School replaces red Father Christmas with Eastern European green Santa

[Trance]

School replaces red Father Christmas with Eastern European green Santa - because it reminds pupils of Coca-Cola
dailymail.co.uk
Last updated at 18:18pm on 21st November 2007
Link (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=495435&in_page_id=1770)

Excerpt:

Santa Claus is being forced to wear a green suit when visiting a school this year, after teachers decided the traditional red outfit would remind pupils of Coca-Cola.

Education chiefs have also banned the annual Christmas grotto - favouring an eastern European version of the festive season instead.

Staff at the Steiner School in Brighton, East Sussex, claim the red-suited Santa is a symbol of "modern commercialism" and reminds children of Coca-Cola adverts.

[TeenageRepublican]

Vhat's this? A bizzah story that Rhino HASN'T posted? Insane!

This is stupid. Coca-Cola is one of the best tasting sodas in my opinion. Let me guess, if he wears green it will remind the kids of Mountain Dew. Idiots...

[Trance]

Let me guess, if he wears green it will remind the kids of Mountain Dew. Idiots...


I'm surprised they didn't say 'Santa is going Green', to add to their global warming worship service....

[DoctorDoom]

The UK is rapidly heading into the dustbin of history.

[Lazarus]

Sadly, you're right Doc... Anti-capitalism, especially if its associated with America, has become a religion in the UK... I fear they are lost beyond salvation...

[Maggie_T]

What the Doc and Laz said.

Does that mean that lefties are displacing their hatred from Christmas to Coca-Cola?

[Aaron]

The only word that can come to my mind to describe this article is Stupid.

[ThomasMore]

Yes, it is stupid.

They have some history on their side: Historically, the English had "Father Christmas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Christmas)," sometimes with a green outfit. Coca-Cola ads starting in 1931 popularized the iconic red Santa outfit.

A traditional English "Father Christmas," (http://www.dickensvictorianvillage.com/schedule.html) below:

http://www.dickensvictorianvillage.com/images/FatherChristmas12.jpg


The original Coca-Cola Santa ad, by Haddon Sundblom in 1931 (http://collectibles.about.com/od/santaclauscollecting/a/cocacolasanta.htm), is below:

http://z.about.com/d/collectibles/1/5/S/U/3/lg_santa_1931.jpg

Having said all of that, who cares what color the Father Christmas/Santa outfit is? Today, children recognize Santa in red. The grown ups should be grown up enough to leave well enough alone.

PC BS.

[gnome]

Schools (and public officials in general) there and here are full of individuals with their own bones to pick and no sense of priority.

But, I note the use of alarmist language.

Santa Claus is being forced to wear a green suit when visiting a school this year(bolding mine)

Sounds an awful lot like they're roughing him up a bit, doesn't it?

Same story, different wording:

A school this year will be hiring a Santa Claus dressed in green.Isn't that closer to the truth? No force involved...

If they used a Red santa, would that mean they're banning green? If they had a reindeer display without Rudolph, does that mean they're banning him?

Making a non-traditional choice is not the same as a ban, unless they wrote a rule down or something that there could never be a red Santa in the school--that would be a ban.

Even if the choice was made for a stupid reason, I would say it's inadvisable to cry "ban!"...

[DesertFox]

Are you really that obtuse, gnome? "Force" doesn't have to mean physical force. And since he isn't allowed to wear the traditional red, it does indeed amount to a ban on the traditional red.

The more you post this sort of silliness, the more people lose respect for your views and cease to read you.

[Oldeshooter]

Should make a lot of Irish folk glad to see Santa in green.

[DoctorDoom]

The Holiday Coirrectness Institute has drawn up a preliminary guideline for the 21st century.

• A male figure is sexist. Therefore females must also be employed.
• The word "Father" is offensive to those in alternative families, and must therefore be replaced with "Domestic Partner".
• "Chistmas" is religious, and therefore the word "Holiday" is required.
• Since red and green are taboo, and white and black are racist, they must wear gray or pink outfits.
• The fur trim must go. Even though it's not actual animal fur, it's suggestive of it and cannot be tolerated.
• The North Pole workshop is environmentally destructive, and contributes to global warming and melting of the polar ice. It must be relocated.
• Forcing eight "tiny reindeer" to pull a sleigh that on takeoff from the NP weighs several million tons is grossly abusive.
• Forcing elves to work year round without union representation, a living wage, overtime, full medical benefits and four weeks vacation each year is intolerable.
• Making lists of which children are bad or good is discriminatory and judgmental, and is unfair to those children who are "bad" because of their social status.
• Leaving coal in stockings is a tacit support of fossil fuel energy, and must be stopped.
• Non-educational or gender-specific toys must be abolished.
• Books that require reading skills beyond a first-grade level are not to be given to pubblik skewl stewdintz and grajewits.
• "Ho ho ho!" is offensive. Therefore it must be replaced by "Tee hee hee!"
• If milk is left for Domestic Partner Holiday, it should be rats' milk.

Suggestions for additions will be welcomed.

