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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.
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.
