So, you know what song I really dislike this time of year?

[conuly]

(Shucks, I don't like it much any time of year, catchy tune notwithstanding!)

Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer

I don't know what message you're *supposed* to get from that song (well, I have a pretty good idea...), but it's probably not any of the logical ones. Like...

1. There's no use going to the authorities when you're being picked on because they won't protect you until and unless they need you for something.

or

2. Your friends (if you can call them that) are only your friends because you're useful, not because they like you.

or

3. It's okay to bully people who are different because you'll make them be so desperate for a little common civility that they'll fall all over themselves to help you at the drop of a hat.

or

4. You should probably not bully people with useful skills. It'd be okay to pick on Rudolph if he smelled bad or something, though, because that's not helpful at all.

or

5. You can pick on people all you want, and nobody is ever gonna call you on it.

Real nice message there. And c'mon. All that talk of "Rudolph going down in history", you don't any of you think that meant they actually wanted to play with him, right? Nah, they teased him a little less for a while, then they went back to their old ways until next November when it occurred to them that they might want to be on his good side next month.

This is the same message found in many classic children's books as well. I'm thinking of Hooway for Wodney Wat, which includes the message "It's definitely okay to bully somebody so much that she cries and runs away, just so long as she "deserves it" because, well, she started it!!!!" (And where do you think Wodney learned to be such an effective tormentor? Not from his books, that's for sure. Did he think that when he learned to say his R's properly the other children would magically become friends with him?)

I had that book for a while, then donated it away because I just didn't like reading it.

So I'm very pleased to have found the Tacky the Penguin series of books. On the surface, they have the same message - everybody's similar except Tacky, and he saves the day and is hugged all around because he's just So Different. Except... the other penguins don't bully him. They clearly don't understand him, but they let him do what he wants without harassment. And in the one I just picked up for the nieces, where Tacky ends up in Africa for a while? It's shown that when he was gone the other penguins genuinely missed him for no other reason than that they liked having him around. So you get the intended message of "it's okay to be different" and "we all need a little diversity" without all the crap in the other books.

I really recommend these. I mean, I really do. They're good books, and a lot of fun, too.

Comments

[codeman38.livejournal.com]

Heh, along the lines of #2 and #4, there's this quote from the character nicknamed Osaka in Azumanga Daioh (transcribed from the DVD subtitles):

"There's that red nosed reindeer, ya know? But that's just terrible. His shiny nose is useful for dark roads at night... But that's no consolation. If ya told a bald person that he was useful on the road at night, you'd get clobbered. Santa sure says some mean things, ya know?"

(If you haven't noticed from my LJ icons, I'm...rather a fan of said character.)

[codeman38.livejournal.com]

Oh, and incidentally, that scene was one of the things that led me to launch the Cultural Cross Reference (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CulturalCrossReference) trope on TV Tropes. Who knew Rudolph was that well-known in Japan?

Edit: I'm not actually mad. But I do wish I got more sleep nowadays.

[conuly]

You... you... YOU RUINED MY LIFE! STOP LINKING TO THINGS ON TV TROPES! I never get to bed before two anymore, and I was just sitting around thinking "Who on earth am I supposed to blame for this one?" (and you know the answer to that isn't gonna be me!) and I couldn't remember who it was who had first linked me there!

You... gah!

*coughs*

Okay. I'm done now. As soon as I've read every single entry there I'll be able to return to my regularly scheduled life. And maybe forgive you.

Re: Edit: I'm not actually mad. But I do wish I got more sleep nowadays.

[codeman38.livejournal.com]

...And of course, I linked to it without even thinking about just how utterly addicted I've gotten to the site lately. So yeah...

Re: Edit: I'm not actually mad. But I do wish I got more sleep nowadays.

[conuly]

Maybe we should all just unplug from the internet for a while....

Re: Edit: I'm not actually mad. But I do wish I got more sleep nowadays.

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

Not a bad idea overall... You could do it like "fasting", take 2-3 days "off" totally - a nice break but not so long that you go nuts LOL.

Re: Edit: I'm not actually mad. But I do wish I got more sleep nowadays.

[conuly]

Jenn:

1. Call the BCM
2. Sign Evangeline up for the Y. I want to take her swimming a few days a week, and I want to take her to the Friday program they have which is free for members but not open for anybody else.

[siderea]

Yeah, I despise it too. Talk about encouraging co-dependency. Have you heard the Jack Johnson revision? He apparently had some of the same reservations you did, and rewrote the ending. Rudolph calls the other reindeer out. When I first heard his version on the radio, I almost fell off my chair:

... then one foggy Christmas eve
Santa he came to say:
Rudolph with your nose so bright
won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"
then how the reindeer loved him
as they shouted out with glee
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
you'll go down in history."
"How could you look me in the face
when only yesterday you called me names?"
Well all of the other reindeers, man,
well they sure did feel ashamed,
"Rudolph you know we're sorry,
we're truly gonna try to change"

:D

[conuly]

Of course, that's only marginally better. They're still only gonna try to change (try? there is no try!) because they might need him in the future.

[siderea]

The really abashed tone of voice is what makes it. I recommend encountering a copy.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

It's a bogus carol, anyway.

Side One:
http://ksol1460.livejournal.com/44799.html

Side Two:
http://ksol1460.livejournal.com/88412.html

[conuly]

Of course it's not a carol. We know who wrote it and when, and it's not even about any of the important things of Christmas. Not the religious things, not the spiritual things, not the "secular but still deep-down" things. It's about... well, I'm dropping the subject. It gets me so upset.

