Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

[TPoptarts]

I hate this song. Well I said that already. But anyway.

I found this post about it like on someone's blog. I don't really agree with most of it though because I don't see the song as a racial issue at all... like yeah I have issues with it but not because I think it reflects racism. I think the reindeer hating Rudolph for his nose is more like a bunch of kids banning a fat kid, or a short kid, or a kid with glasses or whatever. I think it reflects shallowness and superficiality but not really racism... um and I don't think the color of Santa's skin has to do with anything here either, the only thing that matters is that he's Santa AKA the big boss of Christmas, and if he were like purple or something he'd still be Santa Claus and it wouldn't change his status or the status he'd given Rudolph.

Oh and like correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Santa's Workshop supposed to be like a non-profit organization or something?? Like do they even get paid? Since they're imaginary characters in an imaginary setting??

Why I hate this song not because of the cruelty it reflects... but like because the song itself is like totally shallow and I really think it's stupid. I mean like the reindeer hate Rudolph because he has a different nose and then *poof* "love" him when his nose becomes an asset that gives him a famous status?? Like seriously what the frell is up with that?? What they wanna be friends with his nose or his deersonality? And like how does a different status suddenly change who he is and make him "worthy" of their friendship?? Like he's still the same reindeer and he still has a shiny red nose... that's why I hate it so much because there's no understanding and there's no remorse and there's no closure and no lesson learned at all, like basically it's like "you'd still be a reject if Santa didn't give you the best job".

And like how frelling shallow is that?? Like what do they think it would teach like young kids who hear that song to not judge a book by its cover or whatever?? There's nothing in there that says Rudolph is worthy of being friends with, or that any of the other reindeer actually gets to know Rudolph and see that who he is has nothing to do with his nose... getting close to Rudolph because of his status has nothing to do with justice. It's just like totally shallow.

I mean like I've been a reject my entire life mainly because of shallowness... in the real world this song could have easily gone like this:

Poptarts the deformed reject
Had a really big fat ass
She's always been much shorter
Than the people in her class

Her nose was really bumpy
And her hair looked like a troll,
Everyone hated Poptarts
Without knowing her at all.

Then one sunny summer day
Spielberg came to say:
"I am casting ugly kids,
You are perfect for the lead"

Then everybody loved her
As they shouted out with glee
"Poptarts the deformed reject
You are on IMDB!!"

Like see how incredibly ridiculous this is?? In the real world it would have continued like this...

Poptarts the ugly starlet
Was despised by everyone
Being a total reject
Really wasn't any fun

But when the ugly Poptarts
Got a really famous part,
All of her former haters
Had a sudden change of heart.

Then on yet another day
Poptarts came to say:
"Where the frell is your remorse,
You're not better, you are worse,

I'm still the same old person
In the same old ugly shell
And if you can't accept me
You can all go straight to hell!!!"

^Uh sorry for *the_abomination* quote... but at least here it makes sense. And it makes like way more sense than the Rudolph song.

And this is why I hate that stupid song.

[blacknblue]

Reindeer are herd animals. And they are not noted for being intellectually gifted. Cut 'em some slack.

[CoffeeCat]

I like Olive (the other reindeer) much better than Rudolph.

[justTripn]

I just heard the other day that the author of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Raindeer was skinny and unathletic and picked on as a kid, which is where he got the inspiration for Rudolf's troubles. So No EVIL Conspiracy here!

BTW, Gene Rodenberry was a sickly child. That's why he lived in his own dream world as a child, with very postive consequences for the rest of us !

[justTripn]

BTW. A much better story is the Grinch that stole Christmas. I did a version of that one last year for astronomy club the AAAP (Triple-A-P) (There are a few inside jokes here, but you'll probably get the jist of it.)

Holiday Poem,

by Ann Norman (apologies to Dr. Suess)

Pittsburgh astronomers liked stargazing a lot.
The clouds that formed just north of Pittsburgh did NOT!
Clouds plagued the astronomers each star party season.
Now, please don’t ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
Some said it’s the moisture drawn up from the lake
Some blamed the new scopes! (Now give me a break!)
But whatever the reason, scientific or not.
The clouds got the astronomers very distraught!
Hanging grey in the sky all over their town,
Whenever a promising weekend came round.

But these people kept hoping for skies that were clear.
If they couldn’t go out, why they’d grind a new mirror!
And they’d chat with their friends all over the net.
“Have you seen it? Fred took the best moon photo yet!”
And they’d print out some star charts or buy a new filter.
Recheck columniation; fix what’s out of kilter.
They’d meet up at Max’s right after each meeting;
Discuss NASA and Star Trek; List targets worth seeking.

On some of the weekdays the clouds would just part
--Just enough to convince them all not to lose heart.

And that’s why they planned a really big Fest!
A camp-out/star party where no one would rest.
They planned for a weekend when no moon would loom
In an area known to be dark as a tomb!
“We’ll stay up till midnight, just roaming the sky,
See galaxies, nebula—some by nude eye!
We’ll keep right on going till quarter to three!
Come out to our sky-object/star-finding spree!”

But clouds must be jealous of stars out in space.
Cause they rolled in quite quickly all over the place.
The few lonely photons that cut through this haze
Were static-y cos-o-mic radio waves.

The clouds hung triumphant. “There’s nothing to see!
The Star Party’s canceled!” they rumbled with glee!

