Miscellany

[rivkat]

Dispatches from the other side of the “war on Christmas”: today, my four-year-old daughter and I pass a barber shop, all decked out with Santa etc. She asks, “Mommy, are Jewish people allowed to go in that store?” I reassure her that we are. It takes a little while.

Barney Frank still has it:

What would be the nicest thing I could say about Newt Gingrich? He may be one of the great supporters of the humanities, because you have people who don't want to study the social sciences, because it's not profitable, and now Newt, as the highest-paid historian in American history, may be an encouragement to people to study history.

… So none of those people [Republican presidential candidates] I would want to be on a desert island with, unless one of them, as I said, had skills in catching fish or whatever I don't know about.

My favorite Barney Frank story, because it also uses my favorite joke form: Barney Frank is on a panel at Yale with Peggy Noonan, who gets asked a question she doesn’t want to answer immediately. To stall for time, she asks, “Why is [noted conservative and killjoy] Bob Bork smiling down at us?”—indicating a portrait of him in the room. Frank instantly replies, “Because it’s a painting and not a photograph.”

Also, because it amused me, the following exchange, at the start of oral argument, between the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court and counsel for a fortuneteller who was challenging a local ordinance that prohibited fortunetelling within city limits on First Amendment grounds:
Chief Justice: Counsel, you have us at a disadvantage.
Attorney: Why, Your Honor?
Chief Justice: Well, hasn’t your client told you how this case will ultimately turn out?
Attorney: No, Your Honor, you must remember I did not consult my client for advice. She consulted me.

Also, this RPF reminds me of the glory days of popslash: a meditation on celebrity as a mask that eats into the face.

Comments

[aerye]

“Mommy, are Jewish people allowed to go in that store?”

Oh, my god. I'm...sort of speechless. Except that gives me the shivers in all the wrong ways.

Wow. Sometimes privilege really sneaks up on me and just--pow. Learning moment.

[rivkat]

Yeah. It's not that it's not for you, honey: it's just that it's run by people who want to share their love of Christmas with you!

[wendelah1]

I really liked that story. Thanks for the link. It reminded me a little of Not As Smart As You Require from back in the day.

[vodou_blue]

Christmas isn't a religious holiday anyway-- it's a social one. The 'Christ Mass' was instituted by the Catholic Church because the pagans weren't willing to give up Yule. (Jesus was born in March, btw) So since 'Christmas' is really just a handy name for the secular Winter holiday, nobody is excluded from celebrating it.

[rivkat]

Not really. It's not the name of my religion's winter holiday. I'm not sure what "nobody is excluded" is supposed to mean. I could celebrate it in the same way I could vote Republican; doesn't make it hospitable to me.

[vodou_blue]

I get that it isn't your religous Winter holiday -- it's not mine either. The point I was apparently failing to make is that the whole Santa thing isn't about religion at all; it's like celebrating President's Day or Boxing Day-- it's cultural, not religious. It doesn't replace religious celebrations. That's what I was trying to convey.

[rivkat]

I understand that you feel that way, but regardless of the history I can assure you that my daughter reacted in the same way as many adult American Christians do: she understood that Christmas was a religious holiday (and that it wasn't hers). If a bunch of people believe that a holiday is a religious holiday, telling them about the cultural history behind the details of the celebration isn't actually responsive to that belief, any more than a focus on the true story of the Maccabees makes Hanukah solely a cultural holiday.

[vodou_blue]

Oh, okay. I'm sorry you guys feel unhappy about it.

[droolfangrrl]

First, I have just learned that Barney Frank is not Bernie Sanders. Oops. What can I say, their first names both start with a B, they live on the east coast, and conservatives hate them?

Oops?

I am so going to have to read his biography for the title alone. Barney Frank: The Story of America's Only Left-Handed, Gay, Jewish Congressman

[tehomet]

Your poor daughter. ♥

[rivkat]

I think she's fine; she just drew inferences.

[tehomet]

The downside of high intelligence.