Today's Yule-related idiocy
I give New York ten years before the last float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade dumps Santa for an enormous snowflake:
A politically correct West Village YMCA has fired Ol' St. Nick in favor of Frosty.
Kids who once thrilled at sitting on Santa's lap at the 14th Street McBurney YMCA's wildly popular annual holiday luncheon will now suffer the icy embrace of a talking snowman and his sidekick, an anonymous penguin, at today's event.
There’s also the appearance of a new seasonal character, the Talking Weasel:
"It wasn't replacing; it was transitioning," said John Rappaport, executive director of the McBurney YMCA. "We realized that change is sometimes good, and that Frosty is a great winter character who would appeal to a broader number of kids."
You only hope a greasy seed of self-loathing bloomed in his stomach when he uttered those words. It’s PR blatherplate nonpareil. Santa wasn’t replaced, he was caught on the diminishing side of a transition. Change is sometimes good even if everyone else not involved in the decision-making process disagrees. This Winter Character has a non-denominational backstory, and hence he’s more inclusive. Now let’s all pass around a stick of fir and sing a song about the Solstice Rainbow.
You expect this from cities and malls, but from an organization with CHRISTIAN built right into the name, it’s dismaying. But not surprising. For that matter, the entire name YMCA is exclusionary. It’s ageist. It’s sexist. It’s theocentric. And it is surely offensive to those whose social phobias prevent them from forming associations. Any suggestions what YMCA could stand for in the future? Your Meaningless Cultural Attribute, maybe.
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Comments :
Jul '10
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
The talking weasel? How generous of Mayor Bloomberg to devote his time to the amusement of children.
May '10
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
That already happened in July. Says the NY Times article:
"Note to the Village People: The lyrics in your biggest hit need an update. The organization previously known as the Y.M.C.A. is henceforth to be called “the Y.”
One of the nation’s most iconic nonprofit organizations, founded 166 years ago in England as the Young Men’s Christian Association, is undergoing a major rebranding, adopting as its name the nickname everyone has used for generations.
“It’s a way of being warmer, more genuine, more welcoming, when you call yourself what everyone else calls you,” said Kate Coleman, the organization’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer.
Aug '10
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
Your Mascot's Curiously Asinine?
Ye Multi-Culti Association?
Young Men Can't, Actually...
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
Reminds me of how Father Christmas transitioned to "Uncle Frost" in Russia under Communist rule.
P.S. James -- would love to see a couple of photos of the midwestern blizzard on Ricochet. Got any?
May '10
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
Who ever heard of a type of cultural sensitivity so sensitive, that it would encourage the airbrushing of non-Christian figures like the contemporary Santa Claus in order to reduce its remaining semblence as a Christian organization? Now that's frantic cultural consciousness.
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
EJ - Yes, the Y lopped off the MCA part, but the website still has "YMCA" by the loco, and the "About Us" page has not yet scrubbed the words "a mission to put Christian principles into practice."
Diane - yes, indeed, I have a few snow pix. Photos really don't capture a blizzard well, because it's whiter than a Jon Stewart rally.
During the storm, from my front window:
It was an impressive storm. Nothing moved; no one went anywhere. The airport closed. The roof of the Metrodome deflated. But now it's cold, and Monday looms, and I'll probably have to get up early to shovel out the driveway after the plows pass by and deposit a 4-foot wall of snow boulders.
Aug '10
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
I find the transition away from Santa Claus to be deeply insensitive to my Christian beliefs.
Oct '10
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
Indeed, how is Santa religious? I guess giving gifts to kids while wearing a costume popularized by Coca Cola is exclusionary.
Yammering modernists condoning amorality.
Jul '10
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
Yanking More Christmas Away
Jul '10
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
Santa Claus is obviously Christian because most Jews resent. And don't even get me started about all of the fatwas. And good, upstanding Protestants who don't truck in that saint stuff and can't help but notice that Saint Nick and Ol' Nick are looking awful similar--Separated at birth, maybe?
May '10
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
It's bad enough that we can't seem to defend anything that was once culturally relevant to people who were once Americans; we are still under the continued assault of transitioning nouns into verbs! Yecch!
Nov '10
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
It is worth noting that, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the citizens of Leningrad wasted little time in restoring the city's old name: Saint Petersburg.
Edited on Dec 12, 2010 at 5:30pmNov '10
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
The relentless internal campaign to erase Christianity in America continues even as the external forces of Islamofascism strive to erase all the institutions of Western Civilization. It is like chopping down a windbreak in the middle of a howling gale — sheer suicidal lunacy.
Why does this madness persist? Because Christianity also serves as a windbreak against social immorality and political amorality. It is a mighty bulwark against the Unholy Liberal Agenda. So Progressives are irrevocably committed to the destruction of Christianity in America, down to its last comforting icon.
Edited on Dec 12, 2010 at 5:37pmJul '10
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
I tire of people who worm their way into posts of decision making within an organization just so they can change it to suit themselves. If the institution was unsuitable, why don't they start their own? All-ages Non-specified Agnostics Association, for instance.
It's not a well-intentioned, heartfelt attempt to bring relevance to an organization; it's vanity, pure and simple.
May '10
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
Diane Ellis, Ed.: Reminds me of how Father Christmas transitioned to "Uncle Frost" in Russia under Communist rule.
P.S. James -- would love to see a couple of photos of the midwestern blizzard on Ricochet. Got any? · Dec 12 at 3:09pm
Diane, check my FB page for a shot of Rubber Duckie dwarfed standing next to our driveway "snow wall"- also look at the stadium roof collapse:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/12/027895.php
By the way, I have never had any time for the YMCA. The Salvation Army has stayed true to its roots, unlike the other.
Edited on Dec 12, 2010 at 5:58pmAug '10
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
This is like some weird virus. Whenever I hear a story like this, my thought is that the pod people have taken over yet another institution. Something clicks in people's brains when they're infected by P.C., and it's very much like the transformation that takes place in so many horror movies. They seem normal much of the time, but in response to certain triggers they open their mouths and you realize they're from some alien world.
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
Who wouldn't want to celebrate the true meaning of Dec 25th? It's the joy of scraping ice off windshields, frozen feet and heating bills. No one better represents the Season of yellow snow better than Frosty. You people are so old-fashioned.
Seasons's Greetings from Los Angeles!
Jul '10
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
I just wanted to quote that line because it bears quoting.
Jun '10
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
Santa Claus as we know it now is not per se Christian, but it is Christian enough that the Y is dropping him. You apparently cannot even have the hint of a Western mainstream religious connection now.
Dec '10
Re: Today's Yule-related idiocy
YMCA:
-You Must Come Around
- or an add from the not too distant future"Come to the new inclusive and exclusive YMCA, the Young (and middle and old), Men's (and Women's and transgendered, and bi-curious), Christian (Muslim, Jewish, BaHai, Hindu, Confucian, Buddhist), Association (syndicalite, commune, soviet) Not your father's YMCA."
How far we must come toward inclusiveness before it excludes everyone is beyond my guesstimation at the moment.