[siderea]

Oh, hai!

Side 1:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/siderea/19582.html

Side 2:
http://siderea.livejournal.com/288423.html

[breakableheart.livejournal.com]

The "Runaway Bunny" book also distresses me.

[conuly]

You know, that one doesn't bother me. I know why it bothers some other people, but it doesn't bother me at all. I just keep thinking of it as a desexualized classic transformation sequence and that's all I can get out of it.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Your girlies are probably still too young for it, but when they're a bit older, I highly recommend The Changeling by Zilpha Keatly Snyder.

[conuly]

I like a lot of her other books more... but maybe that's because I came to The Changeling as an adult?

[leora.livejournal.com]

Yup, hate that song too. Family unfriendly aesop alert!

[codeman38.livejournal.com]

Heh, along the lines of #2 and #4, there's this quote from the character nicknamed Osaka in Azumanga Daioh (transcribed from the DVD subtitles):

"There's that red nosed reindeer, ya know? But that's just terrible. His shiny nose is useful for dark roads at night... But that's no consolation. If ya told a bald person that he was useful on the road at night, you'd get clobbered. Santa sure says some mean things, ya know?"

(If you haven't noticed from my LJ icons, I'm...rather a fan of said character.)

[codeman38.livejournal.com]

Oh, and incidentally, that scene was one of the things that led me to launch the Cultural Cross Reference (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CulturalCrossReference) trope on TV Tropes. Who knew Rudolph was that well-known in Japan?

Edit: I'm not actually mad. But I do wish I got more sleep nowadays.

[conuly]

You... you... YOU RUINED MY LIFE! STOP LINKING TO THINGS ON TV TROPES! I never get to bed before two anymore, and I was just sitting around thinking "Who on earth am I supposed to blame for this one?" (and you know the answer to that isn't gonna be me!) and I couldn't remember who it was who had first linked me there!

You... gah!

*coughs*

Okay. I'm done now. As soon as I've read every single entry there I'll be able to return to my regularly scheduled life. And maybe forgive you.

Re: Edit: I'm not actually mad. But I do wish I got more sleep nowadays.

[codeman38.livejournal.com]

...And of course, I linked to it without even thinking about just how utterly addicted I've gotten to the site lately. So yeah...

Re: Edit: I'm not actually mad. But I do wish I got more sleep nowadays.

[conuly]

Maybe we should all just unplug from the internet for a while....

Re: Edit: I'm not actually mad. But I do wish I got more sleep nowadays.

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

Not a bad idea overall... You could do it like "fasting", take 2-3 days "off" totally - a nice break but not so long that you go nuts LOL.

Re: Edit: I'm not actually mad. But I do wish I got more sleep nowadays.

[conuly]

Jenn:

1. Call the BCM
2. Sign Evangeline up for the Y. I want to take her swimming a few days a week, and I want to take her to the Friday program they have which is free for members but not open for anybody else.

[siderea]

Yeah, I despise it too. Talk about encouraging co-dependency. Have you heard the Jack Johnson revision? He apparently had some of the same reservations you did, and rewrote the ending. Rudolph calls the other reindeer out. When I first heard his version on the radio, I almost fell off my chair:

... then one foggy Christmas eve
Santa he came to say:
Rudolph with your nose so bright
won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"
then how the reindeer loved him
as they shouted out with glee
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
you'll go down in history."
"How could you look me in the face
when only yesterday you called me names?"
Well all of the other reindeers, man,
well they sure did feel ashamed,
"Rudolph you know we're sorry,
we're truly gonna try to change"

:D

[conuly]

Of course, that's only marginally better. They're still only gonna try to change (try? there is no try!) because they might need him in the future.

[siderea]

The really abashed tone of voice is what makes it. I recommend encountering a copy.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

It's a bogus carol, anyway.

Side One:
http://ksol1460.livejournal.com/44799.html

Side Two:
http://ksol1460.livejournal.com/88412.html

[conuly]

Of course it's not a carol. We know who wrote it and when, and it's not even about any of the important things of Christmas. Not the religious things, not the spiritual things, not the "secular but still deep-down" things. It's about... well, I'm dropping the subject. It gets me so upset.

[siderea]

Oh, hai!

Side 1:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/siderea/19582.html

Side 2:
http://siderea.livejournal.com/288423.html

[breakableheart.livejournal.com]

The "Runaway Bunny" book also distresses me.

[conuly]

You know, that one doesn't bother me. I know why it bothers some other people, but it doesn't bother me at all. I just keep thinking of it as a desexualized classic transformation sequence and that's all I can get out of it.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Your girlies are probably still too young for it, but when they're a bit older, I highly recommend The Changeling by Zilpha Keatly Snyder.

[conuly]

I like a lot of her other books more... but maybe that's because I came to The Changeling as an adult?

[leora.livejournal.com]

Yup, hate that song too. Family unfriendly aesop alert!

[steorra]

Reading old posts on the "books" tag and happened upon this one...

I have a completely different complaint about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

"You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen
Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen
But do you recall
The most famous reindeer of all?"

So the narrator assumes you know lots of less-famous reindeer, but that you may well not know the most famous reindeer of all? How does that make any sense?

[conuly]

Oh, god, I know! It bugs me too!

I really should start tagging again, tangent.