Then the clouds heard a sound rising out of the park.
Growing louder and louder, way out in the dark.
But the sound wasn't sad! The noise sounded grateful!
What can they doing? It sounds educational!

Every Triple-A-Per the tall and the small,
Had pitched in to help. They’d heeded the call!

”We can’t stop this party!” the clouds grouched in dismay,
And if this is the case, we should just blow away!

But the clouds soon heard some cheering and had to think twice.
Maybe they’d try being a little more nice.

Next morning the clouds rained the dust from the air.
So night 2 was transparent (though seeing was fair).

Happy campers at last crawled back to their beds,
As the sun rose behind a few clouds overhead.
When the clouds broke apart and then drifted away,
There shot out a golden crepuscular ray!

[blacknblue]

That has to be the very first time I have ever seen anyone actually use the word "crepuscular" in a sentence, written or spoken, in my entire life. My respectful compliments. Quite an achievement.

[JadziaKathryn]

Reindeer are herd animals. And they are not noted for being intellectually gifted. Cut 'em some slack.

But they are noted for their expertise at flying???

[TPoptarts]

I just heard the other day that the author of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Raindeer was skinny and unathletic and picked on as a kid, which is where he got the inspiration for Rudolf's troubles. So No EVIL Conspiracy here!

BTW, Gene Rodenberry was a sickly child. That's why he lived in his own dream world as a child, with very postive consequences for the rest of us !

Oh it's really not about people being like outcasts and rejects and stuff like that... it's about the immense shallowness pouring out of that piece of dren song. Sorry writer but that's what I think. Like I really don't care how rejected he was as a kid, that stupid plot is no way to fix rejection and like if that's what he thought then I guess his views were just as shallow, I know it's not like a conspiracy or something but I think this song promotes shallowness, it promotes like a concensus that people who are slightly, or a lot, different from the majority deserve to be outcast and picked on because they're different... unless they have like a desired status which then makes them worthy of being part of society. Like with nothing to do with who they really are and what they're really like. Hell it promotes picking on the next skinny unathletic kid. It doesn't promote acceptance and it doesn't promote diversity.

Sorry but I really hate this song and I think it's like a total piece of dren like no matter how good the intentions of its writer were, plus it's aimed at a target audience of young children and sold as part of the holiday magic etc, like seriously just thinking of children who are still in the stage when their mind and opinions are being shaped, and this song being part of what shapes their young minds. Kids do pick up on stuff like that. I just think that's like totally wrong. And I honestly don't think this song is like cute or cathartic or whatever. I think it's shallow and disgusting and an abomination to the holiday spirit and an insult to anyone who's ever been a reject.

[justTripn]

I was brought up on "children's stories" like there was an old woman who lived in a shoe who had so many children she didn't know what to do, so she beat them. And "Hanzel and Gretel" and "Little Red Riding Hood." I deliberately never read these "classics" to my children. But I'm having a hard time getting worked up over "Rudolph."

[Linda]

"Crepuscular" is a word that came up in discussion with my rabbit's vet about times of day rabbits prefer to be out and about. Uh, both the vet and I seemed familiar with the word. Probably because hanging out with rabbits gave both our IQs a couple of points boost, LOL. Hey, just think of the boost we would get if we hung out with Vulcans? Wait a minute, most of us already do that. Feeling any smarter, anyone?

[justTripn]

A "crepuscular ray" is one of those sunbeams that shoots out when the sun is behind a cloud. It looks like maybe God is going to decend from the sky or something. It struck me funny because the word is so ugly and the phenomenon so beautiful. "Crepuscular ray" was used alot at the astrophotography contest I went to right before I wrote this. I knew I had to use the word in a poem.

[dark_rain]

Reindeer are herd animals. And they are not noted for being intellectually gifted. Cut 'em some slack.

But they are noted for their expertise at flying???

Like a brick.

[TPoptarts]

I was brought up on "children's stories" like there was an old woman who lived in a shoe who had so many children she didn't know what to do, so she beat them. And "Hanzel and Gretel" and "Little Red Riding Hood." I deliberately never read these "classics" to my children. But I'm having a hard time getting worked up over "Rudolph."

Probably because it's like a very popular global way of thinking while stuff like beating kids and ditching them in the woods is prohibited by law, hell eating kids would get like a death penalty in some states but like kids' cruelty to each other while resented on the surface is still considered normal and acceptable, and like not only kids it's just expected and acceptable that a different looking/dressing/whatever person would get picked on and discriminated against by their peers and like no one would even think twice about it, and it's also expected and acceptable that a desirable position would get the person respect, well and like neither getting picked on nor the respect has anything to do with the actual person and that's what I hate about it

Plus I guess a lot of people would consider Rudolph like a "happy ending", some kinda "Cinderella story" people fantasize about, he was picked on, now they all love him and they're friends right? WRONG they don't love him, they don't even know him they don't care about him and they never did. He would still be a reject if Santa didn't give him the job. Like I said there's nothing there that says anything about Rudolph actually being worthy of anyone's friendship, there's only his nose and his job. Like even Cinderella was described as being a sweet kind girl... even though the only thing that won her a "happy ending" was her frelling looks and her shoe size hell if it were me winning the "tiniest feet contest" (well I do have Cinderella beat in that aspect ) the prince would probably run away screaming because I look like an ugly stepsister.

[CX]

Careful, I'm getting the urge to cuff you again... After all, since you insist on beating yourself up, I figure I can help.