N. Al Retentive
Chairperson, HCI

[PaulRevere]

How they could be so stupid as to fear kids salivating for a Coke at the sight of a red-clad Santa is laughable. Why would tots and toddlers know about Coke's old marketing adaptation?

That said, we can at least be greatful that they didn't do away with Santa altogether in the American ACLU-inspired war on Christmas.

BTW, the green-clad Santa goes back to pagan times, when the pagan gods, most famously known as the Norse god Frey the god of fertility and bounty, was celebrated at the winter solstice. Frey, known as the Green Man in England and other names across much of pagan Europe, was king of the elves, who also wore green just as they do today. Elves' red caps, BTW, were called Tarn caps in German. Wearing them was believed to make them invisible.

In short, the green Santa harkens back to an older tradition, which is preferable to erasing him from the season completely as the aetheists are determined to do in this country.

[DesertFox]

I want a presidential candidate to come right out and say his administration will war on the ACLU as anti-American, anal-retentive and foul-breathed. I want a candidate who will confront political correctness head on in favor of best-qualified, best-looking and least commie.

[CzechPrince]

School replaces red Father Christmas with Eastern European green Santa - because it reminds pupils of Coca-Cola
dailymail.co.uk
Last updated at 18:18pm on 21st November 2007
Link (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=495435&in_page_id=1770)

Excerpt:

Santa Claus is being forced to wear a green suit when visiting a school this year, after teachers decided the traditional red outfit would remind pupils of Coca-Cola.

Education chiefs have also banned the annual Christmas grotto - favouring an eastern European version of the festive season instead.

Staff at the Steiner School in Brighton, East Sussex, claim the red-suited Santa is a symbol of "modern commercialism" and reminds children of Coca-Cola adverts.

While the reasoning is stupid, I can't say I'm upset with this:

"Education chiefs have also banned the annual Christmas grotto - favouring an eastern European version of the festive season instead."

[MarlinsFan]

Just another attack on Christmas, but what I hate is how they use such a bullshit rationale for this. Coca-Cola is a refreshing and delicious beverage.

[Kathy30]

Is there something wrong with Coca Cola? Or, is it just a big business that they want to do away with? Everything can be said to remind someone of something if they want to concentrate on it. I doubt if little kids look at Santa and make a connection with coca cola.

[hellinon]

I never made the connection until i read this article.

[Trance]

In short, the green Santa harkens back to an older tradition, which is preferable to erasing him from the season completely as the aetheists are determined to do in this country.

Santa is a secular figure, created by those who do not wish to aknowledge Jesus, but at the same time, don't want to be let out of the CHRISTmas fun, as well.

Much in the same way that Halloween is a sacred day of pagan worship and human sacrifices, but has since been associated as kids going door to door, to get candy

[gnome]

Are you really that obtuse, gnome? "Force" doesn't have to mean physical force. And since he isn't allowed to wear the traditional red, it does indeed amount to a ban on the traditional red.

The more you post this sort of silliness, the more people lose respect for your views and cease to read you.

Who's "he"? It's not like Santa himself is going to the school. It's not like they've had the same guy do Santa for the last twenty years and suddenly they won't let him wear his favorite red suit.

They hired someone and asked him to wear green. Did the guy they hired object?

I'm trying to see where force came into this at all.

Feel free to object to the choice of color and speculate on the PC implications. But this has nothing to do with force.

Explain to me how choosing something different is a ban on what you did the previous year.

[PaulRevere]

Santa is a secular figure, created by those who do not wish to aknowledge Jesus, but at the same time, don't want to be let out of the CHRISTmas fun, as well.
The celebration of the birth of Jesus was grafted onto the old pagan holiday of the winter solstice in an attempt to suppress it, which in Germanic culture was centered on the King of the Elves Frey. Ironic, then, that the Chritophobics in the ACLU are trying to destroy Santa, which the early Christians were never able to do. Frey's totemic animals were the boar and the stag (today reindeer), which they traditionally ate. Today we still celebrate that tradition with a Christmas ham, also yule logs and so on.

The same goes for Easter, grafted onto the pagan sping equinox holiday where the Germanic goddess of spring, known as Esther in ancient Germany, brought budding plants and flowers, baby animals, etc. Her totemic animal was the rabbit.

Much in the same way that Halloween is a sacred day of pagan worship and human sacrifices, but has since been associated as kids going door to door, to get candy
Oh really. I wasn't aware of human sacrifices. What are your sources?

The early Christians tried to suppress Halloween with All Souls or All Saints days. As it was a Celtic holiday, it survived in Britain and Ireland, while elsewhere in Europe All Souls/Saints Day is a national holiday largely ignored like our Labor or Memorial days.

[Wolfcounsel]

"Explain to me how choosing something different is a ban on what you did the previous year." --gnome

How about I choose to call you "Strange One" instead of gnome? Is that my ban on calling you gnome or just a choice?<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

[gnome]

"Explain to me how choosing something different is a ban on what you did the previous year." --gnome

<!-- / message --><!-- sig --> How about I choose to call you "Strange One" instead of gnome? Is that my ban on calling you gnome or just a choice?

Actually... it is your choice. If you were stopping other people from calling me "gnome" that would be a ban.