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Appalled for the Holidays
I was going to say something else today. I had in fact been well on my way to saying something else, but I got derailed by Ayelet Waldman.
Credit must be given where it is due. I got this tidbit from my husband, (who got it from a friend of ours). He sent it to me, I suppose, in hopes that if he could get my dander up about trivial matters, I might forget some of the more pressing issues that have been looming with this holiday season.
La Waldman apparently concocted a piece of antic festivity for the latest issue of Harpers Bazaar. In it she explains that as a Jew, she coveted the Christmasses of other families growing up but now, having found true love and true community in the arms of her novelist, husband Michael Chabon, she shuns the holiday and indoctrinates her children in the ways of loving condescension. Here is a quote pulled by Gawker that more or less says it all:
" I told [my daughter] Sophie, as I have since told her younger siblings, that there is no such thing as Santa Claus, that he is a character in a story just like Willy Wonka or Amelia Bedelia. I further instruct them that their Christian friends are sweet but gullible, and out of respect for their limitations, we should all work hard to sustain their delusions for as long as possible."
It's heartwarming, isn't it?
What on earth is this woman's problem? Does she seriously mean for us to take her pronouncements (however parodic they seem) at face value? Is she just not a good writer and her words don't convey her meaning well? Is she perhaps trying to be funny? I suppose she manages to keep getting published everywhere because so few people are willing to expose themselves as being that ridiculous.
Anyway, this is a good way to get the season started.
posted by Elise at 1:20 PM
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maia said...
As a Jew, that is basically what my mother told me: Santa is a fictional character but it would make my Christian friends sad if I said that, so I should keep it to myself. What else should non-Christian children be taught?
11/27/2007 7:54 PM
Elise said...
The language your mother taught you is rather different from the language Ms. Waldman is using. Your mother didn't say that your friend were "sweet but gullible" and limited, did she? She taught you to have some respect for other people.
I think that all sorts of beliefs are misguided and not for me but it really isn't in my best interests to teach my children that the people who don't agree with me must be idiots.
11/27/2007 8:16 PM
maia said...
I just assumed that she was hamming it up for the reporter/interviewer and gave her the benefit of the doubt that she used a more 'kid-friendly' wording when speaking to her children.
As for 'working hard to sustain their delusions for as long as possible,' I guess I always figured that was the goal of parents who encouraged their kids to believe in Santa... you call her wording disrespectful (and it is!), but I always saw the santa-thing as being disrespectful of a child and his/her imagination.
11/27/2007 9:27 PM
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maia said...