Megyn Kelly of Fox “News” waded into the imaginary War on Christmas this past week, and ended up stepping in yellow snow. First, on December 11, as indicated in the video above, Kelly said that “Santa just is white …. Santa is what he is.” Kelly went on to say that “Jesus was a white man too.”
Kelly’s remarks caused a firestorm among historians, anthropologists and almost everyone else over the age of seven. Many people pointed out that, aside from the little technicality that Santa Claus isn’t real, St. Nicholas was from present-day Turkey (and likely swarthy-looking), and the very white, rosy-cheeked Santa familiar to many American kids is merely a Coca-Cola advertising creation. After hearing about all this, Kelly took to the air last Friday to say that she had only been joking about that Santa being white thing, even though there was no indication in her original broadcast that she was joking about it. Then Kelly, apparently in her next stage of grief, said that her critics, not her, had decided to “race bait,” but that, come to think of it, it “is far from settled” whether Jesus was white (even though, according to the evidence, Jesus was a Middle-Eastern Jew who was likely as swarthy-looking or more than even St. Nicholas).
Sadly, Fox’s Megyn Kelly is not alone in having her history shaped by White Corporate America. So in honor of Megyn Kelly’s history lesson, how about we list some other myths perpetuated by some big U.S. corporations, their front groups and bought-off politicians, which make as much sense as Fox’s White Santa/White Jesus:
- Tax cuts for the rich and trickle-down economics is good for the economy
- Gun purchases shouldn’t be regulated
- Fracking is Good
- It’s fine for corporations to pay no taxes
- Offshoring jobs is wonderful
- Big corporations are “job creators”
- “Right to Work” is anything other than union-busting
- Global warming is a hoax
What other myths would you like to dispel this holiday season?