Hi! An end of 2007 message for all :)… a departure from my rants and raves about attendance!
I am grateful to live in Singapore, where Christmas is joyously celebrated alongside many other religious traditions of other faiths, and everyone is included. Sure it may be a bit commercial, but later this week my wife and I will be taking our two kids to the mall next door to “play in the snow” … an avalanche at 7pm and snowfall at 7:30pm. Then we’ll go inside the mall and do some Christmas shopping, and buy some apple juice and spices to make mulled cider back home. Ok it is just a bit commercial, but at least it is still called Christmas and is not a “seasonal festive event”.
Well not much turns my stomach when I read it but I nearly fell off my chair when I read on Yahoo! recently that Westaff, a temp staff company that supplies Santas to malls in both Australia and the United States, had decided to instruct its Santas not to say “Ho Ho Ho”, and instead say “Ha Ha Ha”, as among other reasons, “it was derogatory towards women”.
Give me a break.
Improving workplace equality, addressing inequalities towards women, minorities, and children are all noble causes and worth every effort and for sure we aren’t doing enough fast enough. But Ha Ha Ha? Have we lost our minds? What temp agency idiot came up with this one? And how did it survive past the first “pitch meeting”. Was it a temp staff that made the suggestion, or was it a senior manager at Westaff? Sure, there will always be idiots with agendas out there that think up these things, and they have every right to their moronic ideas – but Westaff – how did this idea make it out of your boardroom?
My second favorite Christmas show is It’s A Wonderful Life, with Jimmy Stuart. I had never seen it, but about 15 years ago my girlfriend (now my wife) showed it to me and we now watch it every year. You should too, at least once. My third favorite Christmas show is A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, just about any version will do. It is a classic. What is my point, you might be thinking. Well, my favorite Christmas show is one that must be watched by absolutely everyone on the planet. I’ve only seen it once, but it burnt an impression so vividly that it remained part of my personal Christmas psyche.
It is episode 110 of South Park, and aired December 17, 1997. Forget the name of the episode, and all references to Mr Hanky, but spend a minute and watch the South Park Elementary school presenting “The Happy, Non-offensive, and Nondenominational School Play". It is a great example of censorship and good meaning parents going amuck. If you ever get a chance to see the show, look what happens when we take ourselves too seriously, and try not to offend anyone. I don’t particularly like South Park, and on the surface it is offensive, but strangely enough, the creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are great social commentarists.
This Ho Ho Ho thing would actually be funny (Ha Ha Ha) if it wasn’t so absurd. Many of us reading this didn't even know “ho” was offensive in some contexts - and for sure children have no clue about how a "ho" can be offensive to women. Last time I checked, a "hoe" was a garden tool. And why stop with Ho Ho Ho? Maybe Santa’s elves are offensive to some, and Mrs Claus, is she an appropriate modern role model?
Why is it that we spend so much time worrying about offending people, and such little time actually doing anything about helping people who actually need help? You can be sure that within miles of wherever you are reading this right now, there is a child going hungry, a women being sexually exploited, a child being abused, and a family living in fear of domestic violence. I bet if we had the resolve we could actually find just one of them and make a difference. Maybe that is what Westaff was trying to do; maybe they were just trying to make a difference ... maybe I have it all wrong. Really? Yeah, right … or was it just a major case of C.Y.A. (cover your a....) in fear they would get sued by some opportunistic buffoon.
If we’re serious about eliminating offensive language or expressions from our vocabulary try starting instead with the folk etymology of the common expression “the rule of thumb”. Look it up. You might be surprised. You might also never use the term again.
I wish you the very best as 2007 comes to a close, whether you have just celebrated Depavali, or are celebrating Christmas, Chanukah, Tohji-taisai, Eid al-Adha, or any of the other great religious or cultural holidays that make this world, and its people, so wonderful and diverse.
With best wishes,
Mark McCallum
