<This post was delayed for 6 months. I hate piling on a bandwagon of criticism. TL;DR: exporting dumbness down the barrel of Fox news is not a good look on the USA>
This is a rush post because somehow it feels wrong to even talk about this in the coming new year. You have of course heard the refreshing erudition of Megyn Kelly of Fox News. She of the “Santa and Jesus are white, get over it!” declaration. And the disingenuous “I was only joking!” when the internet basically slapped her around a bit. The ignorance on display is undeniably astounding and can be demonstrated historically but also thematically; given what these two figures represent to the entire planet. But even worse than the ignorance is the absence of empathy and awareness; that words uttered on a news show broadcast by satellite in this country and others should be sensitive in handling such matters, regardless of what the truth is. And this is even more damning given that the context of the news gaffe was a refutation of an attempt at inclusion, an article written by Aisha Harris.
The thing is that, as sad as this episode is, it raises common questions about America that a lot of folks don’t hear and don’t seem to understand that the world is asking more and more:
- First given the world’s best education at the college level, what makes it possible for someone that is college educated to be so basically ignorant? Megyn has an undergrad degree in political science and a JD.
- Secondly, if someone is that oblivious (and God knows that you scrape around for some reasons), why would you make them one of the major faces of your company i.e. Fox News? Were there not a metric ton of blonde news personalities (let’s not even go into the population of women with other colored hair) that were smarter who wanted the job?
- Thirdly, why O why would an employee of a reputable media company not give some thought to the global implications of her statements? Fox News broadcasts worldwide. How is it globally aware to make such statements about an essentially global culture when only a fraction of the world is “white”? True or not, does the anchor not realize that Chinese, African, South American and South Asian kids either are Christians or look forward to experiencing the magic of Santa? And in so realizing, the need to proceed with way more caution and circumspection, instead of asserting a declarative statement on skin color that at best could be open to debate?
These questions and their ilk riddle the mind of people who do not live in N America; and both the plausible answers and the lack of them cause serious misgivings for those who ponder these things. To be succinct, the mind boggles. And not in a good way. For a world whose standard for journalistic excellence is shaped by the bland integrity of Larry King and the gritty truthiness of Christiane Amanpour, this is pretty puzzling behavior that makes them look askance at Fox News, but also in some ways, the entire country. One does not expect this kind of nonsense from the land of the free.
