselves certainly resonates now, decades after the premiere of the show.
The attempt to stir up outrage at the expense of a holiday classic, which when examined, actually has a positive message, did not sit well with the Huffington Post’s usual readers and so far seems to have backfired.
~ Patriotic Freedom Fighter
