[PEN-L:1891] Santa on the couch

[valis <valis@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Ah yes, Santa.  I suppose that before long Santa will
only be a seasonal tenant of ATM screens, but for now
we still have a living, farting image to contemplate.
Sometime in the early Sixties a black militant told me
that Santa was an institutional reinforcer of white
racism.  "In what way?," I asked, already believing it.
"How does that old white guy go up and down millions of
chimneys every year _without getting black_; can you
tell me that?!"
Pretty good, and I don't know whether that was an early
common perception, a late ideological issue, or both
serially.

Would that conundrum have a subliminal effect on both
black and white children?  What effect does it have on
you as decanted at this moment?  20-point essay, class.

In Holland, where even today more is allowed to legally
hang out, Santa has had a helper named Black Peter
all this time; perhaps an early cover story for
the chimney riddle.  Rob?

                                                 valis


         -- All lies have the same pedigree --